What is meant by Salafiyyah, and what is the ruling on calling oneself a Salafi? We ask for details on this, and may Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the badness of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, no one can mislead, and whom He leaves to mislead, no one can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. As for what follows: In these days, questions have multiplied regarding affiliation with the righteous Salaf. Some of those who claim this affiliation say, “We are Salafis,” or an individual says, “I am a Salafi.” Questions about this designation, or this affiliation, have become frequent. Some ask to clarify the matter, while others ask in a tone of disapproval. In response to this, we say: Any affiliation a person claims is either a true affiliation or a false one. If it is of the first type, true, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, provided that no legal or religious harm results from it. However, if it is of the second type, false and not true, then that alone is sufficient reason for a Muslim not to claim an affiliation that has no reality. There is no doubt that a Muslim’s, or some Muslims’ affiliation with the righteous Salaf may sometimes be true, a genuine affiliation, and sometimes it may be false, with no reality. If it is of the first category, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, because this affiliation differs from many other affiliations that are always or usually accompanied by some deviation from the Islamic Shari'ah. This is because affiliation with the righteous Salaf does not mean affiliation with a specific person, no matter how high that person may be in knowledge and righteousness, for he is not infallible. Consequently, affiliation with him and fanaticism for him undoubtedly involves some deviation from the Shari'ah in this state, because one is affiliating with someone who is not infallible. From this, the difference between affiliation with the Salaf and affiliation with an individual from among the Salaf becomes apparent, let alone affiliation with an individual from among the Khalaf. My wonder at some people of the type I alluded to in the introduction of this speech, who ask about this affiliation with disapproval, hardly knows any end. My wonder at these people hardly knows any end when they disapprove of this designation, which, in my belief, as I will explain, is a designation that we cannot imagine a Muslim who knows the true meaning of this designation would disavow. Nevertheless, I say for the third time: My wonder at these disapprovers of affiliation with this designation hardly knows any end, and yet they affiliate with individuals who are not infallible, or even with groups that are not infallible. For hundreds of years, the masses of Muslims who affiliate with the Sunnah, or with others such as the Shi'ah, have followed the practice of affiliating with individuals. These are Hanafis who affiliate with Abu Hanifah, these are Malikis who affiliate with Malik, those are Shafi'is who affiliate with al-Shafi'i, and those others are Hanbalis who affiliate with Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Leave aside the rest of those who affiliate with other than these imams, such as the Ja'fariyyah who affiliate with Ja'far al-Sadiq, and the Zaydiyyah who affiliate with Zayd ibn 'Ali. All of these people do not feel any deficiency in their affiliation with these imams. This is only because they look at these imams with a gaze of sanctification, reverence, and magnification. We share this gaze with them, but we do not share this affiliation with them, because we have touched with our own hands the harms of this affiliation, which has led those who claim it to become sects and parties in religion, and . So reflect with me: First, this affiliation ends with a single person who is not infallible. Second, division and separation among Muslims result from this affiliation. Meanwhile, we find the opposite of all this regarding this affiliation whose legality we are in the process of explaining, in all the negative aspects we mentioned regarding the impermissible affiliation.