On Ascription to the Salaf |
Are the Salafis A New Sect |
Author: Various |
Source: Trans. by SalafiPublications.Com |
Article ID : SLF010005 [49509] |
Taken From SLF010004 @ SalafiPublications.Com (A Reply to the Doubts of the Qutubiyyah On Ascription to Sunnah and Salafiyyah). If you find this beneficial then please make reference to the above article, when quoting.
Shaikh Salih al-Fawzaan was asked, "Is Salafiyyah a hizb (party) from
amongst the parties. And is ascribing to them (i.e. the Salafis) a blameworthy
thing?"
To which he replied, "As-Salafiyyah (i.e. the Salafis) is the Saved Sect,
and they are Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah. It is not a hizb (party) from
amongst the various parties, those which are called "parties" today. Rather
they are the Jamaa’ah, the Jamaa’ah upon the Sunnah and upon the Deen
(religion). They are Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah. The Messenger (sallallaahu
alaihi wasallam) said, "There will not cease to be a group from my Ummah
manifest and upon the truth not being harmed by those who forsake them neither
by those who oppose them" and he (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) also said,
"And this Ummah will split into seventy-three sects, all of them in the
Hellfire but one". They said, which one is this O Messenger of Allaah? He
replied, "They are those who are upon what I and my companions are upon
today". Hence Salafiyyah is a group of people (i.e. the Salafis) upon the
madhhab of the Salaf, upon what the Messenger (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) and
his companions were upon and it is not a hizb from amongst the contemporary
groups present today. Rather it is the very old Jamaa’ah, from the time
of the Messenger (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) which inherits (this way) and
continues, and which never ceases to be upon the manifest truth until the
establishment of the Hour, as he (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) has informed
(us)." (Cassette: "at-Tahdheer min al-Bid’ah" second cassette, delivered as a
lecture in Hawtah Sadeer, 1416H).
Shaikh Saalih Aal ash-Shaikh, Minister of Islamic Affairs of Saudi Arabia,
stated, "Muslims are of two groups: Salafis and Khalafis. As
for the Salafis, then they are the followers of Salaf us-Saalih (first three
generations of Muslims). And as for the Khalafis, then they are the followers of
the understanding of the Khalaf and they are also called Innovators - since
everyone who is not pleased and satisfied with the path of the Salaf us-Saalih,
in knowledge and action, understanding and fiqh, then he is a khalafi, an
innovator." (Haadhihi Mafaaheemunaa, Chapter on Ascription Salaf and
Salafiyyah).
In the verdict of the Permanent Committee, No. 1361 (1/165) there occurs,
"Salafiyyah is an ascription to the Salaf, and the Salaf are the Companions of
Allaah’s Messenger (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) and the Imaams of Guidance from
the the first three generations (may Allaah be pleased with them), those whose
goodness has been testified for by Allaah’s Messenger (sallallaahu alaihi
wasallam), "The best of people are my generation, then those who follow after
them, then those who follow after them, then there will come a people whose
testimony will precede their oath and their oath will precede their
testimony." Reported by Imaam Ahmad in his Musnad and also by al-Bukhaari
and Muslim. And "the Salafis" (Salafiyyoon) is the plural of "Salafi", which
is an ascription to the Salaf, and its meaning has already preceded. And they
are the ones who traverse upon the minhaaj of the Salaf, from amongst the
followers of the Book and the Sunnah, those who call to them both, and to acting
upon them, as a result of which they are from Ahl us-Sunnah
wal-Jamaa’ah."
Stated ‘Abdul-Azeez bin Abdur-Rahmaan Aal as-Sa’ood, "Indeed I am
Salafi, my aqidah is Salafiyyah, by whose requirements I traverse upon
the Book and the Sunnah". (Stated during the pilgrimage of 1965, ‘Al-Mushaf
was-Sayf’ p.135).