Rejected Sunnah vs Beautified Opinion
It is reported that Al-Awzāʿī said:
Follow the narrations [ways] of those who have preceded (the Salaf) even if people reject you; and beware of people’s opinions, even if they beautify them for you.
Al-Ājurrī, Kitāb Al-Sharīʿah 1:138; Ibn ʿAbd Al-Barr, Jāmiʿ Bayān Al-ʿIlm wa Faḍlihi 3:373.
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Related sayings.
It is reported on the authority of Al-Walīd b. Mazyad that he said: I heard Al-Awzāʿī say, when I asked him, “Who is a fool?” He replied, “One who is blind to what is wrong (evil), [though] he has insight into what is good.” Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A’lām Al-Nubalā` 7:116.
It is reported from Al-‘Abbās b. Al-Walīd that ‘Uqbah said: I was once with Arṭa’ah b. Al-Mundhir when one of the people in the gathering said, “What do you say about a man who sits with the followers of the Sunnah and mixes with them, but when the followers of Bid’ah are mentioned he says, […]