In "al-Ajwibah al-Mufidah" (a collection of the fatwas of Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan on Manhaj), pages 88-89, 2nd edition:

What do you say about the one who applies [the label] of "absent" to the contemporary Islamic Ummah?

The saying that the Muslim Ummah is absent, then Takfir of all of the Islamic nations is necessitated from it, since its meaning is that there is no Islamic state, and this is in opposition to the saying of the Messenger (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam), "There will never cease to be a group from my Ummah upon the truth, uppermost. They will not be harmed by those who desert them or those who oppose them, until the affair of Allaah - the Blessed and Exalted - arrivs, and they are in this state."

So regardless of how much misguidance, differing, and disbelief might occur, then this safe and secure group will always remain.

Hence, there is no such thing as the absence of the Islamic Ummah, and all praise is due to Allaah, and nor is it a required condition for this Islamic Society, or this Aided Group that it is devoid of sins, since sins were found in the time of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam), and also in the time of his Khulafaa, however, they were stood up against and were rejected.

Note that this is a question regarding a lecture given by Salman al-Awdah and which was titled, ( الأمة الغائبة) "The Absent Ummah", and he is taking it from whom? Let's see:

The Ummah (of Islaam) has ceased to be in existence (ghaabat al-Ummah) and from being witnessed (i.e. observable) for a very long time.

That's the saying of none other than Sayyid Qutb in Ma'aalim fit-Tareeq, "Milestones" - (p.8, 17th edition, 1991).

See also:

• Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan's Refutation of Salman al-Awdah's Generalized Mass Takfir of All the Muslims - (see here)

And also the following: