What is meant by linguistic bid'ah (religious innovation), and what is the meaning of 'Umar's (may Allah be pleased with him) statement, "This is a good bid'ah"?
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Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner asks: What is meant by linguistic bid'ah? And what is the meaning of 'Umar's (may Allah be pleased with him) statement, "This is a good bid'ah"?
Answer:
I mean linguistic. Linguistic bid'ah is bid'ah in the sense of something that has no precedent. This is the meaning of linguistic bid'ah. Something that has no precedent. And 'Umar's statement is of this type. Because tarawih is not a bid'ah. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) performed it. He prayed it with his Companions for nights. Then he stopped doing it with them for fear that it would become obligatory upon them.
And the Muslims continued to pray it in congregation after the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), in congregation, until 'Umar gathered them behind a single imam, as they had been behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), because the concern had ended, which was the fear of it becoming obligatory. Because after the death of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), there is no legislation and no obligation. So 'Umar intended the linguistic bid'ah: that it is something the people had not become accustomed to, and time had passed for some of them; some had not attended the Prophet's action, and some had forgotten. So 'Umar intended the linguistic bid'ah, not the religious one, because religiously, tarawih is not a religious bid'ah. Yes. May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh, this questioner. If you find something pleasing, you say, "What an innovation this is." You do not say, "So-and-so." This is a wonderful thing. "What an innovation this is" and "How good it is." And the writers say "creativity." What is the meaning of creativity? It means they produce something new that was not preceded before. So this is the linguistic bid'ah. As for the religion, there is no bid'ah in it. The religion is following. And there is no introducing of new things in it. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner asks: What is meant by linguistic bid'ah? And what is the meaning of 'Umar's (may Allah be pleased with him) statement, "This is a good bid'ah"?
Answer:
I mean linguistic. Linguistic bid'ah is bid'ah in the sense of something that has no precedent. This is the meaning of linguistic bid'ah. Something that has no precedent. And 'Umar's statement is of this type. Because tarawih is not a bid'ah. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) performed it. He prayed it with his Companions for nights. Then he stopped doing it with them for fear that it would become obligatory upon them.
And the Muslims continued to pray it in congregation after the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), in congregation, until 'Umar gathered them behind a single imam, as they had been behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), because the concern had ended, which was the fear of it becoming obligatory. Because after the death of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), there is no legislation and no obligation. So 'Umar intended the linguistic bid'ah: that it is something the people had not become accustomed to, and time had passed for some of them; some had not attended the Prophet's action, and some had forgotten. So 'Umar intended the linguistic bid'ah, not the religious one, because religiously, tarawih is not a religious bid'ah. Yes. May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh, this questioner. If you find something pleasing, you say, "What an innovation this is." You do not say, "So-and-so." This is a wonderful thing. "What an innovation this is" and "How good it is." And the writers say "creativity." What is the meaning of creativity? It means they produce something new that was not preceded before. So this is the linguistic bid'ah. As for the religion, there is no bid'ah in it. The religion is following. And there is no introducing of new things in it. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 49 - ما المقصود بالبدعة اللغويّة وما معنى قول عمر رضي الله عنه هذه بدعة حسنة؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.