Is the one who calls for party blocs outside the Sunnah, the Salaf, and the saved group in this particular matter?

The questioner : Excuse me, my Shaykh, given the intensity of the disagreement existing among the youth in our area, especially in Yemen, and I do not exclude that other regions are in the same state, and given that the youth in this matter, as you mentioned, are in a state of excess and deficiency, I want, may Allah reward you, a final ruling in this matter. Because the general rules, everyone applies them according to what they see. For example, a man who holds the creed of the Salaf and works in a party, an organized group, as they call it, hierarchically or cluster-based, and this organization means they agree on matters among themselves. There is no doubt that they agreed on this thing, so their love for one another is greater than their loyalty to others, and their defense of themselves is greater than their defense of others. But it is from the fact that they believe this is Islam and this is the Sunnah. They do not believe in their hearts that they are contradicting the Sunnah. They defend that this is the Sunnah. It is possible that at some point it does not appear that they have this organization or this pledge of allegiance, but at some point, when the matter has become widespread and famous, he admits that this exists, but in his feeling, this serves the Salafi da'wah. There is no doubt that, since they have agreed on this thing, their love for one another is greater than their loyalty to others, and their defense of themselves is greater than their defense of others. But it is from the fact that they believe this is Islam and this is the Sunnah. They do not believe in their hearts that they are contradicting the Sunnah. They argue that this is the Sunnah. It is possible that at some point it does not appear that they have this organization or this pledge of allegiance, but at some point, when the matter has become widespread and famous, he admits that this exists, but in his feeling, this serves the established Salafi da'wah based on the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the righteous Salaf, in intention and means. This is in his feeling and this is what he speaks of. But what we see, we see that it deepens what he wants and his ijtihad, and what his ijtihad has reached. And this matter, from another aspect, leads to a leaning toward other groups against the established Salafi group, saying that these Salafis are repulsive, and that they are, and that they are. And although there are some who are truly repulsive, they are not as they describe them. And they are not the ones carrying out the da'wah; rather, they are small individuals, so their slips should not be taken to hold everyone, the big and the small, accountable. Then they look at the other collective work of the other groups and other organizations, seeing that they serve Islam and flow into a beneficial outlet, and that they, and that they, and that they. And until when are we living in chaos? And until when are we living in this state? This is their view. And they may work in an association, which may be, for example, in its appearance, a charitable work. Charitable work is known, and I have heard your fatwa on it: if it is free from partisanship and if it is free from the fitnah of money, then yes, it is good. But there may be one who disputes, who disputes the claim that we are free from these things, and he has these things, whether they are methodological or personal. The question now is: do these things that I mentioned justify saying that they are not from the people of the Sunnah and the community, that they are from the lost sects? Or is it said that they are Salafis who slipped in these matters, so they are not followed in their saying? And the other opinion is not to exaggerate in ruling on them?

The Shaykh : But you, may Allah reward you, repeated, of course, on their tongue, and this weakens their position. You repeated the phrase "people of the Sunnah and the community" and did not mention the righteous Salaf except at the end. So it seems that in the depths of their souls, they feel that in what they are upon, they are not Salafis.

The questioner : They say they are Salafis, my Shaykh, but perhaps I went beyond...

The Shaykh : No problem. They say this. We are. What does it mean to be Salafis in any matter a person adopts? It means to adopt what the righteous Salaf were upon. Now, is this partisanship and this bloc-building how the righteous Salaf were? They will say no.

The questioner : It is certainly not so.

The Shaykh : So they are not Salafis in this matter, at least. Therefore, it is not correct for them to say, "We are upon the Book and the Sunnah."

The questioner : If they persist in this saying and this state, it is said that they are outside the Salafis.

The Shaykh : And outside the Sunnah.

The questioner : And outside the Sunnah and outside the saved group.

The Shaykh : And outside the saved group, without doubt, with the observation of my previous condition.

The questioner : This is what I want to hear, because this is what the discussion is about.

The Shaykh : Because the saved group is, as we said earlier in the hadith The followers were upon what the Companions were upon, and their followers likewise. So if these people contradict the Sunnah, they have contradicted the Companions. If they contradict the Companions, they contradict the followers and their followers. So it is the same for us whether we say they contradicted the Salaf, or contradicted the followers, or contradicted the Companions, or contradicted the Sunnah. As it is said, all roads lead to the mill. But we want to make it clear to them that they should not be deceived into thinking they are upon the Sunnah, as long as they are not upon the righteous Salaf. You, may Allah reward you, spoke words that match reality perfectly. These blocs, if they were not this far from the methodology of the righteous Salaf—this partisanship and this bloc-building, which may be accompanied by a pledge of allegiance to their leader—this increases the division of the Muslims in division, bloc-building, partisanship, and weakness. And this is explicitly stated in the Noble Qur'an Unfortunately, no one can say, "Not every party rejoices in what they have." Their reality applies to them perfectly in this verse. They rejoice in their partisanship, not in their creed. There is a great difference. I say, and I take pride, that I take pride in Allah the Exalted making it easy for me to know the righteous Salaf, their knowledge, their jurisprudence, and their conduct, and that I strive to be upon their path. I take pride in this. But I do not call for bloc-building or gathering, because this divides the community of Muslims more than they are already divided. Therefore, their saying, "We are upon the Sunnah," is a lie from the start, because such a bloc is not known to the righteous Salaf. It is not known to the Companions. There was no one among the Companions who said, "I am a Bakri, I am an Umayyad, I am an Uthmani, I am an Ali," except after the Shi'ah turned their century and began to spread their poison among those who came after the Companions. And they did not have that power except later, as is known from history. Now, these people are repeating the course of the sects that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) referred to in the previously mentioned hadith. And history tells us what they did to the Muslims: a soft division, then plotting against the Muslims, killing Muslim rulers, and the like. So, may Allah reward you, we must call these people with wisdom and good admonition. We are not concerned with declaring them disbelievers or misguiding them, as some people exaggerate. But we make clear to them the reality of the matter: that there is no salvation for these Muslims and their division except by returning to what our righteous Salaf were upon. Not only in creed, and not only in worship, but also in conduct. Not only in the goal, but also in the means. And they differ with us in this. So, whoever among them declares that they are free to adopt methods in da'wah, for example, and he contradicts the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in his method, where Allah the Exalted disciplined him and perfected his discipline, and said, for example, We adopt this leaning toward them as a means to reform them, so we permit entering, for example, parliaments that rule by other than what Allah revealed, in the name of what? The da'wah method requires that in this time?
"Sadd mentioned it, and Sadd was wrapped in his cloak. This is not, O Sadd, how you drive in the camels." This is not how the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) began his da'wah, but rather on the basis of We ask Allah to guide us and them to the straight path. And what comes after that?