How do we reconcile abandoning religious innovations with collecting the Qur'an and constructing buildings?

The questioner : A questioner said: Many times, scholars declare people disbelievers. Yes. The questioner says: Many times, when scholars are asked about the Mawlid and the repetition of placing vessels, they say that anything the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do is forbidden to worship with, even things he did not do, such as collecting the Qur'an and constructing buildings, and other things the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do, so that we may reconcile this with that.

The Shaykh : This is a very important question, and we thank the brother for raising it, even though it was raised in a previous session two or three nights ago, but it is very important. He says that some people say that anything the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do is a bid'ah (religious innovation), and some people say no, this is not correct, and the matter is... We begin the answer by saying that the matter is... So we say: What occurred... the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)... (peace and blessings be upon him)... then it is divided into three... the harshest of what was defined... I... the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah), by permission of Allah. Yes. It is divided into three categories. The first category. Yes. What was on the path of customs. This has no ruling in the Shari'ah, and it is not called a religious bid'ah. Rather, we say that what people have accustomed themselves to is weighed by the Book and the Sunnah: is it forbidden, permissible, or obligatory? And we cannot say about it that it is a bid'ah, because this is not worship. Among this is what the author mentioned regarding the many stories in houses, and what was introduced of types of amenities and cars and others. This is not called a bid'ah, except perhaps a linguistic bid'ah, but this does not concern the religion, and it is not said of its doer that he did a forbidden act. Rather, it is looked at and measured by another standard, not the standard of bid'ah. So we say, for example, these customs that occurred after the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) are not subject to the ruling of religious bid'ah, but are weighed by another scale: are they forbidden or not? For example, if it reaches the level of extravagance, it becomes forbidden because it is extravagance; we do not say it is forbidden because it is a bid'ah. The second category is what was done on the path of means, meaning it was done as a means to worship and to a Shari'ah objective. Its ruling is that it is commanded, and it is not a bid'ah, because it was only made or done or introduced as a means to realizing a worship that the Shari'ah commanded. The scholars mentioned an important rule, which is that means have the rulings of their objectives. An example of this is what the questioner mentioned regarding the collection of the Qur'an in the time of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), then in the time of Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). This was not in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), but we know that preserving the Qur'an is obligatory, and that preventing people from disputing over the words of Allah and the Shari'ah of Allah is... Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) ordered... the killing of the reciters became widespread on the day of Yamamah, and seventy men from the reciters were killed. He saw that it was necessary to collect the Qur'an so that it would not be lost from the people. So he collected it (may Allah be pleased with him), but he did not collect it on one recitation; rather, he collected the Qur'an, and it was as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The Qur'an was revealed on seven recitations." The Qur'an was on seven recitations, and everyone read it on the recitation that his language required. Then, when it was in the time of Uthman, and the Muslims spread across the horizons, and the recitations were varied, and people began to make mistakes regarding one another, and the cities were newly established in Islam, and they did not know the pure Arabic dialects, and disagreement began to spread among the Muslims, they advised the Commander of the Faithful, Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him), to collect these mushafs on one recitation, meaning on the language of Quraysh. So he did it (may Allah be pleased with him). So in this collection of his, there was unity for the Ummah, and gathering of their word, and a strong barrier against division among the Muslims in the religion of Allah. So this was a means to a Shari'ah objective, which is gathering people on one recitation in the words of Allah, so that no dispute would occur between them. Likewise, establishing schools, and establishing printing presses to print books, and what is similar to this. All of this is a means, and the means has the ruling of the objective. So as long as this printing press was established to print the Qur'an, for example, its establishment was commanded, and its operation in printing was commanded. Why? Because through it one reaches the printing of the Qur'an, and printing the Qur'an is preservation for it, so it becomes commanded by the command of means, not the command of objectives. Likewise, a person is commanded to read the Qur'an, and when we know that a person is weak-sighted, and that he cannot read the Qur'an with his eyes, then we say to him: Fear Allah. Glasses. You use them to help you see the mushaf. Wearing glasses to read the Qur'an, we do not say it is a bid'ah, because it is a means, and the means have the rulings of the objectives. So we say to this opinion. The sand. Your shirk. And your wearing of them to help you, to help you, to help you in reading the words of Allah. This is among the prescribed matters, but it is not prescribed for its own sake, but it is prescribed for something else: the prescription of means for objectives.
The third category is what was established or introduced after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) on the path of worshiping with it independently, while there was a cause for it in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). This is the bid'ah about which our Lord... (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Beware of newly invented matters, for every bid'ah is misguidance." And nothing is excluded from this, and it is not as some scholars claimed that there is an omission in the wording, where they said that the estimation of the hadith is "Every bad bid'ah is misguidance." Because if this were the estimation of the hadith, the hadith would have no benefit at all in prohibiting bid'ah, because the bad is prohibited, whether it is a bid'ah or not. But the bid'ah is prohibited because it is bad, as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Every bid'ah is misguidance." And thus, everything that is introduced to worship Allah with it on the path of... there is no doubt that it falls under the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Every bid'ah is misguidance," and that it is obligatory to prohibit it, and to warn against it. And it is divided into multiple categories; this bid'ah may be disbelief (kufr), this bid'ah may be open sinfulness (fisq), or it may be less than that, according to its degrees. For example, the people of logic introduced innovations in the attributes of Allah the Exalted that were not in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), where they described Allah the Exalted with what cannot be a description of an existent, until their description of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, logically necessitated that there is nothing, that Allah is nothing. So this type of bid'ah is undoubtedly like those who innovated that it is obligatory for us to believe that Allah is not inside the world, nor outside it, nor connected to the world, nor separated from it, nor distinct, nor neutral, and similar to these words whose content is denying the Creator. So this bid'ah is undoubtedly a cause of disbelief, just as the Salaf declared disbelievers those who innovated with the creation of the Qur'an. And they said: Whoever says that the Qur'an is created is a disbeliever.
The important point is that bid'ah (religious innovation) is the third category, which followed after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and which was intended as an act of worship for Allah the Exalted, not as a means to a worship that is already intended. If it is a means to an intended worship, then it is a bid'ah, and its ruling falls into three categories: either it is a cause of disbelief, or it is a cause of open sinfulness, or it is less than that. The believer who fears Allah the Exalted is the one who conducts himself properly with Allah and with the Messenger of Allah, and does not legislate in the religion of Allah what is not mentioned, nor does he precede Allah and His Messenger. He says, "We hear and we obey," and he doubts his own intellect regarding what has come from Allah and His Messenger in the worship of Allah. For Allah the Exalted has blocked all the paths by which one might reach Him, except the path of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). So whoever worships Allah by the path of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the one who truly worships Allah; he is the one who worships his Lord. And whoever worships Allah by other than the path of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) has worshipped his own desires and has not worshipped his Lord. I ask Allah the Exalted to show all Muslims the truth as truth and grant them the ability to follow it, and to show them falsehood as falsehood and grant them the ability to avoid it, and to make them united upon the word of Allah the Exalted in this matter. Know, O Muslim brother, that it is obligatory for you to reflect on your state if you are upon any of these innovations. Reflect on your state, return to your sound judgment, and examine yourself regarding what you believe. For whoever examines the evidence from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding his belief, the outcome is that he will be misguided, except for whom Allah wills. But as for the one whose belief follows the evidence, he is the true follower. For this reason, it is a well-known phrase among the people of knowledge that they say, "Seek evidence, then believe," and do not "believe, then seek evidence." Because whoever believes before seeking evidence tries to divert the texts to his belief. But whoever seeks evidence and then believes has built his belief upon the texts and has become a complete follower.