What is your opinion of one who says that affiliation with the Salafiyyah is a religious innovation (bid'ah) and is not permissible, and that the Salafiyyah has no basis?

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. The first question: Some of those who claim to be scholars say that the Salafiyyah has no basis, and they also say that the one who utters the word and says, "I am a Salafi," is committing a religious innovation (bid'ah). We would like our Shaykh to respond to these people.

The Shaykh : I believe that the one who makes this statement is, first of all, denying a linguistic reality, because the word "Salaf" is known in the language of the Arabs and in the language of the Shari'ah. So I say, from the linguistic perspective, the matter does not need clarification; it is sufficient that it is an Arabic word, and linguistic texts are filled with its usage. But what we see as more important than that is drawing the attention of that denier and claimant—that this word is a religious innovation (bid'ah)—to some of what came in some of the Prophetic hadiths. It is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said to the Lady Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) during his illness before his death: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was consoling her with this, telling her that he would die before her and that she would be reunited with him soon. And that was indeed the case, as is known in history; she (may Allah be pleased with her) died about six months after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). If the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) described himself as the best Salaf to his daughter Fatimah, in that he preceded her in death, then he (peace and blessings be upon him) is undoubtedly our Salaf in this call. As for the scholars' use of the word "Salaf," it is more than what a person can discuss or count. It is sufficient for the Muslim who is discerning in his religion to remember what the scholars of the Salaf and those who follow the righteous Salaf recite in their argumentation in fighting every religious innovation (bid'ah) that occurred after them, which is their saying: "Every good is in following those who came before, and every evil is in the innovation of those who came after."
Therefore, I say that the one who denies this term from the Shari'ah perspective and also denies it from the genealogical perspective—it is not permissible for a Muslim to say, "I am a Salafi," as if he is saying: It is not permissible for a Muslim to say, "I am a follower of the righteous Salaf in what they were upon in terms of creed, worship, and conduct." Undoubtedly, if such a denial meant what he says, we would find an excuse for him in that he does not realize what he is saying. If he meant what he says, that means he is disavowing the correct Islam that our righteous Salaf were upon. In light of the hadith we mentioned earlier, which is in Sahih Muslim, from his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) to the Lady Fatimah: I remind those who deny this affiliation that disavowing the Salaf means disavowing the one who brought the call of the Salaf, which means disavowing the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), because he is at the head of the righteous Salaf. And what points to this reality is the well-known hadith in the two Sahihs and elsewhere; indeed, I believe, based on my personal research, that it is a mass-transmitted report (mutawatir) in terms of authenticity, which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): Undoubtedly, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is at the head of this century, and there is also an indication that he is so, as he was sent in the first century. If the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is at the head of the righteous Salaf, how can it be conceivable for one who knows what he is speaking and saying that affiliation with the Salaf, and that the word "Salaf," is a religious innovation (bid'ah) in Islam? I believe that these people are in heedlessness, negligent in both language and Shari'ah. The righteous Salaf are such that no Muslim can disavow affiliation with them, whereas if he disavowed any other affiliation, no scholar would attribute disbelief to him for disavowing other than the Salaf. But if he disavows affiliation with the Salaf, there is no doubt that he is not a Muslim, because he has disavowed the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who is at the head of the Salaf. This is what we say regarding this word. But I ask myself: This person I am referring to, who denied this affiliation or called this word a religious innovation (bid'ah)—does he not affiliate himself with one of the madhahib, whether this madhhab is related to creed or to fiqh? I strongly suspect that he must be affiliated with one of these madhahib that relate to either creed or fiqh. He is either a Maturidi, or an Ash'ari, or from the people of hadith, as they express it today, from the people of the Sunnah and the community, or a Khariji, or a Mu'tazili, or so on. We have no concern now with the other madhahib that do not fall under the designation of the people of the Sunnah and the community. We have known, in the terminology of the later scholars, that what is intended by "the people of the Sunnah and the community" is, first of all, the Ash'aris and the Maturidis, and then they may include the people of hadith in the people of the Sunnah and the community, or they may not include them. In any case, the one who denies this affiliation—what does he affiliate himself with? He must affiliate himself with one of these designations. Either he says, "I am from the people of the Sunnah and the community," or he says, "I am from the Ash'aris or the Maturidis." And this is worse, and much worse, because the one who affiliates with the Ash'ari madhhab affiliates with a person who is not infallible, and the one who affiliates with the Maturidi likewise affiliates with a person who is not infallible. And say the same regarding the four fiqh madhahib, let alone the other madhahib that are outside the madhhab of the people of the Sunnah and the community. All these affiliations are affiliations to individuals who are undoubtedly not infallible. All these affiliations are to individuals, and even if they are scholars, whether they were correct or wrong, they are individuals who are not infallible. I wonder: Did they deny such affiliations? If they had denied them, they would have been correct, because they are affiliations to individuals who are not infallible. But that is not the case for the one who affiliates with the righteous Salaf. He affiliates with infallibility. He affiliates with infallibility because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned that the sign of the saved sect is that they hold fast to what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was upon and what his Companions were upon. These are the Salaf. So whoever holds fast to them is certainly on the guidance of their Lord, and whoever affiliates with them, this affiliation honors the one who affiliates with it and facilitates for him the path to be from the saved sect. It is not so for the one who affiliates with any other affiliation, because it does not go beyond one of two things: either affiliation with a person who is not infallible, or with people who follow the methodology of that person who is not infallible. So there is no infallibility here, whereas infallibility is established for the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), whom we were commanded to hold fast to his Sunnah (peace and blessings be upon him) and the Sunnah of his Companions after him. Therefore, I believe that the person referred to should immediately retract from uttering such a word. I had heard a tape of some of the contemporary da'iyah today, and I think he is on the methodology of the Book and the Sunnah, but he was not given fiqh in the Book and the Sunnah. I read in the tape a strange matter: that the one who insists on this affiliation is to be asked to repent, and if he repents, well and good, otherwise he is to be killed. He argued with a phrase he quoted from Ibn Taymiyyah, and that phrase is in one place, while his understanding or his fatwa is in another place. The point is that we affirm and insist that our understanding of the Book and the Sunnah be on the methodology of the righteous Salaf, so that we are protected from leaning to the right or the left, and from deviating to a personal understanding of ours for which there is no indication from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). This is what comes to my mind in answer to the question. And I ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to guide thereby whoever has strayed from it.

The questioner : There is a question in it.