What is the authenticity of some of the sayings and misconceptions raised about the Salafi creed and its relationship with the Ash'ari creed, including what is attributed to Ibn Taymiyyah regarding the hadiths of Nuzool (Descent) and Istiwaa' (Ascension), and what the Ash'aris say about themselves being Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah, and did Allah praise them in the Qur'an in His saying: {O you who have believed, whoever of you reverts from his religion – Allah will bring forth [in place of them] a people He will love and who will love Him [who are] humble toward the believers, powerful against the disbelievers; they strive in the way of Allah and do not fear the blame of a critic. That is the favor of Allah; He bestows it upon whom He wills. And Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing}, and what is said about the Ash'arism of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror?

A Muslim must rely in matters of belief and worship on the texts of the two revelations (Quran and Sunnah) and the understanding of the Companions and their successors. One should ask Allah for guidance to the truth in times of disagreement. People's disparagement of scholars should not shake a Muslim's faith, for scholars are tested. Those who have knowledge should refute (the falsehood), and those who do not have knowledge should ponder the texts of the two revelations. Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah was a scholar who strictly followed the truth, and Al-Dhahabi praised him. The attributes of Allah are tawqifiyyah (restricted to divine revelation), and Allah is not described except with what is established in the revelation. The Ash'aris are a group attributed to Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, who, at the end of his life, returned to the methodology of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah, and his true followers are those who followed his final methodology. The hadith of Abu Musa concerning the revelation of the verse is understood to mean that his people referred to the people of Yemen. The hadith about the conquest of Constantinople has a difference of opinion regarding its authenticity; if it is authentic, it indicates the merit of the leader and his struggling soldiers. One must know the truth by men, not men by the truth.