YASIR QADHI ON SALAFIYYAH

By

Ibn Abdillah As-sudaisiy Al-Iloori

8th October 2017

I listened to an audio interview where Dr. Yasir Qadhi (may Allah rectify his affairs) was asked about the growth of salafiyyah in the modern world, he said, (and I quote verbatim),

"One of the main reasons why salafi islam is popular is that it empowers the people and it challenges them to think critically. It makes them feel the connection with the tradition, it tells the research by buying the classical books to read up ancient texts and don't just follow anything that your local clerics teach you. Also, believe it or not, that makes a lot of sense. It is very rational, it opposes the mysticism of the mystics. It opposes the superstitions of those branches of Islam that might believe in supernatural powers of the dead or of invoking the saints. It actually promotes a direct relationship with God. And so, it does appeal to the rational mind. It does appeal to a mind that is inquisitive and curious. It allows Muslims to look back at a period that is deemed to be a type of utopia, with a type of romantic nostalgia. So, for all of these reasons, salafism is on the rise"

Flowing from the above submission, the anchor of the interview asked another question, "what would that look like in the modern world?", and he said,

"Frankly, i think that is the only question no salafi has answered in a very realistic manner. And this was one of the main reasons why I myself find myself distancing from the movement. That this type of cliched or rhetoric "we want to go back to the first three generations", what exactly does that mean in a modern world? I don't think that any salafi really has a concrete clue as to how that would take place" [End of quotes]

It is important to clarify that, salafiyyah is not a "movement". It is a term that is used to represent real Islam or strict adherence to the way of the salaf (the best three generations of Muslims) in line with Q9:100 and several hadiths of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. 

Secondly, the claim that no salafi has been able to give an idea of how to apply the way of the salaf in our modern world is false and frivolous. It is a calculated attempt to undermine the scholars of the deen and their painstaking efforts in preserving Orthodox Islam. 

In all Halqaat where scholars teach the correct Islam according to the Quran and Sunnah, what other things do they do than to tell us how we can apply the way of the best three (3) generations of Muslims to attain felicity in this world and the hereafter? This is the basis upon which many fatwa books were compiled. A lot of books have equally been written to sufficiently explain the aims and objectives of Da'watus Salafiyyah (Call to Pristine Islam). 

The objective of modernists is to strain textual evidence to conform with modern trends. Whereas, salafiyyah is about adjusting modern trends to meet up with textual provisions. One of the attributes of the shari'ah (Qur'ān , Sunnah and the way of the Salaf) is its ability to conform with every kind of situation. The shari'ah would not change to meet up with our own era. It is our era that must adjust to comply with the shari'ah.

May we not be misguided after being guided to the right path of Islam.