My sincere Muslim brother!
Know—may Allah guide you and me to understand His religion by the light of revelation and the guidance of the righteous predecessors—that a foundation of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama‘ah is to value how the Companions, their successors and the leading scholars of the best generations understood the Qur’an and Sunnah. They lived closest to the time of revelation, knew its language and contexts best, witnessed the circumstances of prophethood most directly, and were most firmly grounded in following and receiving its teachings.
Their distinction was more than simply having lived earlier. They combined sound transmission, closeness to the prophetic era, command of the language, strength of faith and freedom from affectation. This made their understanding a major foundation for interpreting revelation and establishing its meanings accurately.
For this reason, the Prophet ﷺ said: “خيرُ النَّاسِ قرني، ثمَّ الذينَ يلونَهم، ثمَّ الذينَ يلونَهم”
Allah Most High said of the earliest believers: “As for the first forerunners of the Emigrants[74] and the Helpers[75], and those who followed them in righteous deeds, Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him.”
Thus, the reports of the Salaf are a treasure of understanding and insight. Much of their speech is brief in words, vast in meaning and lasting in effect, because it comes from knowledge of revelation, experience in worship, religious teaching, striving and education, and familiarity with the workings of souls and times of trial.
Revering the words of the Salaf does not mean every individual among them was infallible, or that every statement attributed to one of them is independent proof in itself. The measure is the Qur’an and Sunnah, the understanding of the Companions, and what the leading scholars of the Salaf agreed upon or what was widespread among them with no known, recognised dissent. Matters on which they differed must be referred back to evidence, bringing the texts together and considering the principles of Islamic law.
Do not disregard their reports or replace what is authentically established from them with later conjectures or strained interpretations. Whoever severs his connection with the understanding of the earliest generations risks reading revelation only through the eyes of his own age, rather than through the language of its revelation and the explanation of those who first received it.
The words of the Salaf on creed, faith, purification of the soul, religious teaching, method and trials are a treasury of insight. They help the seeker of truth recognise points of error, the entrances of desire, the workings of souls, patterns of change, and how to apply the texts to events without excess or neglect.
A discerning person does not read the Qur’an and Sunnah in isolation from the understanding of the generation among whom revelation descended. Nor does he make a later generation the judge of an earlier one merely because it is more recent. He combines sound evidence, correct understanding and benefit from the legacy of the best generations.
Whoever seeks a sound path should adhere to Allah’s Book and His Messenger’s Sunnah ﷺ, guided by the understanding of the Companions, their successors and the imams of guidance, benefiting from later scholars’ reasoning while referring everything back to revelation. Good lies in following; error begins when a person considers himself free of the guidance of revelation and the legacy of its earliest people.