Shaykh ʿAbdullāh bn Ṣalfīq Aẓ-Ẓafīrī (حفظه الله) said:
“And whoever claims Salafiyyah, but his way, approach and methodology opposes what the Salaf (righteous predecessors) were upon, his claim is rejected upon him, and Salafiyyah is free from him, just as the wolf was free from the blood of Yūsuf.
والدعاوى ما لم يقيموا عليها • بيِّناتٍ أصحابها أدعياء
And claims, unless they establish upon them
Proofs; those that make them are [mere] claimants
And Allāh–the Mighty and Majestic–set a clear indicator and true proof upon the soundness of ascribing to the true methodology; and it is—follow the path of the Messenger ﷺ, and the path of the rightly guided caliphs, and the Salaf of this Ummah.
Allāh–the Mighty and Majestic–said [what means]:
قُلۡ هَـٰذِهِۦ سَبِیلِیۤ أَدۡعُوۤا۟ إِلَى ٱللَّهِۚ عَلَىٰ بَصِیرَةٍ أَنَا۠ وَمَنِ ٱتَّبَعَنِیۖ وَسُبۡحَـٰنَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَاۤ أَنَا۠ مِنَ ٱلۡمُشۡرِكِینَ
Say (O Muhammad ﷺ): “This is my way; I invite unto Allāh (i.e. to the Oneness of Allāh – Islamic Monotheism) with sure knowledge, I and whosoever follows me (also must invite others to Allāh with sure knowledge). And Glorified and Exalted be Allāh (above all that they associate as partners with Him). And I am not of the Mushrikūn (polytheists, pagans, idolaters and disbelievers in the Oneness of Allāh; those who worship others along with Allāh or set up rivals or partners to Allāh).”¹
And this way [that was alluded to in the verse], the Sunnah clarified it as a whole, as [contained] in the Ḥadīths and narrations previously mentioned in the folds of this treatise.
Our Shaykh, the ʿAllāmah, Ṣāliḥ Al-Fawzān–may Allāh, the Most High, preserve him–said:
“It is not everyone that claims Salafiyyah that is a Salafī. It has been claimed by a group of ignoramuses who do not know the methodology of the Salaf. And it was claimed by a destructive group who tread the methodology of the Khawārij in spilling blood and causing corruption in the land. It was claimed by a group who feign knowledge and did not take knowledge from the scholars but only took it from the books and [mere] reading, and by depending upon memorizing textual evidences without having the [correct] understanding.
Allāh–the Exalted–said:
وَٱلَّذِینَ ٱتَّبَعُوهُم بِإِحۡسَـٰنࣲ
And those who followed them exactly (in Faith).²
That is, [those that followed them] with precision. And that cannot come to be, except with knowledge and acting upon their methodology.”³
Source: Ḥaqīqah Al-Manhaj As-Salafī p. 65-66
- [Yūsuf:108]
- At-Tawbah:100
- Sh. ʿAbdullāh Aẓ-Ẓafīrī: The Shaykh–may Allāh, the Most High, preserve him–wrote it as a comment upon this treatise. And I have it with me in his handwriting. May Allāh reward him.
