If RasulAllah has called Himself ‘salaf’ not Muslim then all the other ahadith where He (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) tells us things, which I am about to list, incorrect? For instance, He (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) says ‘Muslim is he who avoids harmin other…’ [from memory]. Why didn’t He say ‘Salaf is one who…’ Did He mean only He is a salaf, not us (if and only if the ahadith: “Indeed, I am for you a blessed Salaf.” [al-Bukhaaree, number: 2652]. “How excellent a Salaf I am for you.” [Muslim, number: 2450] (are really in Bukhari and Muslim collection). If only He has called himself salaf then why do scholars call themselves salaf?

Also please tell me: those who claim to be students of knowledge (yes because students of knowledge act upon Ilm and don’t abuse others) they refute those scholars who teach us we should be Muslims only, because RasulAllah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) was Muslim 0NlY…they say we need to be salafi because there are many corrupt sects who call themselves Muslims so we need to have our own identity. I enquire, isn’t it sufficient that Allah knows who we are or do we need to tell the people who we are? Who is going to judge us, Allah or people on the day of Judgment? Then why do I have to be a salafi malafi sunni munni?

All praise be to Allah, and may His blessings and peace be on the final messenger, Muhammad,

Firstly, there is a difference between salaf (predecessor) and salafi/salafee. The long vowel “e” at the end is to indicate attribution. Therefore, if the Prophet r is salaf for us, then for someone to call himself salafi, would simply mean he follows the path of the predecessors, of which the first is the Prophet r.

The concept itself is based on uncontestable facts, including the completeness of the guidance left for us by the Prophet r and the lack of need, and the prohibition, of alteration thereof by adding or deleting.

Allah said in surah al-Maedah:

“اليوم أكملت لكم دينكم و أتممت عليكم نعمتى و رضيت لكم الإسلام دينا.”

“This day I have perfected your religion for you; completed my favor upon you; and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.”

Al-Bukhari & Muslim Reported from ‘Aisha that the Prophet r said:

“من أحدث في أمرنا هذا ما ليس منه فهو رد.”

“Whosoever invents in our affair something not of it, then it shall certainly be rejected.”

The other fact is the superiority of the earlier generations:

Al-Bukhari reported from Abdullah ibn Masaood that the Prophet r said:

“خير الناس قرني ثم الذين يلونهم ثم الذين يلونهم ثم يجيء أقوام تسبق شهادة أحدهم يمينه ويمينه شهادته.”

“The best people are my generation, and then those who will follow them, and then those who will follow. Then there will come a people whose witness will precede their oaths, and their oaths precede their witness.”

Islam was not a theory transmitted to us by the ancients, but a complete way of life that was in fact lived by the earlier generations of Muslims, who should serve for us as beacons on the path to His pleasure.

Secondly, to distinguish oneself from the deviant sects is also not blameworthy. We are all called Ahlu-sunnah. This is a name crafted by the companions and their followers, because they wanted to sort themselves out from those who took innovated and deviant paths. However, this name, unlike others, takes its authority from those who crafted it.

Thirdly, one who claims to be salafi may or may not be true to that claim, and the same applies to one who claims to be sunni or even Muslim. Some of the claimers may be devastating to the cause of salafism by their excessive literalism, skewed priorities, rigidity and offensive conduct.

Fourthly, the word salafism would practically mean the purification of tawheed; the basing of actions on evidence and reasoned, not blind, following of the imams; and the purification of the soul by using the prophetic prescription; this may be attained by following certain steps:

• To understand matters of creed according to the way and approach of the righteous predecessors, who never involved themselves in speculative theology, and always condemned it, as did Imam Ash-Shafe’ee for example. This is the approach they were instructed in by the Prophet r and it is the methodology upheld by the righteous predecessors before the beginning of the influence of external doctrines and philosophical schools. When Imam Ahmad was tested in the trial of the “creation of the Quran,” which he vehemently rejected, he kept on asking his opponents for evidence from the Quran or the Sunnah of the Prophet r, and declared that he would immediately adopt it.

• To reject zealotry and blind following, and to rather place more value on evidence from the revelation. One must do this while respecting the great imams, including the four most popular, and esteeming their contribution and legacy, which is all about respecting the authority of the revelation. The greatest followers of the imams abode by their legacy, such as Abu Yusuf and Muhammad ibn al-Hassan, Abu Haneefa’s greatest students (may Allah bestow mercy on all of them,) who frequently chose positions different from the imam, because they took heed of his emphatic advice to seek the truth in the revelation, because there it is contained, not in his own words. Undoubtedly, though, zealotry crept into the ranks of many of the latter followers of all madhahib, and that resulted in dividing the ummah in a way that was existentially detrimental.

• To adhere to the sunnah and reject bid’ah (innovation) in matters of the deen, and particularly, in the area of spirituality. This is based on the supremacy of the path of the Prophet r and his companions in purifying the soul and uplifting the spirit. No one has exclusive keys to this path, which is clear, non-convoluted, balanced, and plain without excessiveness or mysticism. He, for instance, was the best one to remember Allah. So, we don’t need any prescription in that regard other than his. He, also, was the purest of all souls, and he left us a road map to purification that the scholars may point out and expound for us. However, no one needs to do any alterations or adjustments thereto.

Finally, the preferred position is that we don’t call ourselves salafis as a title of a group or individual…etc., but we should all follow the way of the salaf (predecessors). This is more conducive to unity and farther removed from partisanship, and more inviting to the way of the righteous predecessors. That is because one is likely to induce feelings of partisanship in others if he calls himself or his group some particular title, which should, in fact, be claimed by all Muslims, for all Muslims should be salafi in the sense of following the righteous predecessors. Personally, though I may use salafi as a description of my ideology, I don’t use it as a title, because salafism is bigger than being a title for a group. Once we make it such, it will bear the faults of that group, which is not infallible. This concept should permeate through the body of this goodly ummah like water in the leaves of roses and oil in olives and fire in coal.

Inviting people to this objective should be a priority for any da’ee because, as Imam Malik (may Allah bestow mercy on him) said, the wellbeing of the latter part of this ummah shall not be attained in anything other than that which produced the wellbeing of its earlier part.

Allah knows best.