Shaykh Rabīʿ ibn Hādī al-Madkhalī, in his book, The Methodology of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah in Criticizing Men, Books and Groups, says:

“Let the person look at this great difference between the position of the Muslims that Shaykh al-Islām ibn Taymīyyah is talking about, and how they dealt with those who had statements of opposition (to the Salaf); they were individuals explaining the circumstances of those people and warning the Ummah from those people, and this was wājib (obligatory) by agreement of the Muslims. Then look to the reality nowadays of many of those who connect themselves to Salafīyyah and other than them, how they consider warning against bidʿah and its people as being harsh and severe.

How far is the distance between these two positions (when it comes to warning against the people of innovation), and woe to the strangeness of this dīn and woe to the strangeness of those who defend and protect the dīn! For by Allāh! Verily the position they are taking has many effects. There are youth from the Salafīs who mix and start to become a part of a group that is astray, and will defend that astray group and have loyalty for that group and have enmity and hatred for that group, and some of them get with other groups, as others have done and live in a state of confusion. Some of them will become jealous of and protect Ahl al-Bidʿah more than they are jealous and protective over the Manhaj al-Salafī and its people.

O Allah save your dīn! O Allāh, save this daʿwah! O Allāh support this daʿwah! Verily you are the One who answers duʿāʾ.

For verily Your dīn and its supporters are in severe strangeness, they have been abandoned by those whom they used to hope would help; and the people of Ahl al-Bidʿah are being harsh upon them, and there is no supporter except you, for you are the Best Guardian and the best of those who help.”

This is the state of affairs today among the Salafīs. For this individual did not understand the Manhaj of the Salaf, and so now you find him in love with Ahl al-Bidʿah and still calling himself a Salafī, and Allāh’s aid and assistance is sought.

Source: Benefit from the audio Shedding Light Upon the Books of the Salaf Concerning ʿAqīdah by Abū ʿUways ʿAbdullāh Aḥmed ʿAlī