The term ‘Salaf’ appeared during the time of The Prophet (saws), his
companions and those generations after him. The chronological usage of
the term Salaf:
- Prophet Muhammad (saws) (d. 11 AH)
- Ayyub Al-Sakhtiyani (d. 130 AH)
- Abu Haneefah (d.151 AH)
- Abdur-Rahmaan al-Awzaa’ee (d. 157 AH)
- Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241AH)
- Abu Ja’far at-Tahawi (d. 321 AH)
- Abu Muhammad Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani (d. 386 AH)
- al-Laalikaa’ee (d. 418 AH)
- Abu ‘Uthmaan as-Sabooni (d. 449 AH)
- Al-Khateeb al-Baghdadi (d. 463 AH)
- Al-Asbahaani (d. 535 AH)
- As-Sam’aani (d. 562 AH)
- Ibn Qudaamah al-Maqdisi (d. 620 AH)
- lbn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH)
- Adh-Dhahabi (d. 748 AH)
- Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH)
- Ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH)
- Ash-Shatibi (d. 790 AH)
- Ibn Abi al-Izz al-Hanafi (d. 792 AH)
- Al-Hafidh Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (d. 852 AH)
- As-Suyooti (d. 911 AH)
- As-Safareeni (d. 1188 AH)
- Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul-Wahhaab (d.1206 AH)
- Abdur Rahmaan as-Sa’di (d. 1376 AH)
- Muhammad Nasir-Uddin al-Albani (d. 1420 AH)
1. Prophet Muhammad (saws) (d. 11 AH)
‘Aisha reported: “We, the wives of Allah’s Prophet (saws) were with him (during his last illness) and none was absent therefrom that. Fatima, who walked after the style of Allah’s Messenger (saws) came there, and when he saw her he welcomed her saying: 'You are welcome, my daughter.’ He then made her sit on his right side or on his left side. Then he said something secretly to her and she wept bitterly and when he found her (plunged) in grief he said to her something secretly for the second time and she laughed.I (‘A’isha) said to her: 'Allah’s Messenger has singled you amongst the women (of the family) for talking (to you something secretly) and you wept.’ When Allah’s Messenger (saws) recovered from illness, I said to her, 'What did Allah’s Messenger (saws) say to you?’Thereupon she said: 'I am not going to disclose the secret of Allah’s Messenger (saws).’When Allah’s Messenger (saws) died, I said to her: 'I adjure you by the right that I have upon you that you should narrate to me what Allah’s Messenger (saws) said to you.’She said: 'Yes, now I can do that (so listen to it). When he talked to me secretly for the first time he informed me that Gabriel was in the habit of reciting the Qur’an along with him once or twice every year, but this year it had been twice and so he perceived his death quite near, so fear Allah and be patient (and he told me) that he would be a befitting Salaf (forerunner) for me and so I wept as you saw me. And when he saw me in grief he talked to me secretly for the second time and said: Fatima, are you not pleased that you should be at the head of the believing women or the head of this Ummah? I laughed and it was that laughter which you saw.’”
[Sahih Muslim, The Virtues of the Companions (Book 31)]
Narrated ‘Aisha:
“He added, ‘But this year he (referring to Gabriel due to Hadith in Sahih Muslim, above) reviewed it with me twice, and therefore I think that my time of death has approached. So, be afraid of Allah, and be patient, for I am the best Salaf (predecessor) for you (in the Hereafter).’ “Fatima added, 'So I wept as you (‘Aisha) witnessed. And when the Prophet (saws) saw me in this sorrowful state, he confided the second secret to me saying, ‘O Fatima! Will you not be pleased that you will be chief of all the believing women (or chief of the women of this nation i.e. my followers?)’”
[Sahih Bukhari, Volume 8, The Book of Asking Permission]
2. Ayyub Al-Sakhtiyani (d. 130 AH)
“Whoever loves Abu Bakr has upheld the religion, whoever loves ‘Umar has made the way clear, whoever loves ‘Uthman is enlightened by the light of Allah, and whoever loves ‘Ali has taken the firmest handhold. Whoever speaks well of the Companions of Allah’s Messenger (saws) is clear of hypocrisy (nifaq), but whoever belittles any one of them or dislikes [any one of them] for something he did, then he is a heretic (mubtadi’), an opponent of the Sunnah and the Salaf (Righteous Predecessors), and it is feared that none of his deeds will be raised to the heavens until he loves all of [the Companions] and his heart is clear towards them.”
[Ibn Abi Zamanin, Usul Al-Sunnah article 189]
3. Abu Haneefah (d.151 AH)
“Stick to the athaar (narrations) and the way of the Salaf and beware of newly invented matters, for all of it is innovation.”
[Related by as-Suyooti in Sawnul-Mantaq wal-Kalaam (p. 32)]
4. Abdur-Rahmaan al-Awzaa’ee (d. 157 AH)
“Hold fast to the narrations of the Salaf, even if people were to abandon you. Beware of the opinions of the people, no matter how much they beautify it with their speech.”
[Related by al-Khateeb al-Baghdadi in his excellent book Sharafu Ashaabul-Hadith (p.7)]
Imam al-Awzaa’ee also said:
“Fortify your soul with having patience upon the Sunnah. And stop at where the people (i.e. the Salaf) have stopped. And derive your statements from where they drew their statements (i.e. the Qur’aan and Sunnah). And be satisfied with what they were satisfied with. And tread the path of your Salaf-us-Saalih [Pious Predecessors]), for indeed you will be sufficed by what sufficed them.”
[Reported by Ismaa’eel Ibn al-Fadl in Al-Hujjah fee Bayaan-il-Mahajjah with an authentic chain of narration]
5. Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH)
“Ninety men from the Taabi’een, the scholars of the Muslims and of the Salaf and the Jurists of the various cities are [unanimously] agreed that the Sunnah upon which the Messenger of Allah (saws) died is: [then he listed 14 points]”
[Tabaqaatul-Hanaabiliah, 1/130-131]
6. Abu Ja’far at-Tahawi (d. 321 AH)
“And the early scholars from the Salaf (the early predecessors), and the Taabi’een (successors) who came after them: the people upon good and the narrations, and the people of Fiqh and discernment; are not to be mentioned except with fine words; and whoever speaks ill of them then he is not upon the correct path.”
[Aqeedah Tahawiyyah, point 203]
7. Abu Muhammad Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani (d. 386 AH)
“He said while discussing the affairs of the Religion that the Muslim nation has unanimously agreed upon and the aspects of the Sunnah that if opposed is considered innovation (bid’ah) and misguidance, “[This requires] total submittance to the Sunnah. It is not to be opposed by opinion or averted by way of analogy.The way the texts were interpreted by the righteous Salaf, then we interpret them in the same fashion; and whatever way they applied them, then we apply them in the same way and whatever they abandoned then we abandon. We refrain from what they refrained from and we follow them in what they have explained.”
[al-Jami (p.117) of Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani]
8. al-Laalikaa’ee (d. 418 AH)
"That which is most obligatory upon a Muslim: Knowledge of the aspects of the creed of the Religion and what Allah has obligated upon His Servants including the understanding of His Tawheed and of His Attributes, and believing in His Messengers with evidences and with certainty. And arriving at [all of] that and seeking evidences for them with clear proofs. And among the mightiest of statements and clearest of proofs and understandings is:
- [1] The Book of Allah, the Manifest Truth
- [2] Then the Saying of the Messenger of Allah (saws)
- [3] And of his Companions, the chosen, pious ones
- [4] Then that which the Salaf-us-Saalih were unanimously agreed upon
- [5] Then holding fast to all of that and remaining firm upon it till the Day of Judgement
- [6] Then turning away from the innovations and from listening to them – from amongst those things the astray people have invented.”
[Sharh Usool ul-I’tiqaad (1/9)]
9. Abu ‘Uthmaan as-Sabooni (d. 449 AH)
“The scholars of the Ummah and in particular the A’immah from the Salaf, did not disagree that Allaa=h, The Most High, is over His Throne and the Throne is above the seven heavens. They affirm what Allah, the Most High, has affirmed, and believe in what He, The Lord, the Most Majestic, has informed us with.”
[‘Aqeedatus-Salaf as’haabul-Hadith - The Creed of the (Pious)
Predecessors & the People of Hadith, Chapter 5 : Allaah Istiwaa
over his throne, point 22]
10. Al-Khateeb al-Baghdaadee (d. 463 AH)
He said in his treatise al-Kalaam fis-Sifaat:
“As for speech concerning the Attributes, then whatever is related about them from the authentic Sunan in the madhhab of the Salaf is to be affirmed and conveyed upon its apparent (dhaahir) meaning, and the kayfiyyah (modality) and tashbeeh (resemblance) must be negated from it.”
[Recorded by Ibn Qudaamah in Dhammut-Ta’weel (p. 17-18)]
11. Al-Asbahaani (d. 535 AH)
“The sign of Ahlus-Sunnah is that they follow the Salaf-us-Saalih and abandon all that is innovated and newly introduced into the Deen.”
[Al-Hujjah fee Bayaanil Mahajjah 1/364]
12. As-Sam’aani (d. 562 AH)
“We have been commanded to follow and we have been encouraged with this. We have been forbidden from innovating (bid’ah) and severely warned against such behaviour. The hallmark of the People of the Sunnah is their adherence to As-Salaf-us-Saalih (the Pious Predecessors) and their abandonment of everything that constitutes an innovation (mubtada’) or a matter from the Religion that appears without precedent (muhdath)”
[al-Intisar li Ahl al-Hadith of Abu al-Muzaffar al-Sam’ani by way of the book Sawn al-Mantaq wa al-Kalam (p.158)]
13. Ibn Qudaamah al-Maqdisi (d. 620 AH)
Abu Dawood reported in his Sunan that the Prophet (saws) said:
“Indeed what is between one level of heaven and (another) level of heaven is a distance of such and such…” He continued until he (saws) mentioned:'And above that is the Throne. And Allah, the One free of all defects, is above that.’This and what is similar to it is from what the Salaf have unanimously agreed upon reporting and accepting. And we do not incline towards rejecting it, nor toward distorting its meaning (Ta’weel), nor towards making comparisons to it, nor towards likening it.”
[Lumut-ul-Itiqaad (Sufficiency in Creed) of Ibn Qudaamah al-Maqdisi,
Chapter/Section: Mentioning Some of the Ahadith of Allah’s
Attributes, points 18 - 19]
14. lbn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH)
“There is no criticism for the one who proclaims the way (madhab) of the Salaf, who attaches himself to it and refers to it. Rather, it is obligatory to accept that from him by unanimous agreement (Ittifaaq) because the way (madhab) of the Salaf is nothing but the Truth (Haqq).”
[Majmoo al-Fataawaa 4:149]
15. Adh-Dhahabi (d. 748 AH)
“It is authentically related from ad-Daraqutni that he said: There is nothing more despised by me than ‘ilmul-kalaam (innovated speech and theological rhetoric). I say: No person should ever enter into ‘ilmul-kalaam, nor argumentation. Rather, he should be Salafi (a follower of the Salaf).”
[Siyar 16/457]
16. Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH)
“Our Shaykh said, ‘The reality of disbelief has been married to immoral innovation (bid’ah) and they have given birth to a state of loss in the life of this world and the hereafter.’ If he overcomes this imposing obstacle and escapes it with the light of the Sunnah, and he seeks to stay clear of it by truly adhering to the Sunnah and by emulating those who have passed from the illustrious Salaf from the Companions and their students who followed them in goodness, and it is rare for these later generations to produce one of these types of people…”
[Madarij al-Salikin (1/223)]
17. Ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH)
His tafsir of:
'...and then He rose over (Istawa) the Throne...’ [Surah Al-A’raf, 7:54]:“the people had several conflicting opinions over its meaning. However, we follow the way that our Salaf (righteous predecessors) took in this regard, such as Malik, Al-Awza’i, Ath-Thawri, Al-Layth bin Sa’d, Ash-Shafi’i, Ahmad, Ishaq bin Rahwayh and the rest of the scholars of Islam, in past and present times. Surely, we accept the apparent meaning of, Al-Istawa, without discussing its true essence, equating it (with the attributes of the creation), or altering or denying it (in any way or form).”
[Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Section: The Qur’an is a Reminder and a Revelation from Allah]
18. Ash-Shatibi (d. 790 AH)
“The Salaf-us-Saalih, the Companions, the tabi’een and their successors knew the Qur’aan, its sciences and its meanings the best.”
[al-Muwafiqat (2/79) of ash-Shatibi]
19. Ibn Abi al-Izz al-Hanafi (d. 792 AH)
“And whoever hears the Hadiths of the Messenger (saws) and the words of the Salaf, will find innumerable evidences of Allah’s Elevation, and there is no doubt that when Allah created the creation, He did not create them in His divine Essence, Exalted is Allah from this!”
[Sharh al-‘Aqeedah al-Tahawiyah by Ibn Abil-`Izz al-Hanafi (1/372,379-380)]
20. Al-Hafidh Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (d. 852H)
“..the saying of who said: the way of the Salaf is safer and the way of the Khalaf is wiser is not correct, because he thought that the way of the Salaf is only the belief in the Lafz (words/letters) of the Quran and Hadith without having understanding of it , (and) the way of the Khalaf is to derive the meanings of the texts that are turned away from their haqeeqa with different types of majaz (figurative meaning); so the one who said this combined between the ignorance of the way of the Salaf and the claiming of the way of the Khalaf, and it is not like he thought/assumed. The Salaf had utmost knowledge of what befits Allah, and had the utmost glorification, obedience to His commands and submission to what He intended/willed, and the one who took the path of the Khalaf is not sure that his ta’weel is what is intended, and he can’t be positive of the correctness of his taweel.”
[Fath al Bari sharh Sahih al Bukhari, Book of Tawhid, 1st chapter, 2nd hadith – in its explanation]
21. As-Suyooti (d. 911 AH)
Stated as-Suyooti about Ibn as-Salaah,
“He was Salafi abstemious and was of sound creed…”
[Tabaqaat al-Huffaadh p.500]
22. As-Safareeni (d.1188 AH)
“What is meant by the madh-hab (belief) of the Salaf is that which the Companions adhered to, as well as the distinguished ones who followed them upon goodness, their successors and the Imaams of the Religion – those who received testimony as to their leadership, were known for their great status in the Religion and whose words are taken by the people after the Salaf, apart from those who are accused of innovation or renowned for unacceptable ascriptions such as the Khawaarij, Rawaafid, Qadariyyah, Murji’ah, Jabariyyah, Jahmiyyah, Mu’atazilah, Karaamiyyah and those similar to them.”
[Lawaami’-ul-Anwaar: (1/20)]
23. Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul-Wahhaab (d.1206 AH)
After mentioning the Hadith ending in “Ukashah has preceded you” which is recorded in the two Sahihs (Bukhari and Muslim), the following important points/benefits derived from this Hadith were noted:
- * That the Salaf used to keep away from riyaa’ and anything that might lead to it
- * The profound knowledge of the Salaf
[Kitab at-Tawheed, Chapter: The one who fulfils tawhid enters paradise without reckoning]
24. Abdur Rahmaan as-Sa’di (d.1376 AH)
“Know that from the agreed upon principles by the Salaf and the Imaams of this Ummah (Muslim nation) is belief in His Names and Attributes and the verdicts concerning those Attributes.”
[His Tafsir of the Qur’aan: Tayseer al-Kareem ar-Rahmaan fee Tafseer Kalaam al-Mannaan, Tafsir of Surah Al-Fatihah]
25. Muhammad Nasir-Uddin al-Albani (d.1420 aH)
“However, there are some who claim knowledge who deny this ascription, claiming that it has no foundation, saying: "It is not permissible for a Muslim to say: I am Salafi.” And it is as if he is saying: “It is not permissible for me to say: l am following the Salafus-Saalih in what they were upon in 'aqeedah, worship and manners!” And there is no doubt that the likes of this denial - if that is what is meant - implies that he is disassociating himself from the correct Islaam that the Salafus-Saalih were upon … Thus it is not permissible for a Muslim to disassociates himself from being ascribed to the Salafus-Saalih. If, however, he freed himself from any other nisbah (ascription), then none of the people of knowledge could accuse him of disbelief or sinfulness. However, the one who refuses calling himself with this name Salafi, then it should be seen, does he attribute himself to a particular madhhab - whether in matters of 'aqeedah or fiqh" So perhaps he will call himself an Ash'aree or a Maatareedee, or he may be from Ahlul-Hadeeth, or a Hanafee, Maalikee, Shaafi'ee or Hanbalee - from those matters which enter into the term Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa'ah. Despite that fact that the one who ascribes himself to the Ash'aree madhhab, or the four well-known madhhabs, then he has ascribed himself to those who are not protected from making mistakes as individuals - even though there are from them Scholars that attain what is correct. So why O why do they not reject the likes of these ascriptions to individuals who are not protected from mistakes? However, as for the one who ascribes himself to the Salafus-Saalih collectively - then he ascribes himself to that which is protected from mistakes.“
[Al-Asaalah Magazine (no. 9, p. 87)]
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