SALAF AS-SÂLIHÎN -  سلف الصالحين

 

Literally: Salaf is predecessor. Ancestor.

Literally: Sâlih is good. Serviceable. Valid. Upright. Righteous. Pious.

The first guides of the Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamâ’ah.

Salaf as-Sâlihîn are the leaders of the Sahâbah, Tâbi’în (the first generation after Sahâbah) and Tabaî’ Tâbiî’n (The second generation of Muslims after the Sahâbah who had lessons and who narrated Hadith from Tâbi’în and followed them.) The most virtuous Muslims that lived for three centuries after the Hijrah. ‘Ulamâ of ‘ilm Al-Kalâm accept this period until the fifth century of Islam.

 

Just as different merchandise is sought after in the marketplace according to the seasons, different merchandise becomes popular from time to time. So too, in the exhibition of ‘âlam, the market of the social life and civilisation of mankind, in every age, different commodities become popular and gain currency. They are displayed in the market of that age, and attention is drawn to them, gazes turn towards them, and minds are drawn to them.

For example, at this time the demand for commodities of politics, securing worldly life and philosophy... And, in the age of Salaf as-Sâlihîn, and in the market of that era, the most sought-after commodity was to deduce from His Word the wishes of Al-Khâliq of the samâwât and the earth from mankind and the things with which He will be pleased, and to obtain the means to gain eternal happiness in the ‘âlam of âkhirah, which was opened to an unclosable degree by the nûr of nubuwwah and the Qur'an.

... at this time, due to the domination of European civilisation and the hegemony of natural philosophy and the conditions of worldly life becoming heavy, minds and hearts have become scattered, and endeavour and attention divided. Minds have become strangers to the ma’nawî matters.

The Twenty-Seventh Word-The Third

 

Just as within a body, there is the inclination to expand for growing and flourishing. As for that inclination to expand, — because it is from inside — for the body, it is to become perfect. But if it is an inclination to expand from outside, it is to rip the body's skin and destroy it; it is not expansion. In the same way, if the inclination to expand and the will to make ijtihad are present in those who enter the sphere of Islam through the door of perfect taqwâ and the way of conforming to the dharûriyyah of Islam like the Salaf as-Sâlihîn, it is a perfection and to become perfect. Otherwise, the inclination to expand and the will to make ijtihad arising from those who abandon the dharûriyyah, prefer the life of this world to that of the âkhirah and are soiled with materialist philosophy, it is to destroy the body of Islam and the means of casting off the chain of the Sharî'ah from its neck.

The Twenty-Seventh Word-The Fourth