Our Call to the Ummah

"Our Call to the Ummah", summarised in [19 parts]

[1]: We believe in Allah and His Names and Attributes,
     as they were mentioned in the Book of Allah and in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ,
       without tahrif (distortion),
       nor ta'wil (figurative interpretation),
       nor tamthil (making a likeness),
       nor tashbih (resemblance),
       nor ta'til (denial).

[2] We love the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them all) of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ,
     and we hate those who speak against them.
We believe that to speak ill of them is to speak ill of the Religion,
     because they are the ones who conveyed it to us.
And we love the Family of the Prophet ﷺ with love that is permitted by the Shari'ah.
'Imran ibn Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) said,
     "O people! Learn the knowledge of the Religion from us, if you do not do so, then you will certainly be misguided."¹

[3] We love the People of Hadith and all of the Salaf of the Ummah from Ahlus-Sunnah.
Imam Shatibi (d790H) - may Allah have mercy upon him - said,
     "The Salafus-Salih, the Companions, the Tabi'in, and their successors knew the Qur'an, its sciences and its meanings the best."²

[4] We despise 'ilmul-kalam (knowledge of theological rhetoric),
     and we view it to be from amongst the greatest reasons for the division in the Ummah.

[5]: We do not accept anything from the Books of fiqh (jurisprudence),
     nor from the Books of tafsir (explanation of the Qur'an),
     nor from the ancient stories,
     nor from the Sirah (biography) of the Prophet ﷺ,
   except that which has been confirmed from Allah or from His Messenger ﷺ.
We do not mean that we have rejected them, nor do we claim that we are not in need of them.
Rather, we benefit from the discoveries of our Scholars and the jurists and other than them.
However, we do not accept a ruling, except with an authentic proof.

[6]: We do not write in our Books, nor do we cover in our lessons, nor do we give sermons with anything
     except the Qur'an, or the authentic and authoritative hadith.
And we detest what emanates from many books and admonishers in the terms of false stories and weak and fabricated ahadith.
'Abdullah ibnul-Mubarak, may Allah have mercy on him, said,
     "The authentic ahadith are sufficient and the weak ahadith are not needed."³

[7] We do not perform takfir upon any Muslim due to any sin,
     except Shirk with Allah, or the abandonment of Prayer, or apostasy.
We seek refuge in Allah from that.

[8] We believe that the Qur'an is the Speech of Allah, it is not created.

[9] We hold that our ‘obligation is to co-operate with the group that traverses the methodology of the Book and the Sunnah,
     and what the Salaf of the Ummah were upon;
       in terms of calling to Allah the Glorified,
       and being sincere in worship of Him,
       and warning from Shirk, innovations,
       and disobedience,
   and to advise all of the groups that oppose this.’⁴
‘So co-operating upon righteousness and piety (taqwa) and mutual advising
     necessitates warning against evil and not co-operating with the wicked.’⁵

[10] We do not deem it correct to revolt against the Muslim rulers as long as they are Muslims,
     nor do we feel that revolutions bring about reconciliation.
Rather, they corrupt the community.

[11] We hold that this multiplicity of present day parties is a reason for the division of the Muslims and their weakness.
So, therefore, we set about ‘freeing the minds from the fetters of blind-following
     and the darkness of sectarianism and party spirit.’⁶

[12] We restrict our understanding of the Book of Allah and
     of the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ
     to the understanding of the Salaf of the Ummah from the Scholars of hadith,
   not blind-followers of their individuals.
Rather, we take the truth from wherever it comes.
And we know that there are those who claim Salafiyyah, yet Salafiyyah is free from them,
     since they bring to the society what Allah has prohibited.
We believe in ‘cultivating the young generation upon this Islam,
     purified from all that we have mentioned,
     giving to them a correct Islamic education from the start —
     without any influence from the disbelieving western education.’⁷

[13] We believe that politics is a part of the Religion,
     and those who try to separate the Religion from politics are only attempting to destroy the Religion and to spread chaos.

[14] We believe there will be no honour or victory for the Muslims
     until they return to the Book of Allah and to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

[15] We oppose those who divide the Religion into trivialities and important issues. And we know that this is a destructive da'wah.

[16] We oppose those who put down the knowledge of the Sunnah, and who say that this is not the time for it.
Likewise, we oppose those who put down acting upon the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

[17] Our da'wah and our aqidah is more beloved to us than our own selves, our wealth and our offspring.
So we are not prepared to part with it for gold, nor silver.
We say this so that no one may hope in buying out our da'wah,
     nor should he think that it is possible for him to purchase it from us for dinar or dirham.

[18] We love the present day Scholars of the Sunnah and hope to benefit from them and regret the passing away of many of them.
Imam Malik said (d.179H) - may Allah have mercy upon him -
     "The knowledge of hadith is your flesh and blood and you will be asked concerning it on the Day of Judgment,
       so look who you are taking it from."⁸

[19] We do not accept a fatwa except from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

These are glimpses into our aqidah and our da'wah. So if one has any objection to this,
     then we are prepared to accept advice if it is truthful,
     and to refute it if it is erroneous,
     and to avoid it if it is stubborn rejection.

And Allah knows best.

Summarised from Tarjumah Abi Abdur-Rahman Muqbil ibn Hadi al-Wadi'i (p135-142) of Muqbil ibn Hadi with minor additions from other sources.
Citations:
1- Refer to al-Kifayah (p15) of al-Khatib al-Baghdadi
2- Refer to al-Muwafiqat (2/79) of ash-Shatibi
3- Refer to al-Jami' li-Akhlaqir-Rawi (2/159) of As-Suyuti.
4- From a fatwa by the Committee of Major Scholars dated: 11/16/1417, (no. 18870). It was signed by Al-'Allamah Abdul-Aziz ibn Baz, Shaykh Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah alush-Shaykh, Abdullah ibn Abdur-Rahman al-Ghudayyan, Shaykh Bakr ibn Abdullah Abu Zayd, and Shaykh Salih ibn Fawzan al-Fawzan.
5- From the words of Shaykh ibn Baz in l-Furqan magazin (issue no. 14, p15)
6- From Fiqhul-Waqi (p49) of al-Albani
7- From Fiqhul-Waqi (p51) of al-Albani
8- Refer to al-Muhaddithul-Fasil p(416) and al-Kifayah (p21) of al-Khatib