Moderator:
This is a listener from Riyadh who has a set of questions. She says in the first question, “I hear about the Salaf. Who are the Salaf, O Honorable Shaykh?”
Shaykh Muḥammad bn Ṣāliḥ Al-‘Uthaymīn:
As-Salaf means the predecessors. So everyone who preceded others is a predecessor (Salaf) for him.
But if the term “Salaf” is used unrestrictedly, then what is meant by it is the three preferred generations: the Companions, the Taabi’uun (students of the Companions) and their Taabi’uun.
These are the righteous predecessors.
And whoever comes after them, and treads upon their methodology, then he is like them, on the path of the Salaf, even though he’s of a later period from theirs.
Because Salafiyyah refers to the methodology that the righteous predecessors—may Allah be pleased with them—followed.
As the Prophet, may He be extolled and granted peace, said that “My nation will divide into seventy-three sects, all of them are in the Hellfire except one. And it is the Jamaa’ah”, [narrated by Ibn Maajah from the Hadeeth of Anas bn Maalik].
And in another wording “Those who are upon the same as what I and my Companions are upon.” [narrated by Tirimidhi from the Hadeeth of Abdullah bn ‘Amr].
