the mire of havoc (radghat al-khabāl) until he retracts what he said—yet he will never retract it.” This is an authentic hadith recorded in Silsilat al-Aḥādīth al-Ṣaḥīḥah (438) and Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl (2376). As another report explains, that mire is the sweat of the people of Hell, or the foul discharge that oozes from them. We seek Allah’s protection from it, from the deeds that lead to it, and from those who persist in them!

Now, Abū Ghuddah has openly declared—in the statement we quoted earlier—“Whoever’s soul recoils at the mention of Muhammad ﷺ is most certainly outside the religion.” That assertion is, in itself, undeniably true. But since he repeatedly accuses the Salafis of precisely such revulsion, as we have already demonstrated, the two premises together yield one inevitable conclusion: in his eyes the Salafis are unbelievers, definitively outside the fold of Islam.

Some readers may still strive to acquit Abū Ghuddah of leveling this charge against the Salafis, even though he has never denied it—had he been able to—despite its ugliness, its enormity, and the grave takfīr to which it leads. Yet what will those readers say about his other accusation, namely: “They belittle [sic] the stature of the Prophet ﷺ”? That charge, no less vile and outrageous than the first, is preserved on an audio cassette in my possession, as I have already mentioned. We are prepared to let anyone who doubts it hear Abū Ghuddah’s own voice uttering the words verbatim, complete with the very intonation noted earlier (!).

Such random accusations that Abū Ghuddah hurls at people—“a habit we recognize from Akhzam”—are, sadly, not unique to him. They are the well-known practice of the enemies of the Sunnah and of hadith in every age and place: shamelessly and irresponsibly charging its adherents with crimes of which they are entirely innocent. And if the esteemed readers know that the Master of humanity, peace and blessings be upon him