Question
Is it established from the Salaf al-Ṣāliḥīn that Ahl al-Sunnah refers to Ahl al-Ḥadīth?
Answer
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“A group from my Ummah will always remain upon the truth. Those who abandon them will not be able to harm them, until the Hour is established.”
Imām ʿAlī bin al-Madīnī رحمه الله said:
“They are Ahl al-Ḥadīth.”
And Ahl al-Sunnah and Ahl al-Ḥadīth are one and the same.
Imām Ibn Ḥazm رحمه الله said:
“Ahl al-Sunnah are those whom we call Ahl al-Ḥaqq (the people of truth), and besides them are the people of innovation. Those who adhere to the Sunnah are the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the Tābiʿīn who followed their truth, then the Ahl al-Ḥadīth, and then those who followed them generation after generation up to our time, and those who adopted their methodology in the East and the West.”
Imām Ibn al-Jawzī رحمه الله said:
“There is no doubt that Ahl al-Ḥadīth are those who follow the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the reports of the Companions, and they are the Ahl al-Sunnah.”
Imām Abū Ṭāhir al-Salafī رحمه الله said:
“I am among the Ahl al-Ḥadīth, and this is the best group.”
Imām al-Farāʾīnī رحمه الله said:
“The Aṣḥāb al-Ḥadīth are Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah.”
For further details, see:
al-Azhār al-Manthūrah fī Bayān anna Ahl al-Ḥadīth hum al-Firqah al-Nājiyah wa al-Ṭāʾifah al-Manṣūrah by Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān bin ʿAbdullāh al-Atharī, published in Ajman.
Imām Qutaybah bin Saʿīd رحمه الله said:
“When you see a man who loves Ahl al-Ḥadīth, then he is upon the Sunnah; and whoever opposes Ahl al-Ḥadīth is an innovator.”
