Our noble brother, Abū Khadījah, goes into detail concerning the importance of having love for the Salaf and the Scholars of the Sunnah, both past and present. Having love and allegiance for them is a sign of one’s īmān, and there is not a true believer except that they love these scholars who deserve our total love, respect and allegiance due to their diligence and striving in serving the Sunnah and conveying its true understanding to all corners of the earth.
The Salafī does not harbour ill thoughts towards the Salafis and the Scholars, and we do not fall into the foolishness of those who speak against them and claim they are just men from amongst men. No doubt they were men, but you, O Hizbī are not like them, and your understanding is not like their understanding, and their level is not the same as your level, so do not deceive yourself. They were a people who strived in upholding the Sunnah and did not sell their manhaj for a cheap price. You are obligated to follow them in their understanding, to follow the best of generations, but they are not obligated to you in anything. These Imāms conveyed the message of Islam which remained throughout generations, and it is from their superiority that they are quoted generations after their death, and many people have been guided to Islam and the Sunnah due to their clarification of the truth and their refutation of misguidance.
There will be groups present within every generation who will have hatred for the aʾimmah, breaking off and opposing them instead of allying with them, and these are from the distinguishing signs of Ahl al-Bidʿah. This hatred and opposition nullify the perfection of Imān due to the saying of the Messenger concerning the one who loves for the sake of Allāh then he has perfected īmān.
Imām Aḥmed (raḥimahullāh) mentions: “All praise is for Allāh, who in every age and interval between the Prophets, raises a group from the people of knowledge who call the misguided to guidance, yet patiently bearing ill-treatment and harm. With the Book of Allāh they bring life to the dead and by the Light of Allāh they give sight to the blind, and how many a person killed by Iblīs have they revived, how many people astray and wandering have they guided, and how beautiful has been their effect upon the people, and how vile the people have been towards them.”
Allāh aided these lions of the Sunnah and raised the banner of Islam and Sunnah by way of them. So whoever from these times hates the likes of Ibn Taymīyyah, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, Shaykh Ibn Bāz and al-Albānī, then his manhaj is known and it is a sign that he is upon the path bidʿah. As for us, then we have warā and maḥabbah for these scholars due to their striving.
Today we have many present amongst us who adorn themselves with the garb of Salafīyyah, yet beneath this beautiful attire lies a devil in wait. They are like a sponge that will soak you up and squeeze you out into the ranks of al-Ikhwān al-Muslimīn, without you even realising it.
From them are the likes of the Abū Usāmah al-Dhahabī al-Amrīkī, an individual known for his alliance with organisations such Jamʿiah Iḥyā al-Turāth and the various Jamʿīyyāt in Britain and elsewhere which the Scholars have refuted and warned against. A defender and translator for the likes of Abu Ḥasan al-Maghribī, Maghrawī, Usāmah al-Qūsī and other than them, praising the likes of al-Qaradawī and Zakir Naik. A man who wages war against Ahl al-Sunnah, but holds hands and skips alongside Ahl al-Bidʿah.
There are those who present themselves with the Sunnah but are upon deviance and opposition, like Yāsir Qadhī who signed the Pledge of Unity, alongside signatories who are from the Shiʿah, Sūfīyyah, Jahmīyyah, grave worshippers and callers to shirk. People whom Yasir Qadhī claims that sitting with them increases him in īmān. A man who has claimed to study al-ʿAqīdah al-Waṣiṭīyyah, and has translated Kitāb al-Tawḥīd. In truth, this is merely proof against him and not for him, since what benefit did he attain when he sits, allies and condones the very people who hold the beliefs which the subject matter of these books refute. He revels in the label of ‘Shaykh’ and ‘Scholar’ whilst cutting the people off from the real scholars under the pretence that they are not connected to the West, and do not live in the same world as we do. Clearly, Yāsir Qadhī lives in a very distorted and deluded version of the world we live in. These individuals like Yāsir Qadhī, Bilāl Philips, and Abū Muslimah wish to place a fortress between you and the ʿAqīdah of the Salaf and our noble scholars such as Shaykh Rabīʿ and Shaykh ʿUbayd (hafiẓahumallāh). In their cooperation and alliance with the people of innovation, they have left off the enjoining of good and forbidding of evil, and this is due to their greater goal of political authority and status in the West.
The path of truth is long and its people are few, so don’t be deceived by the oceans of opposition you receive, instead remain firm and steadfast upon it with the people of ḥaqq.