What is our aqeedah?

The Salafi creed can be summarized in the following points, mostly taken from the great work of Imam Ahmad called, “Usool Assunnah”, or “The Foundations of the Sunnah”:

1. Holding firm to the understanding of the Companions of the Messenger, may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace

2. Shunning all forms of innovation in the religion, for every innovations is misguidance

3. Abandoning blameworthy argumentation and debating in the religion

4. Fully accepting everything authentically narrated in the Sunnah of the Messenger, understanding that the Sunnah explains the Quran, and not rejecting any part of it in favor of opinions or so-called intellect

5. Loving and respecting all of the Companions of the Messenger, may Allah be pleased with them, and refraining from delving into their faults or having any dislike whatsoever towards any of them, and declaring the one who criticizes any companion to be a misguided innovator

6. Affirming that everything that occurs, the good and the bad of it, is by the Decree of Allah and does not escape His Knowledge or Ability

7. The Quran is the speech of Allah, and it is not created

8. The believers will see their Lord in Paradise, and nothing of the bliss of Paradise will be comparable to the joy of seeing Allah

9. Affirming the Scales, the Fountain of the Messenger, the Bridge over the Hellfire, and all other descriptions of the Day of Resurrection and the next life

10. Affirming the punishment of the grave

11. Affirming that Paradise and Hell are both created and exist at the present moment, and that both are everlasting, each with a people destined for it

12. Affirming that Allah will speak to His servants on the Day of Resurrection

13. Affirming the intersession that Allah will grant on the Day of Resurrection by His permission for those who He is pleased with

14. Fully affirming all the signs of the Hour as described in the Quran and Sunnah, including the return of Jesus peace be upon him, the emergence of the Dajjal (Antichrist), and the emergence of Ya’jooj and Ma’jooj (Gog and Magog), without fanciful misinterpretations or rejection of any authentic narration

15. Hearing and obeying to the rulers of the Muslims, whether they are righteous or wicked, and praying behind them or whomever they appoint, carrying out Jihad with them, and giving the Zakat to them for distribution, without seeing any of that as impermissible regardless of whether the ruler is righteous or wicked

16. Refraining from any form of rebellion against the rulers of the Muslims, righteous or wicked, whether by the sword or by the tongue, including spreading their faults and inciting hatred against them, and viewing the one who does any of these things as a deviant innovator

17. The permissibility of fighting against thieves and rebels under legitimate authority, the right to defend one’s self without the intention of killing anyone, and the right and obligation of the rulers to implement the Islamic legal punishments

18. Iman consists of belief in the heart, statements on the tongue, and actions of the limbs; it increases with obedience and decreases with sin; the one who abandons action in entirety has disbelieved

19. We do not declare a Muslim to be an apostate for committing a major sin, and we affirm that Allah accepts the repentance of those who repent, that the Islamic legal punishments (hudood) are expiations for the corresponding sins, and that the one who dies upon a major sin is under the Will of Allah: if He wills He will punish him, or if He wills He will forgive him

20. We do not declare any Muslim to be in Paradise or Hellfire without explicit textual proof specific to that individual

21. Narrating the narrations describing certain characteristics and actions as hypocrisy or disbelief as they came, without explaining them, as a deterrent from falling into such heinous affairs

22. To perform the funeral prayer on every Muslim, even if he was sinful, and not to prevent people from asking Allah to forgive them