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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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The Good Innovation and the Bad Innovation

The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta

Machine translationRead the Arabic original

The third question of Fatwa No. ( 948 ) :


Q3: Our scholars have differed regarding bid'ah (religious innovation); some of them said: bid'ah includes what is good and what is bad. Is this correct?
A3: Bid'ah (religious innovation): is everything that is newly introduced without a prior precedent. Among it is what pertains to transactions and worldly affairs; such as the invention of transportation devices like airplanes, cars, and trains, electrical appliances, cooking utensils, and air conditioners used for heating and cooling. And war machines like bombs, submarines, and tanks... and so on, all of which return to the interests of people in their worldly lives. In themselves, there is no blame in them, nor is there sin in inventing them. However, regarding the purpose of their invention and what they are used for: if they are intended for good and used to assist in it, then they are good. And if they are intended for evil, such as destruction, devastation, and corruption on earth, and used to assist in that, then they are evil and a calamity. Bid'ah may also be in religion, in creed or in worship, whether verbal or practical; such as the bid'ah of denying qadar (divine decree),
building mosques over graves, erecting domes over graves, reciting the Qur'an near them for the deceased, celebrating mawlid to commemorate the righteous and prominent people, calling for aid from other than Allah, and circumambulating shrines. These and their like are all misguidance; due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
Avoid novelties, for every novelty is an innovation, and every innovation is an error.إياكم ومحدثات الأمور، فإن كل محدثة بدعة، وكل بدعة ضلالة
Sunan Abi Dawud 4607Sahih (Al-Albani)
. But among them is what is shirk akbar (major shirk) that takes one out of Islam; such as calling for aid from other than Allah in matters beyond ordinary causes, and slaughtering and making vows for other than Allah... and the like of that which is worship exclusive to Allah. And among them is what is a means to shirk; such as tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means) to Allah through the status of the righteous, and swearing by other than Allah, and a person saying: "What Allah willed and what you willed." And bid'ah in worship does not divide into the five rulings as some people have claimed; due to the generality of the hadith:
Every innovation is misguidance.كل بدعة ضلالة
. And success is from Allah. And may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Source www.alifta.gov.sa

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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