Clarification of the Salafi Da'wah's Position on the Schools of Jurisprudence and Their Imams

The Shaykh : The other matter: Is there among those who affiliate with the Da'wah anyone who speaks in the manner the writer mentioned, attributing part of it to their senior figures and another part to their middle-ranking figures? As for the first matter, we have always and forever spoken about some of this in the previous lesson, so I do not wish to prolong it. We say, always and forever, that this Da'wah—the Salafi Da'wah—is established upon understanding the Book and the Sunnah and upon the methodology of the righteous Salaf, who are those who were in the three generations attested to as the best in the authentic, mass-transmitted hadith: , and the four Imams and others who were their contemporaries or preceded them, or followed them by a little. All of these are among the Imams of the righteous Salaf. So we follow their example and adhere to them in this Da'wah of ours. Therefore, it is absolutely inconceivable that a man of the Salafi school and methodology would disparage them; it is inconceivable that such a person would cast aspersions on an Imam of the Muslims, or disparage them, or wish for the burning of the books of these Imams and for not benefiting from them.
I had spoken about an aspect of this reality in the introduction to "The Description of the Prophet's Prayer (peace and blessings be upon him)," and I mentioned that the Imams, and especially the four Imams, have the primary merit in guiding us to this correct methodology of following the Book and the Sunnah. I compiled in the introduction to "The Description of Prayer" the statements of the four Imams that clarify this methodology of following the Book and the Sunnah and not being rigid in taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) or rigid in following the schools of jurisprudence. I mentioned their statements there, and I do not wish to prolong by reciting them. It is sufficient for me to give one example from them, where they all agreed to utter this example, which is their saying: "If the hadith is authentic, then it is my madhhab (school of jurisprudence)."
Therefore, we believe that the Salafi Da'wah is established upon appreciating the Imams with their due right. If there are people who affiliate with the Salafi Da'wah but some words issue from them that are considered injustice to the Imams, their efforts, and their knowledge, and even disparagement of them with such words as the writer mentioned, we say frankly: One of the principles upon which the Salafi Da'wah is established, based on its foundation in the Book and the Sunnah, is that in the Book and the Sunnah is what supports the fact that no one bears the burden of another, as He (the Exalted) said: . And it came in the authentic Sunnah that a man from the Companions came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with a boy of his, and he said: . He said: Yes. He said: , This is an explanation of the previous verse: .
If such words issue from some of those who affiliate with the Salafi Da'wah, the Da'wah is not responsible for them or for their speakers, for what you have heard from the verse and the authentic hadith. We acknowledge, with regret, that such words may issue from some of the enthusiastic Salafis, those who have a particular character or nature, such as that sharpness, and that their mind is behind their tongue and their tongue is ahead of their mind; so he speaks before he thinks. We cannot exonerate a Da'wah from such people or their like. The Companions of the Messenger (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him) were not without those in whom some verses were revealed, and those whom the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was angry with, and sometimes he cursed and reviled them; that is because in every group and in every community there are those who did not conduct themselves with the etiquette of the Da'wah and did not adorn themselves with its morals. So we take from these lines, in this writer's criticism of some of the preachers affiliated with Salafism, two sides. I said: One of them is more important than the other. The first is that everyone should know that the Salafi Da'wah is not established upon diminishing the rights of the scholars. How so, when the Noble Qur'an says: ? If the Noble Qur'an commands all Muslims to be just in issuing their judgments, even in those they hate, then what is their status regarding those they love? Therefore, we are, as we have mentioned for about twenty years, in our respect for our Imams, our following their example, and our adherence to them. But—and this is the crux of the matter, as it is said—we differ from the masses of Muslims who do not affiliate with the Salafi Da'wah; we differ from them in our following, our exalting, and our revering of our Imams in a fundamental way.
Perhaps this difference is the cause and trigger for the resentment of some who have not properly digested the Salafi Da'wah; whether from those who affiliate with it or from those who do not affiliate with it but adopt some of its ideas and opinions.