What Does It Mean To Be A Salafi?

﷽

All praises are due to Allâh (ﷻ) alone, we praise Him, and we seek His help and forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allâh from the evil of our own souls and from our evil actions. Whomsoever Allaah guides will not be led astray and whomsoever He misguides, no one can guide. I bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped but Allâh, alone without partner or associate, and that Muhammad (ﷺ) is His slave and His Messenger. To proceed:

To be a Salafi means to adhere to and implement the creed and methodology of the Salaf as-Sâlih (The Pious Predecessors). Note, the earliest generation of the Salaf was the generation of our Messenger Muhammad (ﷺ) and his companions.

So, the Salafi is the one who adheres to: The Qurʾân, and Sunnah with the understanding of the Salaf - the Companions, their students (the Tabiʾîn) and their students (the Atbaʾ ut-Tabiʾîn) - The First Three Generations, who were The Best Three Generations, as shown by the Hadîth:

Narrated ʿAbdullah:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "The best people are those of my generation, and then those who will come after them (the next generation), and then those who will come after them (i.e. the next generation), and then after them, there will come people whose witness will precede their oaths, and whose oaths will precede their witness."

Sahih al-Bukhari 6429

A Beneficial Point From ash-Shaykh Sâlih b. Fawzân al-Fawzân (‏حفظه الله):

🎤 Question:

Is it better that a person ascribes to Salafiyyah by saying: "I am Salafī". Or is it sufficient that he says, " I am a Muslim"?

🚨 Answer :

Calling oneself Salafî is not sufficient. A person must also be upon the methodology of the Salaf. He can be upon it without saying that he is a Salafî. However, if there is any need for him to say he is a Salafī, there is no problem in that, because this provides a distinction between him and the one who is not a Salafī if he is amidst the various sects.

[From The Book: Essential Questions & Answers on the Salafee Methodology- Shaykh Fawzān (‏حفظه الله)- Translated by Moosaa Richardson]