The Shaykh’s (may Allah have mercy on him) explanation of the danger of the newly invented partisan fanaticism, which somewhat resembles the previous sectarian fanaticism

The Shaykh : As for the partisan fanaticism of today, where one affiliates with a person, or a group that affiliates with a person, speak of it and there is no blame; I am not in need of speaking about anything, nor do I need to give some examples of it, because it is a reality you see just as I see it. These affiliations are, first, newly invented, and second, they divide the unity of the word. I am not pleased with these. As for affiliation with the infallible Salaf, this is something people find reprehensible. We do not know this affiliation! Where did you bring it from?! Therefore, we say: there is a vast difference between this affiliation with the righteous Salaf and any other affiliation, whether it be these sectarian or partisan affiliations. And when the clear, obvious differences between the first, correct affiliation and the other, incorrect affiliations are clarified, the Muslim is then content with the permissibility of such an affiliation with the righteous Salaf. And the basis of affiliation, as I told you at the beginning of my speech, is that it is looked at: if the affiliation is correct, it is permissible; otherwise, it is not. Every Muslim, and even the non-Muslim, must have some kind of affiliation, whether in terms of lineage, or profession, or country, and so on. There are those called so-and-so the Syrian, so-and-so the Egyptian, so-and-so the Indian, and so on, and no one finds these affiliations reprehensible because they correspond to reality. And so the Qur'an mentions the Muhajireen and the Ansar; this one is a Muhajir and this one is an Ansaari, and that is not reprehensible at all by the consensus of the scholars of the Muslims. But when is it reprehensible? When the one who affiliates with the Muhajireen takes this affiliation as pre-Islamic partisan fanaticism, or the one who affiliates with the Ansar also takes this affiliation as a pre-Islamic affiliation, as something nearly happened in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). When one of them heard someone saying, "O Ansar!" and another saying, "O Muhajireen!" wars nearly broke out... As for affiliation as a reality and a correct affiliation, no one among the people finds it reprehensible at all. On this basis, if the Muslim adopts the creed of the righteous Salaf, and the school of the righteous Salaf, and affiliates with them and acts upon what he affiliates with from their school, then there is nothing wrong with that, as we see through this detail.