In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The Life of the salaf.
Between Speech and Action.
By Sheikh Ahmad ibn Nasir al-Tayyar.
Our Duty Toward the Righteous salaf.
It is incumbent upon us to prioritize, highlight, and care for the words and lives of the righteous salaf and the firmly grounded scholars.
For the following reasons:
First: Fulfilling our obligation to them and honoring the rights they hold over us.
For we have benefited from them, and our condition has improved—after Allah the Almighty—because of them.
Thus, it is their right upon us that we manifest and disseminate their knowledge and their noble legacies.
We ask Allah the Almighty to gather us with them in Paradise.
Second:
Caring for their words and biographies, and maintaining a connection to and love for them,
draws the believer closer to them and encourages him to emulate them.
By the measure of one’s closeness to the righteous salaf,
the believer improves and remains steadfast upon the Sunnah.
He becomes averse to and distances himself from whims and innovations.
He becomes less prone to error and slipping.
As for those who have deviated,
and whose errors have multiplied,
it is due to their distance from the guidance of their salaf,
and their lack of concern for their biographies.
If you wish to reach the people, follow their path;
for it has been made clear to those who travel it.
It is essential that the traversing of this path be done
behind the leaders of its people, whose guidance and discernment are unanimously agreed upon,
such as al-Shafi'i and Ahmad,
and Ishaq and Abu 'Ubayd,
and those who followed their way.
For whoever claims to follow this path while departing from their way
falls into wildernesses and perils.
He adopts what is not permissible to adopt,
and abandons what is mandatory to practice.
Third:
Highlighting their words and reviving their legacies
is a means by which Allah repels many innovations and deviations,
as well as doubts and base desires.
For there is nothing but truth or falsehood.
When the truth is weak, falsehood becomes strong.
The truth only gains strength through the strength of its people.
The people of truth are the righteous salaf from the Companions and the Tabi'un,
and those who followed them in goodness.
Those who hold fast to the Book and the Sunnah.
Therefore, highlighting their legacies, character, creeds, and methodologies
invites others to adopt what they were upon.
It corrects the course of those who affiliate themselves with Islam.
It increases their numbers.
This inevitably leads to their strength and the weakening of those who oppose them.
Fourth:
Highlighting their words and reviving their legacies
enables the Muslim to distinguish the one who is correct from the one who is mistaken,
among those who claim to be people of knowledge and da'wah.
Whoever is seen opposing the guidance of our righteous salaf in conduct or character,
or in creed or methodology,
then his error or misguidance is clear.
At that point, the Muslim is upon insight and guidance.
He is saved from misguidance, deviation, and being deceived by those who have strayed from the path of truth,
no matter how great their fame,
how eloquent their style, or how far-reaching their influence.
Fifth:
Making the guidance of the righteous salaf and their understanding of issues,
and their Tafsir of the legal texts, the judge in times of disagreement,
and the arbiter in times of conflict.
For when people differ—especially those who affiliate themselves with knowledge, da'wah, and goodness—
regarding issues related to creed, methodology, conduct, and character,
the guidance of our salaf is the judge.
None would disdain submitting to it except one who is deviant and misguided.
One might cite a verse or a hadith as evidence,
and another might oppose it with a verse or a hadith.
We say to them:
Let us look to the understanding of the Companions, the Tabi'un, and those who followed them,
for whom excellence has been established by definitive text.
We find comfort in the understanding of those who followed them among the firmly grounded scholars,
who possess a truthful tongue within the Ummah.
It is impossible for our understandings to be better than theirs,
nor our intellects superior to theirs,
nor our knowledge more firmly grounded than theirs.
So, if they agree upon a matter,
it is mandatory for us to submit to them.
For the Ummah will not unite upon misguidance.