What is your opinion of those who say that calling themselves Salafis causes division?

The Shaykh : You mentioned, may Allah bless you, in your first question that they object to us calling ourselves Salafis and that this causes division. This point requires me to state my opinion, because it is truly a significant issue. Many of our Salafi brothers do not know it, let alone those opponents who wage war against the core of the call, not just its name. They are ignorant of what the Salafi call means and to whom or what this call belongs. It is not hidden from all present, if Allah wills, that the Salafi call belongs to the righteous Salaf, who are the people of the three generations attested to as the best in the hadith whose authenticity is mass-transmitted from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) . We belong to these Salaf in their methodology, in their understanding of the Shari'ah of their Lord, in their principles, and in their rules. May Allah have mercy on you.

The questioner: May Allah guide you and rectify your affairs.

The Shaykh : For example, this is a fundamental difference between us, the Salafis, and the sects, groups, or parties. We belong to the righteous Salaf in their methodologies, and among these is that throughout these three generations, they did not know following a specific individual's school of jurisprudence, as we explained earlier. That belonging to and being fanatical about a specific imam other than the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is a failure to single out the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for following. The righteous Salaf did not know sectarianism, and therefore we are not sectarian, following the righteous Salaf. So when they object to our belonging to the righteous Salaf, it means one of two things: either they do not know who the Salaf are, or they know but do not know the status of the Salaf, or they are stubborn and deny the legal truth. I say that if a Muslim disavows the school of a certain person, whoever that person is, the school of Abu Hanifah, the school of al-Shafi'i, the school of the followed imams, he is not in danger regarding his religion, because he is disavowing a specific person's school. But it is not so if he disavows the school of the righteous Salaf; that is disbelief, especially if we remember that at the head of the Salafi school is the Messenger of Allah. So these people have reached such negligence and ignorance that they fall into disbelief, or at least they are on the brink of disbelief without realizing it. So we have the honor of belonging to the righteous Salaf in their methodology and in their understanding of the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah. From this, I give an example repeatedly, as I said that they did not know sectarianism. There was no one among them who was a Hanbali, no one who was a Maliki, no one who was a Shafi'i, no one who was a Hanafi in school. And let us leave aside the political schools, for example the Shi'ite, the Umayyad, or whatever else. We are talking about religious adherence to a school. These Salaf had nothing but following the Book and the Sunnah. So one of them, if it was possible to ask Abu Bakr, he would ask him; if it was possible to ask 'Umar, he would ask him; Ibn Mas'ud, Ibn 'Umar, Abu Hurayrah, and so on. This is because they firmly believe that it is not permissible to be sincere in following one person in this world other than the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). So this is also from the misguidance of those groups who object to our belonging to the righteous Salaf...