I would want to know the differences between the Sunni Muslims and the Salafi Muslims?

All praise be to Allah and may His peace and blessings be on His final and greatest messenger, Muhammad.
Dear Enquirer,
The word Sunni means one who follows the Sunnah, which means the path of the messenger of Allah (Allah's peace and blessings be upon him).
The word Salafi means one who follows the Salaf, which are the righteous predecessors, namely the scholars and Muslim imams from the first three generations.
Following the first three generations, more particularly that of the Sahabah, is the path recommended by the messenger of Allah. He (Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said:
عن عبد اللَّهِ بن عَمْرٍو قال: قال رسول اللَّهِ : “لَيَأْتِيَنَّ على أُمَّتِي ما أتى على بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ حَذْوَ النَّعْلِ بِالنَّعْلِ، حتى إن كان منهم من أتى أُمَّهُ عَلَانِيَةً لَكَانَ في أُمَّتِي من يَصْنَعُ ذلك وَإِنَّ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ تَفَرَّقَتْ على ثِنْتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِينَ مِلَّةً وَتَفْتَرِقُ أُمَّتِي على ثَلَاثٍ وَسَبْعِينَ مِلَّةً كلهم في النَّارِ إلا مِلَّةً وَاحِدَةً قالوا وَمَنْ هِيَ يا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ قال ما أنا عليه وَأَصْحَابِي.� قال أبو عِيسَى هذا حَدِيثٌ مُفَسَّرٌ غريب لَا نَعْرِفُهُ مِثْلَ هذا إلا من هذا الْوَجْهِ ‏‏‏.‏ وفي رواية قال �هي الجماعة، يد الله على الجماعة‏�.‏
�My nation will experience everything that the Children of Israel had experienced, following in their footsteps exactly, so much so that if one of them had approached his mother publicly for sex, one of my nation will do the same. The Children of Israel divided into 72 sects. My nation will divide into 73 sects, and all of them will be in the Hellfire save one.� The people asked him: �And which one will that be? He replied: �The one that follows what I and my Companions are upon right now.� And in a different narration, he said about that group: �It is the group/mainstream; Allah�s hand is with the group.�
This hadeeth has been authentically reported � though some disagreed with its authenticity - by Ahmad and the books called as-Sunan, including at-Tirmidhi from which is the above mentioned wording. Its meaning has its roots in the Quran, Allah said:
“فَإِنْ آمَنُواْ بِمِثْلِ مَا آمَنتُم بِهِ فَقَدِ اهْتَدَواْ وَّإِن تَوَلَّوْاْ فَإِنَّمَا هُمْ فِي شِقَاقٍ فَسَيَكْفِيكَهُمُ اللّهُ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ.”
�So if they believe as ye believe, they are indeed on the right path; but if they turn back, it is they who are in schism; but Allah will suffice thee as against them, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.� [Al-Baqarah:137]
The people addressed by this are none but the Sahabah (may Allah be pleased with them).
Given the above, as well as Allah�s accreditation of the Sahabah in many verses of the Quran, it is obvious that the two words Sunni and Salafi overlap, despite having different linguistic origins. It is an overlap like that of Iman and Islam…etc.
It is important, however, to observe that the claim does not necessarily always match the reality. One may claim to be Sunni or Salafi without living up to such noble claims.
The following are signs of those who are both Sunni and Salafi (in truth):
• They follow the revelation (Quran and Sunnah) and quote it appropriately. And they are keen to seek out the authentic Sunnah of our most beloved, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
• They understand the revelation according to the understanding of the righteous predecessors, which are the companions, and those who followed in their footsteps. They don�t reject or defy the consensus of the previous generations.
• In matters of Aqeedah, they receive their faith from the pure sources of the Quran and Sunnah. They don�t liken Allah to his creatures, nor do they negate his attributes. They believe Allah�s rule (Shari�ah) is supreme, and work for its implementation in their societies.
• They believe in predestination without negating man�s choice…etc.
• In matters of fiqh, they may � or may not - follow a madhhab, but are always keen to abide by the Sunnah when it is clear.
• They don�t pursue illegitimate concessions, nor do they neglect to enjoy legitimate ones. They follow a path of moderation between extremism and laxity. And most importantly, they do what they say and vice versa.
• They avoid innovations and resist any addition to or deletion from the deen. A true Salafi is one who says about the companions the opposite of what the disbelievers said! The disbelievers said:
“وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَوْ كَانَ خَيْرًا مَّا سَبَقُونَا إِلَيْهِ وَإِذْ لَمْ يَهْتَدُوا بِهِ فَسَيَقُولُونَ هَذَا إِفْكٌ قَدِيمٌ.”
�The Unbelievers say of those who believe: “If it were a good thing, (such men) would not have gone to it first, before us!” And seeing that they guide not themselves thereby, they will say, “this is an (old,) falsehood!” [Al-Ahqaf-46/11] Again, those who believed during the time of this revelation are none but the Sahabah. It is our duty to say: �”If it were a good thing, (such men) would have gone to it first.�
• In matters of the history of Islam and the companions and the great imams, they speak well of them and abstain from any mention of them that is belittling or defaming. They respect the scholars of Islam, particularly the ones whose leadership is agreed upon, such as the four imams, Abu Haneefah, Malik, ash-Shafe�ee and Ahmad. And they do so without giving any of them the position of the Messenger of Allah, who is obeyed without questioning in all matters. They are moderate in their following of the madhahib between the extremes of excessive zeal and contempt.
• They work for unity amongst the Muslims. They love them and fear for the disobedient and misguided amongst them and seek to help them through advice (naseehah). They care about the Muslims and grieve over the afflictions the nation may encounter. And they have allegiance for the believers regardless of their race, color, language, nationality, tribe or social or economic status. They never aid their enemies against them.
Having said all that, I prefer that the name Salafi is not used as a way of creating dissension or division, or as a symbol of status, but rather, it may be used at times when one wants to assert his/her following of the early generations.
Allah knows best.

Asalaamu alaikum

Will there be Women speakers or Scholars? If not - can you explain why?

Some of the “Scholars” listed in the flyer are male yet do not have an Islamic Studies degree and some do not have a degree that would really qualify them at the level of “Scholar” or what we say is a Alim in Islam. The Ulema in Islam traditionally had a very intensive education in Islam, not just a bachelor’s degree in Islamic Studies in some online University.

A:
Assalamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

All praise be to Allah, and may his peace and blessings be on the last and best prophet and messenger, Muhammad.

Even though I can’t see what the problem is with the lack of a female speaker, but may Allah reward the sister for her advice. She must mean well. I know that she is active and she tries to help the Muslim community which we all aspire to serve.
As for the comment about the use of the word scholars, it is a very reasonable one, and must be appreciated by all of us. Certainly, the word “scholars” doesn’t fit the entire list according to our standard as Muslims, and the use of it was somewhat liberal as indicated in the original message, but from a western perspective, it is acceptable. After all, there are people described as scholars and experts in Islam and they don’t memorize juz’ ‘amma. Now, the dilemma is that you can not belittle and undermine the Muslim leadership where the non-Muslims elevate their leaders excessively. That is not in the best interest of the community, who will develop disinterest in their leaders and lack of respect. Most of the people on this list are at least memorizers of the entire Quran. That is remarkable in the western standard, and if some clergy in other religions memorized their entire holy book word by word, they would declare him an authority in the religion. On the other hand, you have to be careful with the titles so that you don’t give people excessive self confidence and false self perception that can be detrimental to their sincerity and conduct. It is a fine balance and one that is very hard to reach.
There is no agreement between the scholars on the use of the word; and while some have very strict definition that would make the number of scholars in the whole ummah zero to less than ten, others have a very liberal use of the word that would make hundreds of imams and khateebs in the Americas qualify.
But, except for procedural reasons, such as in the membership of organizations or academic posts, no learned one looks at the academic degree or where it was earned from to quantify the knowledge of individuals/scholars.
Our earlier scholars didn’t have much discussion about the definition of a scholar, but rather the definition of a mujtahid, which is the highest caliber of scholars. Even there, they varied widely from people who were too liberal to those who were too strict. Many accept imam Ghazali’s conditions, which basically are:
• Proficiency in the Arabic language which allows him to have a correct understanding of the Quran.
• Sufficient knowledge of the Maccan and Madinan parts of the Quran and the circumstances of revelation, as well as knowing the abrogated and abrogating.
• Knowledge of the verses pertaining to rulings (ayat-ul-ahkaam), which are about 500 verses, according to al-Ghazali.
• Knowledge of all interpretations of the (ayat-ul-ahkaam), especially those of the companions.
• Satisfactory knowledge of the Sunnah, its narrations and the relative reliability of the narrators, as well as abrogation within the Sunnah. According to some, about 1200 ahadeeth are essential to know, but not to memorize, as per al-Ghazali, who felt it would be sufficient to know where to find them.
• Knowledge of the objectives of sharia, such as the protection of the religion, life, intellect, wealth, lineage and honor. As well as satisfactory knowledge of the legal principals, like “matters are but according to their intentions”, the removal of hardship and balancing between harm and benefit…etc.
• Knowledge of the fundamentals of jurisprudence that would enable him to sort out between the general and specific and the absolute and the limited…etc.
• knowledge of the rules of sound analogy making (qiyas) to allow him to find rulings for novelties based on the scriptural evidence that didn’t directly address them.
• Knowledge of the consensus and disagreement, i.e. being able to distinguish between the rulings that are agreed upon and those that are controversial.
• Sincerity and devotion as well as acting according to the knowledge s/he has.
Now, even that definition doesn’t end the controversy, because they would disagree on how much of the fundamentals of jurisprudence should the person know to satisfy that condition…etc. Some use that very definition to say there are no mujtahids whatsoever in the Muslim world, or more precisely Mujtahid Mutlaq (absolute). Others use it to say there are thousands of them.
What we can’t afford is to be negative and undermine the ummah and its leaders. We should encourage them to improve their scholarship and pray for them to lead us in the right direction. And if the imams of the various mosques are not of those leaders of the Muslim community, then who?
It is finally to be remembered that if some individuals on the list didn’t qualify, while others did, you would include them under the same title with no harm. Allah referred to a group of the angels and Iblees as angels. He didn’t say “behold, when your lord said to the angels and Iblees” as we all know.
Despite all of that, had I written that flyer, I would have said shaykhs – which is a much looser term - instead of scholars. But, I am sure that the brother who wrote it was well meaning as much as I am sure the sister who made that comment is.
May Allah reward him for his great efforts to organize this event and may He reward the sister for her advice that we must accept and benefit from.

All praise be to Allah, and may his peace and blessings be on the last and best prophet and messenger, Muhammad.

As salam aleikum, According prophet Muhammed may the peace of Allah be upon Him said ….The muslims will be divided into many numbers and the one on top will be in right way please kindly explain

All praise be to Allah, and may his peace and blessings be on the last and best prophet and messenger, Muhammad.

You are likely referring to the following hadeeth:
عن عبد اللَّهِ بن عَمْرٍو قال: قال رسول اللَّهِ (صلى الله عليه وسلم): “لَيَأْتِيَنَّ على أُمَّتِي ما أتى على بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ حَذْوَ النَّعْلِ بِالنَّعْلِ، حتى إن كان منهم من أتى أُمَّهُ عَلَانِيَةً لَكَانَ في أُمَّتِي من يَصْنَعُ ذلك وَإِنَّ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ تَفَرَّقَتْ على ثِنْتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِينَ مِلَّةً وَتَفْتَرِقُ أُمَّتِي على ثَلَاثٍ وَسَبْعِينَ مِلَّةً كلهم في النَّارِ إلا مِلَّةً وَاحِدَةً قالوا وَمَنْ هِيَ يا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ قال ما أنا عليه وَأَصْحَابِي.” قال أبو عِيسَى هذا حَدِيثٌ مُفَسَّرٌ غريب لَا نَعْرِفُهُ مِثْلَ هذا إلا من هذا الْوَجْهِ ‏‏‏.‏
وفي رواية قال “هي الجماعة، يد الله على الجماعة‏”.‏
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “My nation will experience everything that the Children of Israel had experienced, following in their footsteps exactly, so much so that if one of them had approached his mother publicly for sex, one of my nation will do the same. The Children of Israel divided into 72 sects. My nation will divide into 73 sects, and all of them will be in the Hellfire save one.” The people asked him: “And which one will that be? He replied: “The one that follows what I and my Companions are upon right now.” And in a different narration, he said about that group: “It is the group/mainstream; Allah’s hand is with the group.”
This hadeeth has been authentically reported – though some disagreed with its authenticity - by Ahmad and the books called as-Sunan, including at-Tirmidhi from which is the above mentioned wording.
According to the hadeeth, the group that is guided is that one that understands the text of the revelation (Quran and Sunnah) according to the understanding of the best generation, that of the companions. It is also the mainstream and the group that works for unity amongst the Muslims and calls to orthodoxy of faith and practice and unity of the ranks of the Muslims.
You may be able to point them out from the rest by the following signs:
• They follow the revelation (Quran and Sunnah) and quote it appropriately. And they are keen to seek out the authentic sunnah of our most beloved, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
• They understand the revelation according to the understanding of the righteous predecessors, which are the companions, and those who followed in their footsteps.
• They don’t reject or defy the consensus of the previous generations.
• In matters of aqeedah, They receive their faith from the pure sources of the Quran and Sunnah. They don’t liken Allah to his creatures, nor do they negate his attributes. They believe Allah’s rule (shari’ah) is supreme, and work for its implementation in their societies. They believe in predestination without negating man’s choice…etc.
• In matters of fiqh, they may – or may not - follow a madhhab, but are always keen to abide by the Sunnah when it is clear. They don’t fish for illegitimate concessions, nor do they neglect to enjoy legitimate ones. They follow a path of moderation between extremism and laxity. And most importantly, they do what they say and vice versa.
• In matters of the history of Islam and the companions and the great imams, they speak well of them and abstain from any mention of them that is belittling or defaming. They respect the scholars of Islam, particularly the ones whose leadership is agreed upon, such as the four imams, Abu Haneefah, Malik, ash-Shafe’ee and Ahmad. And they do so without giving any of them the position of the Messenger of Allah, who is obeyed without questioning in all matters. They are moderate in their following of the madhahib between the extremes of excessive zeal and contempt.
• They work for unity amongst the Muslims. They love them and fear for the disobedient and misguided amongst them and seek to help them through advice (naseehah). They care about the Muslims and grieve over the afflictions the nation may encounter. And they have allegiance for the believers regardless of their race, color, language, nationality, tribe or social or economic status. They never aid their enemies against them.

• The hadeeth, though, should be understood in the context of the entire revelation to make out a balanced view. It should not make us forget the many verses and ahadeeth praising the Muslim nation and indicating that it is a blessed and forgiven one; of those we should not forget Allah’s statement:
“كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ وَلَوْ آمَنَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ لَكَانَ خَيْراً لَّهُم مِّنْهُمُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَأَكْثَرُهُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ”
Ye are the best of peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in Allah. If only the People of the Book had faith, it were best for them: among them are some who have faith, but most of them are perverted transgressors. (3:110)
Nor should we forget the Prophet’s statement:
“أمتي كالمطر لا يدرى اوله خير أم آخره.”
“My nation is like rain, it is not known which part of it is better, the beginning or the end!” reported by at-Tabarani in al-Awsat.
• It is of note here that some people may deviate on certain aspects from the path of Ahl-us-sunanh but would still be considered of them in general, albeit with certain departures from Ahl-us-sunnah’s path in the matters regarding which they disagreed with Ahl-us-sunnah.
• This is true unless their deviation is extensive to bring them out of the fold of Ahl-us-sunnah, such as those who reject the sunnah or belittle it, curse the companions or some of them, claim the existence of prophets or infallible individuals after Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), claim to have knowledge given to them in secret or in ways not accessible to the rest of the Muslim public, or have sources of knowledge other than the Quran and sunnah…etc.
• Such deviations and others vary in degree and severity, with some of them casting their upholders outside the fold of Islam entirely.
• It is also noteworthy that Allah has forgiven this nation their mistakes committed because of ignorance, the Prophet said:
• ” عفي عن أمتي الخطأ والنسيان و ما استكرهوا عليه.”
• ‘Allah has pardoned my community what it commits by mistake, out of forgetfulness, or out of compulsion.”
• This hadeeth has also a subtle meaning, which is that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said in reference to those deviant sects “my nation” which indicates that they are still Muslim and that belonging to a deviant sect doesn’t necessarily take you out of the fold of Islam unless your deviation is one that entails disbelief.
Imam Ibn Taymiyah has the following to say regarding those sects:
“Anyone from one of the 72 other sects who is a hypocrite is indeed an unbeliever in his heart. Anyone form among them who is not a hypocrite but who in fact believes in Allah and His Messenger is not an unbeliever, regardless of whatever mistakes in interpretation they may have. When a believer says: “Our Lord, forgive us and our brothers who have preceded us in faith” [from Sûrah al-Hashr: 10], he means all the Muslims of the past centuries, even those who made mistakes in interpretation, acted contrary to the Sunnah, or committed some sins. They are still from his brothers who preceded him in faith and they all come under the generality of his supplication, even if they had belonged to one of the 72 other sects. Each one of these sects contains within its ranks a large number of people who are not unbelievers. They are believers who have gone somewhat astray and have sinned, making them worthy of the threat of punishment.” [Translation obtained from www.islamtoday.net]

While Ahl-us-sunnah must be aware and hateful of the deviations of those sects and ready to defend the sunnah of the Prophet, they should be the most merciful towards the entire Muslim nation.

May Allah guide us all to the path of his last and best messenger, Muhammad (peace be upon him). Allah knows best.

Egyptian medical student willing to move to the US

Assalamo Alaikom, I`m an Egyptian medical student and am willing in shaa Allah to move to the US after i finish my studying here. My question is “is it permissible to move from a muslim to a non-muslim country to work?” I heard different answers, some say it is allowed only if one can practice their religion without fear, while others say it is not allowed and those living there should move to a muslim country. Jazakum Allah Khairan. Assalamo Alaikom.

All praise be to Allah, and may his peace and blessings be on the last and best prophet and messenger, Muhammad.

From a fiqhi perspective, the majority of Muslim scholars consider living in a non-Muslim state where a person can manifestly practice his religion to be permissible.
The conditions would be:
To be able to freely practice your religion.
To be able to preserve your iman and more importantly, your children’s.
To not support the non-Muslims against the Muslims.
To have no special skills that are in demand by the Muslims. In such case, you must help them when they ask for your help.
The challenges facing the Muslim communities in the west are not minor. If you have a stable and decent life in your homeland, I would advise you to stay where you are or seek work in some Muslim country. If you decided to emigrate to the west, I would advise you to do the following:
Get married before you come or make it a priority.
When you arrive, surround yourself with practicing Muslims and make the masjid your second home.
As long as you are in a non-Muslim land, you are an ambassador for the religion, so fear Allah and be a good Ambassador for the best religion.
Your greatest challenge will be to raise your kids on Islam, and you should not compromise on their level of practice.
Finally, pray a lot of istikharah, and ask Allah to guide you to that which is best for you in this life and the one to come.

Allah knows best.