What is the ruling on one who slanders Salafi scholars, prefers to follow Ash'ari scholars, slanders Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and Salafi exegeses, claiming that Salafi fatwas have caused some youth to become atheists, and believes that religion is to be taken only from the four imams and not from other Salafi scholars?

The imams of the religion and the sheikhs of the Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah must be respected, for they are the inheritors of the prophets. The Salafi methodology does not blindly adhere to the statement of a particular scholar or madhhab; rather, it takes from everyone's statements and abandons none but the statement of the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him. Salafis follow the imams and emulate the predecessors, excuse people, and pardon out of ignorance, and call upon the knowledgeable to teach the ignorant before holding them accountable.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah mentioned that he does not call to a specific madhhab, but rather states what the predecessors of the Ummah and its imams agreed upon, and that he was among the strongest in prohibiting the declaration of someone as a disbeliever or a fasiq (transgressor) unless after the establishment of the prophetic proof.

Ibn al-Qayyim explained that truth is dearer to us than any shaykh, and that everyone's statement can be taken or left except for the infallible one, peace and blessings be upon him, and that the beneficial infallibility is that everyone other than the infallible one, his statement can be taken or left.

Moreover, these slips do not necessitate disregarding the virtues of scholars or thinking ill of them.

People of knowledge humbled themselves and submitted to the truth, and they use strong words if Allah and His Messenger command it.

Deviating from the Salafi methodology is deviating from the methodology of the Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah.

The claim that the fatwas of Salafi scholars caused youth to become atheists is a slander; for those who abandoned religion did so out of their hatred for the truth, and not because of the statements of these scholars.

The statement that religion is taken only from the four imams is a corrupt statement; for religion is taken from the Book and the Sunnah, and the four imams themselves prohibited blind adherence to them and commanded a return to the evidence.