6) The Salafis Are Arrogant And Have Bad Manners

And this is a very subtle matter, requiring careful thought and deliberation. As for bad manners, then this is often due to the upbringing and nature of the individual, his characteristics and his personality, and it is not necessary a reflection of the base and foundation, the aqidah and manhaj of the Salaf, which is nothing but the truth. So a person may be in need of correcting his manners and calling with wisdom (that is the Sunnah) and beautiful argumentation, so that his invitation is more readily accepted. But this is not pretext for rejecting the validity and correctness of the way of the Salaf and ascribing oneself to it, since that is the only way of deliverance. So we make a difference between what sometimes occurs from some of the Salafis of bad manners, and between what is actually a knowledge-based manhaj that is derived from the Book and the Sunnah. The blame is upon the individual and not the base and foundation. The same can be said about every other Muslim, regardless of what astray methodology or heretical belief he subscribes to, amongst them are those with evil manners and bad habits. But a manhaj or aqidah is judged according to its agreement or disagreement with what the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) and his Companions and the Salaf were upon, fundamentally, not by the behaviour of its people. Refer also to the next doubt for more clarification.

As for arrogance, then sometimes this may occur from an individual, in which case he is censured, yet in other cases it is perceived to be arrogance, though the individual does not have any arrogance but only love for the truth, being certain in that truth – but he is understood to have arrogance by his counterpart or opponent or the one that he is inviting. And it can often be the case that arrogance is actually on behalf of the one who does not accept the truth of what is being said by the one who subscribes to the Salafi aqidah and manhaj (and who is not a false pretender from amongst the biased partisans!!). Remember this, for this is often the case. As the Messenger (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) said, "Arrogance is rejection of the truth, and looking down upon the people". Many of those who claim the Salafis are arrogant, then refuge is from Allaah, in truth they are the arrogant ones for they do not accept the true call and the correct da’wah, out of arrogance, and then they accuse the Salafis of being arrogant. So remember this, for every coin has two sides.

Consider, a Salafi may be inviting a person to the truth, in a matter in which he knows that he is correct. He is harsh and insists that he is correct and so he is accused of being arrogant, though the only reason he has exhibited this behaviour is his love for the truth and upholding the truth. Even though we may say that his action is incorrect and misplaced and his great zeal has led him to behave inappropriately, either due to lack of knowledge or due to bad manners. So it is upon him to correct all of that. Otherwise the one being invited ends up not accepting the truth on account of the way it was presented.

So we say that arrogance may sometimes be exihibited, and this returns back to the individual, not the manhaj or aqidah he subscribes to. Indeed, we can say that many of the Sufi Heretics are indeed arrogant in their claim of sure deliverance from the Fire and their requesting submissive obedience from their herd of followers – thinking themselves to be above the people. And we can extend this to all of the sects and groups of innovation. Arrogance is found everywhere and is not a referent point for whether a person’s manhaj and aqidah is correct or not. Rather the manhaj and aqidah itself is the referent point, and all of that is thrown against what the Salaf were upon.

We leave you with the remainder of the discussion between Imaam al-Albaani and the questioner concerning naming with "Salafiyyah":

Questioner: [Continuing from where we left off] "Alright, I will submit to you and I say to you: Yes (I agree about summarising with saying ‘I am Salafi’), yet my belief is what has preceded, since the first thing that a person thinks of when he hears that you are a Salafi is that he recalls much of the experience he has had and which has involved severity which leads to harshness, all of which sometimes occurs from the Salafis."

Shaikh al-Albaani: "Lets accept that your words are correct. If you said ‘I am a Muslim’, will not a person’s think of a Shi’ite Rafidee, or a Druze or an Ismaa’eeli (and incline to him)."