Do some people argue for the existence of a good religious innovation (bid'ah) by citing the statement of some of the Companions that the Tarawih prayer is a good bid'ah?

The questioner:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: Some people, when we tell them there is no good bid'ah, say that some of the Companions called the Tarawih prayer a good bid'ah.

The Shaykh:
Regarding the Tarawih prayer, praise be to Allah, it is not a bid'ah. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) performed it, he prayed it with his Companions, and the Companions performed it after him. However, they used to pray in separate groups. 'Umar ibn al-Khattab gathered them under a single imam. So what constitutes a bid'ah is gathering them under a single imam, in the linguistic sense of bid'ah, not the Shari'ah sense. As for the Tarawih prayer itself, it is a recommended practice (sunnah) and not a bid'ah. Yes.

The presenter:
May Allah reward you.

The Shaykh:
Gathering them under a single imam was not something 'Umar invented. They gathered with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and he prayed Tarawih with them as a congregation. But he stopped doing so at the end, fearing it would become obligatory upon them, out of mercy for them. After the recommended nature of the Tarawih prayer and the congregational Tarawih prayer was established, he stopped, fearing it would become obligatory. After the recommended nature of the Tarawih prayer and the congregational Tarawih prayer was established. So all of it, praise be to Allah, is a recommended practice (sunnah). 'Umar did not invent anything on his own, so they cannot say that the Tarawih sunnah is a bid'ah or that gathering under a single imam is a bid'ah. So they have no ground in this, but they are mistaken. Yes.