Salafism or it's pejorative term 'Wahhabism' is the strand of Islam that argues the first three generations of Islam were the ones who were among the best guidance and hence it should be these generations Muslims follow. There's textual evidence from the hadith to support this claim as follows "Verily the best among you (to follow) is my generation (the Messenger Muhammad (pbuh) and his Companions (RA)), then those who follow, and then those who follow them…" (Saheeh Muslim, the Virtues of the Sahabah, chapter 52 hadeeth no. 2535)
Another principle which Salafists have a strong emphasis on is that our knowledge of Islam can only be derived from the Qur'an or Sunnah and anything else is considered to bid'ah (innovation.) We often hear the Imams on the mimbar began their speech with the following statement uttered by Muhammad: "Every newly-invented thing is a bid'ah (innovation), every bid'ah is a going astray, and every going astray will be in the Fire." (Reported by al-Nisaa'i in al-Sunan, Salaat al-'Eedayn, Baab kayfa al-Khutbah).
From this, we begin to realise why Salafists practice the takfirism that is toxic in the Muslim world as any innovation in the religion which came about after Muhammad's death be it Mawlid, be it visiting shrines or even wiping hands on back of the neck whilst doing wudu' is an innovation which in the eyes of Allah deems an individual worthy of Hell-fire.
I acknowledge there's a multitude of interpretations of Islam, many of them often being more palatable to the human conscience than Salafism. However, some interpretations are simply more plausible than others due to the abundance of religious texts which support their position and Salafism unfortunately happens to be the most plausible for the reasons above. Muhammad said of 73 sects 72 will be saved well, we can be pretty sure that lucky one will be Salafism.
Another principle which Salafists have a strong emphasis on is that our knowledge of Islam can only be derived from the Qur'an or Sunnah and anything else is considered to bid'ah (innovation.) We often hear the Imams on the mimbar began their speech with the following statement uttered by Muhammad: "Every newly-invented thing is a bid'ah (innovation), every bid'ah is a going astray, and every going astray will be in the Fire." (Reported by al-Nisaa'i in al-Sunan, Salaat al-'Eedayn, Baab kayfa al-Khutbah).
From this, we begin to realise why Salafists practice the takfirism that is toxic in the Muslim world as any innovation in the religion which came about after Muhammad's death be it Mawlid, be it visiting shrines or even wiping hands on back of the neck whilst doing wudu' is an innovation which in the eyes of Allah deems an individual worthy of Hell-fire.
I acknowledge there's a multitude of interpretations of Islam, many of them often being more palatable to the human conscience than Salafism. However, some interpretations are simply more plausible than others due to the abundance of religious texts which support their position and Salafism unfortunately happens to be the most plausible for the reasons above. Muhammad said of 73 sects 72 will be saved well, we can be pretty sure that lucky one will be Salafism.
