Defining the Saved Sect and How to Distinguish It from Among the Sects

Question:
He asks a very large question. Shaykh Abdulaziz says: Tell us about the saved sect, and what are its characteristics? Is it a specific group, or a specific name? So that we may follow it, or what? May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
The saved sect is the people of the Sunnah and the community, they are the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and their followers with excellence. It is called the saved sect, and it is the victorious group until the Hour. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding them: This one is the saved sect, and it is the victorious group. They are the people of knowledge and faith from among the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and their followers with excellence. The common people follow them in this, who are on the path of the people of the Sunnah in their mothers, sisters, and children, and at their head are the scholars, the scholars of hadith, the scholars of the Sunnah, and at the head of all of them are the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). These are the victorious group, and they are the saved sect, and they are those who acted upon the Book and the Sunnah. Their religion is the Book and the Sunnah, not the opinions of men. They are the people of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and faith, who knew Allah and singled Him out for worship, and believed in His names and attributes, and that there is no likeness to Him, and no equal to Him. They did not interpret them, but affirmed them as they came, without distortion, denial, asking how, or likening Allah to creation. These are the people of the Sunnah and the community. They believed in Allah as Lord, Creator, and the One worshipped in truth. He has the most beautiful names and the highest attributes. There is no likeness to Him, no equal to Him, no peer to Him, and He is not compared to His creation (Glorified and Exalted is He).
The Imams have clarified their characteristics, such as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah in al-'Aqidah al-Wasitiyyah, and in al-Tamimiyyah, and in al-Hamawiyyah, where he quoted the words of the scholars in that regard, such as al-Tahawi (may Allah have mercy on him) and the commentary of al-Tahawiyyah by Ibn Abi al-'Izz, such as the book al-Sunnah by Abdullah ibn Ahmad, such as the book of Uthman ibn Sa'id al-Darimi in refuting Bishr al-Murisi, and others, such as the book al-Tawhid by Ibn Khuzaymah. All of them clarified the creed of the people of the Sunnah and the community.
And the summary is: that the saved sect and the victorious group are the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and their followers with excellence, who unified Allah, believed in Him, and followed their Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and believed in His names and attributes in the manner befitting the majesty of Allah. They affirmed them as they came, and believed in them, and did not interpret them, and did not distort them, but affirmed them as they came without distortion, denial, asking how, or likening Allah to creation. Rather, they believed that they are the attributes of Allah, and that they are befitting for Allah, and that His creation does not resemble Him in them (Glorified and Exalted is He). It is not permissible to interpret them, nor to ask how they are. These are the people of the Sunnah and the community.

The presenter : May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good. If the sects multiply, O Shaykh, and they claim that they are from the people of the Sunnah and the community...

The Shaykh : One looks at their creed. If it agrees with the Sunnah, then they are the people of the Sunnah and the community, even if they name themselves with many attributes. And if they contradict in creed, then they are the people of innovation. The criterion is the actual reality, not the claim. Whoever claims to be from the people of the Sunnah is asked about his creed: what is his creed? If he unifies Allah and worships Him alone, and is not from those who worship graves, nor those who worship idols, and believes in the names and attributes of Allah, and affirms them as they came without distortion, denial, asking how, or likening Allah to creation, then he is from the people of the Sunnah.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good. Has this been clarified to the people in our present time, O Shaykh?

The Shaykh : Yes, lectures on this topic are often held in the mosques. And I advise the students and the youth to memorize the Noble Qur'an, because it contains the clarification of this great creed. I advise every Muslim man who is able, and every Muslim woman, to memorize the Qur'an, for the Qur'an contains the sufficient clarification, the clarification of the complete creed, the creed of the people of the Sunnah and the community, and that is by believing in the tawhid (the oneness of Allah) of Allah and His names and attributes, and the news of Paradise and the Fire, and the news of the Day of Resurrection, and so on.
And likewise the creeds composed in this topic by the people of the Sunnah. The most concise and sweetest of them is al-'Aqidah al-Wasitiyyah; it is concise and good. So I advise men and women to memorize it, for it is sufficient and complete. Yes.

The presenter : May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good.