Benefit 21: If opposing a fundamental principle removes a person from the fold of Salafiyyah, then we need to know, what is a 'fundamental principle'?

ANSWER: ▪️Imam Ash-Shatibi rahimahullah said: “Any commandment that is sanctified by the Sharee’ah is considered a principle from the fundamental principles of the religion, and whatever is addressed in a less significant manner is considered to be from the secondary and complementary affairs.’ [Al-Muwafaqat (1/338)] ▪️Ibn Abi Zayd Al-Qayrawani said: “They are those affairs which the Muslims regard as aspects of Islam and Sunnah, whose inverse is innovation and misguidance.” [Al-Jami’ - P. 106, under the section describing the fundamental principles of the Sunnah] ▪️Imam Ibn Al-Wazeer said: “Everything that falls under the crucially important matters of Islam.” [Eethrul Haqq - P. 85] ▪️As-Sam’ani [in ‘Al-Qawâti’ (5/13)] and At-Toofi [in ‘Mukhtasarur Rawdha’] both stated that a fundamental principle is: “The obvious matters that are recognised outwardly by every sane individual.” At-Toofi added: “even if the layman’s lack of expression does not allow him to express that.” Sheikh Sa'eed Da'as rahimahullah explained: “There is no difference between what At-Toofi and As-Sam’ani have mentioned here in comparison to what Ash-Shatibi stated earlier; because every matter sanctified by the Sharee’ah is well established with proofs and evidences, this in turn validates, clarifies and makes them easily recognisable.” [Al-Burhan Al-Manqool] In conclusion, the fundamental principles of Ahlus-Sunnah are established by evidences from the Qur'an and Sunnah, and Ahlus-Sunnah are unanimously agreed concerning them; such as the issue of Al-Walaa wal Baraa, affirming Allah's attributes, the Qur’an being the uncreated speech of Allah, Eman consisting of belief, statement and action, that the Muwahhid who commits major sins is not deemed a disbeliever and that he will not abide in Hellfire forever, but rather he is a sinner who will be under Allah's Will, etc. These principles are indicated by the extensive evidences from the Qur’an and Sunnah, and Ahlus-Sunnah are unanimously agreed concerning them, and they became a symbol for them such that anyone who opposes any one of them is considered an innovator. The imams of the Salaf were concerned with listing these fundamentals in what they wrote in clarification of the correct creed, and they stated that whoever opposed them was an innovator. And in order to distinguish and set them apart from the secondary matters, they would refer to these fundamentals as 'Usool As-Sunnah' (fundamentals of the Sunnah), or 'Usool Ahlus-Sunnah' (fundamentals of the people of the Sunnah), or 'Aqeedah Ahlul-Hadeeth' (the creed of the people of hadith), and so on.