Putting people off the books of modern daa’iyahs
Question

                What is your view of those who put people off from reading the books of contemporary daa’iyahs and think that we should limit ourselves to the books of the righteous salaf and take our methods from them? What is the correct view of the books of the salaf (may Allaah have mercy on them) as compared with the books of the modern daa’iyahs and thinkers?
Praise be to Allah. 
          Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah 
          have mercy on him and raise his status among the guided) was asked this 
          question and he answered as follows: 
 
          I think that basing da’wah on the Book of Allaah and 
          the Sunnah of His Messenger 
          
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) comes above all else. This 
          is the view of all of us, beyond a doubt. After that comes that which 
          has been narrated from the Rightly-Guided khaleefahs, the Sahaabah and 
          the imams of Islam among the earlier generations (the salaf). 
 
          With regard to what the later and contemporary scholars 
          speak about, it deals with things that have happened more recently, 
          which they know better about. If a person takes from their books that 
          which will benefit him in that respect, then he will have gained a great 
          deal. We know that the contemporary scholars have taken the knowledge 
          that they have from those who came before them, so let us also take 
          from the same source as they did. But there are some matters which emerged 
          later, that they understand better, because these issues did not arise 
          at the time of the salaf in the same manner. Hence I think that one 
          should combine the two good things, relying primarily on the Book of 
          Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger 
          
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and secondly on the words 
          of the Rightly-Guided khaleefahs and the Sahaabah and the imams of the 
          Muslims, then on what has been written by the contemporary scholars 
          who write about things that did not happen in previous times and were 
          not specifically known to the salaf.