The Best Writings on Explaining Religious Innovations

Question:
Your Eminence the Shaykh (may Allah preserve you), what are the books written on bid'ah (religious innovation) that you advise us to read in order to gain more knowledge about it?

Answer:
Reading the books of the people of innovation is not permissible; reading their books may mislead people, unless a scholar reads them in order to refute them. As for their books, one should not open them or read them—books of bid'ah. However, if a student of knowledge reads them in order to refute them and clarify their innovation, there is no harm. Books that warn against bid'ah are required, and there are many such books, praise be to Allah. These include *Tahdhir min al-Bid'ah* by Ibn Wadhih, *al-Tahrim min al-Bid'ah* by Shaykh al-Daqib (may Allah have mercy on him), [works] by Ibn Taymiyyah on tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means), *al-Qa'idah fi al-Tawassul wa al-Wasilah*, and others who have written books containing prohibitions regarding bid'ah. One reads from these books for the benefit they contain. We have also written treatises on bid'ah, which we titled *al-Tahrim min al-Bid'ah* as well, and *al-Tahrim min Bid'at al-Mawlid*. This is a fabricated innovation, the innovation of mawlid celebrations, the mawlid of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or others. This is an actual innovation; people gather at mawlid celebrations at the time of the mawlid. As for reciting poetry in the late night, or reading a biography, or the like, these are innovations that people have introduced in mawlid celebrations, the mawlid of the Prophet and others. These are actual innovations, containing both practical and verbal innovations. We ask Allah for safety.