Are the methods of da'wah (calling to Islam) based on divine text or independent legal reasoning, and what is their criterion? What are examples of these methods?
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The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. And may prayers and peace be upon the noblest of the prophets and messengers, our master and our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and upon his family and all his Companions. As for what follows:
Your Eminence, the Shaykh—may Allah preserve you—says:The questioner : Are the methods of da'wah (calling to Islam) based on divine text or independent legal reasoning, and what is their criterion? Give us examples of the methods, and may Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, and may prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and whoever follows them in faith. As for what follows:
I mentioned in my previous speech a hadith that can be relied upon in answering this question, namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): So there is no doubt that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to us with a complete Shari'ah that does not need anyone to add anything to it. However, it can be said that the perfection of the Shari'ah lies not in its details and the intricacies of its rulings, but in its rules and its principles. The principles and rules that came in the Shari'ah facilitate for the researching mujtahid the scope of derivation and the bringing forth of some matters that were not known in the early period. I spoke recently, in a blessed gathering, if Allah wills, about what is called by scholars "unrestricted public benefit" (maslaha mursalah). These unrestricted public benefits are matters that occurred after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and were not known in that bright, luminous era, but rather occurred afterwards. Do these new matters fall under the generality of what I mentioned in the previous session before the 'Asr prayer, namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): Sunan an-Nasa'i 1578Sahih (Darussalam), or is it possible that some of these new matters can be adopted and acted upon even if they were not previously known? This point is, in fact, among the intricacies of fiqh and the principles of religious innovation:
The known and famous principles among scholars and students of knowledge are only two:
The principles of hadith, and the principles of the science of fiqh.
But some later scholars, relying on a new book on the principles of religious innovation, wrote a treatise, a booklet, titled *The Principles of Religious Innovation*. And I say the truth:
Mastery of this science—I mean the science of the principles of religious innovation—helps the jurist to distinguish between what is a misguided religious innovation falling under the generality of that noble Prophetic text, and what is an unrestricted public benefit, the permissibility of which is affirmed by many scholars, foremost among them and at their head is Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him). Due to the precision of the matter and the possibility that this new occurrence may be mixed, being either a misguided religious innovation or an unrestricted public benefit, here lies the extreme precision. Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) elaborated on this so that the researcher would be clear about the matter. He says (may Allah have mercy on him): "When a new matter occurs, one looks at the motive for its occurrence. If the motive for it existed in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), yet the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not adopt such a new matter despite the presence of the requirement for adopting it, or at least for legislating it, then as long as the requirement existed in his time (peace and blessings be upon him) and he did not act upon the requirement, that is evidence that adopting it when it is found is a misguided religious innovation, falling under the generality of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):Sunan an-Nasa'i 1578Sahih (Darussalam)", and among the clear and evident examples of this are:
The adhan for the two 'Id prayers. If someone were to think of adopting the known adhan as a means to announce the entry of the time for the 'Id prayer, that would not be accepted from him, because the requirement for legislating or making sunnah such an adhan existed in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and yet it was not made sunnah. So whoever innovates an adhan for the purpose of announcement in any time after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is an innovator and a mubtadi' (one who commits religious innovation), and that means he is adding to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and attributing to him, by the language of his state and the language of the situation, as it is said: "The situation speaks more eloquently than the tongue."
Your Eminence, the Shaykh—may Allah preserve you—says:The questioner : Are the methods of da'wah (calling to Islam) based on divine text or independent legal reasoning, and what is their criterion? Give us examples of the methods, and may Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, and may prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and whoever follows them in faith. As for what follows:
I mentioned in my previous speech a hadith that can be relied upon in answering this question, namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):
I have not left anything that brings you closer to Allah without commanding you to do it, and I have not left anything that distances you from Allah and brings you closer to the Fire without forbidding it from you.
ما تركتُ شيئاً يُقربكم إلى الله إلا وأمرتكم به، وما تركت شيئاً يبعدكم عن الله ويقربكم إلى النار إلا ونهيتكم عنهevery innovation is going astray, and every going astray is in the Fire
كلّ بدعة ضلالة وكلّ ضلالة في النارThe known and famous principles among scholars and students of knowledge are only two:
The principles of hadith, and the principles of the science of fiqh.
But some later scholars, relying on a new book on the principles of religious innovation, wrote a treatise, a booklet, titled *The Principles of Religious Innovation*. And I say the truth:
Mastery of this science—I mean the science of the principles of religious innovation—helps the jurist to distinguish between what is a misguided religious innovation falling under the generality of that noble Prophetic text, and what is an unrestricted public benefit, the permissibility of which is affirmed by many scholars, foremost among them and at their head is Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him). Due to the precision of the matter and the possibility that this new occurrence may be mixed, being either a misguided religious innovation or an unrestricted public benefit, here lies the extreme precision. Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) elaborated on this so that the researcher would be clear about the matter. He says (may Allah have mercy on him): "When a new matter occurs, one looks at the motive for its occurrence. If the motive for it existed in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), yet the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not adopt such a new matter despite the presence of the requirement for adopting it, or at least for legislating it, then as long as the requirement existed in his time (peace and blessings be upon him) and he did not act upon the requirement, that is evidence that adopting it when it is found is a misguided religious innovation, falling under the generality of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):
every innovation is going astray, and every going astray is in the Fire
كل بدعة ضلالة، وكل ضلالة في النارThe adhan for the two 'Id prayers. If someone were to think of adopting the known adhan as a means to announce the entry of the time for the 'Id prayer, that would not be accepted from him, because the requirement for legislating or making sunnah such an adhan existed in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and yet it was not made sunnah. So whoever innovates an adhan for the purpose of announcement in any time after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is an innovator and a mubtadi' (one who commits religious innovation), and that means he is adding to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and attributing to him, by the language of his state and the language of the situation, as it is said: "The situation speaks more eloquently than the tongue."