This lecture was requested of the speaker, Abū Khadījah based on the good impact of a 13-year-old lecture entitled: Salafī by Association: Focus on Women, only this lecture was generalised to include both brothers and sisters. It was requested due to the alarming trend these days, of being Salafī by association, Salafiyyah upon fraternity, such that there is little concern for seeking knowledge, understanding this blessed manhaj and its principles, so much so, that if fitnah strikes or a beloved one takes a poor stance, one may follow him/her in that, treating the issue of Salafiyyah which they claimed to love with frivolity, as if it was simply tied to the understanding of their beloved one, rather than being built upon proofs, evidences, clarity and sticking to the jamāʿah.
We need to ask ourselves, are we Salafī by association? Let us look at ourselves, are we, as the speaker mentioned:
“We have people who are driven in their association by those around them.”
Are we wives, sisters, daughters of whom:
“She ties her religion to his religion, no longer pursuing knowledge…whatever he is upon I am upon.”
The issue of association and following can be from the greatest source of benefit to a person or from the greatest cause of downfall. However some have relegated it to:
“If he prays in this masjid, I pray with him, if he leaves this masjid, I leave with him.”
Sadly, what gets lost in this affair, is that one’s dīn may be at stake:
“If this association is not guided by the uṣūl and aqaa’id of al-daʿwah al-Salafiyyah then it can be very harmful.”
Do not base your Salafiyyah upon your friends, so even if the closest of your friends were to go astray, then you do not follow him! Remember why we love Salafiyyah, why we claim to follow it:
“We are driven by evidence, that’s what attracted us to Salafiyyah, that’s what made us fall in love with Salafiyyah because this is the way of the Ṣaḥābahh and the Imāms of the salaf, then (later) we oppose this because of the love of so and so or so and so (more)?”
Would You Leave the Salafī Jamaʿāh Based on Whispers and Doubts?
In these times, someone comes to you and whispers in your ear, “Ya akhī, you know the brothers here, they are upon this, they are upon that, they’re upon misguidance, they steal, they lie, theydeceivee, they backbite, they this, they that, khʿalás! You leave the masjid, where do you end up? Ikhwānul-Mufliseen, right in the clutches of Shayṭān himself! This is where you end up. Why? Becuase the heart and soul was not strong upon Salafiyyah, that these things (rumours and lies) cause you to split from your Salafī brothers.”
A Clear Sign of Deviance: Attacking the Salafīs in the name of Salafiyyah (A legacy of Muḥammad Hassan, Adnaan Ar’oor, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAbd al-Khāliq etc.) Using it as Justification to Split from the Salafī Jama’aah
“When you find people crticising Salafīs in the name of Salafiyyah, Shadīd Muḥammad, Abū Usamāh and their ilk, that you find them that they reserve their enmity towards the Salafīs, others are free from their tongue, this is the manhaj of Abū al-Ḥasan al-Maʿribī. Why? Because they want to justify their splitting…”
