This work is a refutation of the reformist-Salafi line, embodied in the person of Hayreddin Karaman. In addition to being a refutation directed at a scholar, it articulates the dynamic structure of the Ahl al-Sunnah against the deviant currents of the age, as well as certain scientific and political circumstances of a half-century time span.
This study is not intended to create a new issue or controversy among Muslims, but rather serves as a refutation of a corruption movement (the Afghani-Abduh line) that has been ongoing for a century and a half. Defending against this movement, which corrupts the minds and hearts of Muslims, is an important matter for Islamic purification and cleansing in our age. This work has been written because the true path of Islam requires it. This study targets the deconstructive lines that have emerged in our age and aim to confuse the minds of the Ummah.
Innovation and tajdid (renewal) will be carried out according to the needs of each age. However, innovation in the face of the issues of the age does not come from viewing Islam—the ever-fresh and unfading—as being behind the times, but by renewing our understandings. This is a task to be performed by thinkers committed to the Quran, Sunnah, ijma (consensus), and the tradition of the jurists (fuqaha). This renewal—tajdid—must be carried out by adhering firmly to the Ahl al-Sunnah, the main backbone of Islam.