Are the Asha'irah among the people of the Sunnah, and what is our position toward them?

The questioner : The following question asks: Are the Asha'irah among the people of the Sunnah, and what is our position toward the contemporary Asha'irah?

The Shaykh : I do not agree with some of the distinguished scholars, past and present, in saying that a group among the Islamic sects is not among the people of the Sunnah because of its deviation in one issue or another from what we profess to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). If this is said as was said in response to the previous question, regarding the Islamic groups, if their methodology is holding fast to the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the righteous predecessors, but their thought or pen has gone too far in some issues, causing them to deviate from this methodology that they adopted for their religion and their creed, if that is the case, then we say that they are among the people of the Sunnah. As for those who declare, as we hear from some of the later Asha'irah, saying, "The school of the predecessors is safer, and the school of the successors is more knowledgeable and more precise," in that case, we say that he has stepped out of the circle of the people of the Sunnah.

The questioner : He has deviated.

The Shaykh : He has deviated; yes. Please, go ahead.