The Statement on Bid'ah (Religious Innovation) and the Opinion on Its Classification?

The Shaykh: Praise is to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own souls and the badness of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, none can mislead, and whom He leaves to mislead, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. , , . As for what follows:
The best of speech is the speech of Allah, the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and the worst of matters are their innovations. Every innovation is a bid'ah (religious innovation), every bid'ah is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.
This sermon is what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) used to begin all his sermons with, especially on Friday. Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) mentions in "Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim Mukhalafat Ahl al-Jahim" (The Straight Path Demanding Opposition to the People of the Hellfire) that the wisdom behind the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) repetition of this opening for all his sermons, which is called the "Sermon of Need," was that through this repetition, he aimed to establish in the hearts of his Companions a fundamental, comprehensive principle of the Islamic Shari'ah that admits no exception. That is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): .
Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) emphasizes that such a phrase, which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) repeated to the ears of his Companions without introducing any specific restriction, and in another hadith, confirms that this generality is absolute and comprehensive. Therefore, it is not permissible for a believer who testifies to the oneness of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and to the prophethood of His Prophet to contradict this universal principle by saying, "Not every bid'ah is misguidance, and not every misguidance is in the Fire." First, because this general phrase must have a restriction, but it has none. Second, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), as we mentioned earlier, repeated it every Friday. It is inconceivable that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) would repeat this universal principle to the ears of his Companions and then never follow it up with any restriction. This is a strong indication, beyond any doubt, that this rule remains in its universality, comprehensiveness, and generality. Especially since the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) repeated it in some of his other sermons. As narrated by the compilers of the Sunan, the "Sermon of Need" we mentioned is from the hadith of Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) and is in "Sahih Muslim." However, the addition: is from the narration of Imam al-Nasa'i in his "Sunan al-Sughra," and its chain of narration is authentic, praise be to Allah.
Then, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) repeated this universal principle on other occasions. Among them is what was narrated by the compilers of the Sunan, led by Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi, who authenticated it, from the hadith of al-'Arba' ibn Sariyah (may Allah be pleased with him). He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) gave us a sermon that moved our hearts and caused our eyes to shed tears. We said: "O Messenger of Allah, give us advice." He said: .
So you see and hear that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) repeated this universal principle in another sermon and a lecture he delivered to his Companions (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). In one narration, al-'Arba' said: "We said: O Messenger of Allah, it is as if it is the advice of one who is about to leave; so give us advice that we will not need anyone after you forever." He said (peace and blessings be upon him): until he said: . If the matter is such, and if the matter of every bid'ah is that it is misguidance, no matter what its nature is, and some people think it is good, then that is a clear error, contradicting this judgment, according to his saying (peace be upon him): . Some of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) affirmed this universal principle, some explicitly and some by implication or indication. It is authentic from Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "A hadith is incomplete." Ibn 'Umar said—and this is like an explanation of what I mentioned earlier: .
There is also what points to this, as I hinted at earlier, the saying of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), which is mawquf (stopping at a Companion): "Moderation in the Sunnah is better than exertion in bid'ah (religious innovation)." The reason for this is very clear to the people of knowledge. Because the one who is moderate in the Sunnah by performing some of it is rewarded if he is sincere with Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), without doubt or hesitation. It is not so for the one who exerts himself in innovating in the religion; that is returned to its owner, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Therefore, the saying of Ibn Mas'ud is at the height of wisdom and at the height of good advice, where he said: "Moderation in the Sunnah is better than exertion in bid'ah." This means that the Muslim is sufficient without needing to engage his mind and thought to invent in the religion what was not part of it, and then exert himself to ask: Is it good, so I do it? No, there is no need for that. Because the acts of worship brought by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) are sufficient for the best of people, even if it were Dawud (peace be upon him), about whom Imam al-Bukhari narrated in his "Sahih" from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): . If Dawud (peace be upon him) had been from the Ummah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), he would not have been able to perform all the acts of worship that he (peace and blessings be upon him) brought, confirming what came in two hadiths:
The first hadith: What Imam Muslim narrated in his "Sahih" from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) that he said: .
The second hadith: It concerns the person of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) himself. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said, as Imam al-Shafi'i narrated in his "Sunan" and others, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) that he said: .
Therefore, it is authentic from Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "Follow and do not innovate; you have been made sufficient. Hold fast to the old matter." "Follow and do not innovate; you have been made sufficient" means: You have been prescribed from acts of worship what is sufficient for you and more than enough; so it is only upon you to follow.
"Follow and do not innovate; you have been made sufficient. Hold fast to the old matter." And so, there is also from Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) a wonderful story in which he applied what was mentioned earlier of authentic hadiths and athar (reports). That is what Imam al-Darimi narrated in his "Sunan" with his authentic chain that Abu Musa al-Ash'ari (may Allah be pleased with him) came to Ibn Mas'ud's house one morning and found the people waiting for him. He asked them: "Has Abu 'Abd al-Rahman come out?"—the kunya (nickname) of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud is Abu 'Abd al-Rahman. "Has Abu 'Abd al-Rahman come out?" They said: "No." So he sat and waited until he came out. Then Abu Musa said: "O Abu 'Abd al-Rahman, I saw something in the mosque just now that I disliked, and praise be to Allah, I saw nothing but good."
I ask you to pay attention to the combination of his statement: "And praise be to Allah, I have not seen anything but good," yet he also said: "I disapproved of it." How can one disapprove of good? Because it is something newly introduced, as the full account will explain to you, if Allah wills. Ibn Mas'ud said: "What did you see?" He said: "If I live, you will see it. I saw circles in the mosque, and in the middle of each circle was a man saying to those around him: 'Glorify Allah thus... praise Allah thus... and declare the greatness of Allah thus.' And in front of each of them were pebbles with which they counted the glorification, the declaration of greatness, and the praise. Ibn Mas'ud said: "Did you not disapprove of them?" He said: "No, I was waiting for your command or your opinion." So Ibn Mas'ud returned to his house and went out veiled so that he was not recognized, until he stood by the circles that had been described to him. When he saw them as he had been told, he removed the veil and the covering from his face and said: "Woe to you! What is this you are doing? I am a Companion of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." They said: "O Abu 'Abd al-Rahman, these are pebbles with which we count the glorification, the declaration of greatness, and the praise." He said: "Count your sins, and I guarantee that nothing of your good deeds will be lost. Woe to you! How quickly you are perishing! These are the garments of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and they have not worn out, and these are his vessels, and they have not been broken. By Him in whose hand is my soul, you are either more guided than the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), or you are clinging to a rope of misguidance."
There is no doubt that the first possibility is impossible; that they are more guided than the group of the Messenger (peace be upon him). So what remains is that they are clinging to a rope of misguidance. They said: "By Allah, O Abu 'Abd al-Rahman, we did not intend anything but good." And this is the tongue of all the innovators; they do not intend anything but good! But their affair is as you will hear from the words of Ibn Mas'ud, which are at the height of wisdom. He said: "How many are there who intend good but do not attain it." As the poet said:
You hope for salvation but have not taken its paths *** For the ship does not run on the dry land
How many are there who intend good but do not attain it! Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us that there are people who recite the Qur'an, but it does not go beyond their throats—meaning it does not reach their hearts. They slip out of the religion as an arrow slips out of its quiver. The narrator of this account said—and here is the ultimate lesson: "We certainly saw those people—meaning the people of the circles of dhikr—fighting us on the Day of al-Nahrawan; meaning they became among the Khawarij who rebelled against the Rightly Guided Caliph 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him and the rest of the Companions)."
I derived from this a benefit, by analogy with the saying of the scholars: "Minor sins are the herald of major sins." I derived from this story something similar to their saying, and I said: "Minor innovations are the herald of major innovations." Therefore, the lesson from these marfu' hadiths and mawquf athar, and from this story in particular, is that a Muslim should not belittle any innovation. He says: "What is the harm in it?" This is what the innovators say when we discuss with them and tell them: "Fear Allah and do not introduce into the religion of Allah what was not there." And if we mention to them some of these hadiths, they say, for example: "What is the harm in it?" They belittle the innovation, looking at it with their minds and despising it; so they never realize that they are falling into a type of 'Isolationism (I'tizal). For the Mu'tazilah, in what they truly opposed the people of the Sunnah and the community, is their saying regarding the rational determination of good and evil. The scholars know this from the misguidance of the Mu'tazilah. They mean by this phrase that the Mu'tazilah say: "What the Shari'ah and the intellect rule as good is good, and what the intellect rules as evil is evil." As for the people of the Sunnah, all of them without disagreement among them, say: "The good is what the Wise Lawgiver has made good, and the evil is what the Wise Lawgiver has made evil; so there is no room for introducing the intellect into matters of determining good..."
... as a trial from Him for His servants; to see them in their reality: do they disbelieve or do they give thanks? Therefore, His saying (peace and blessings be upon him)—and perhaps I can postpone this word for the next discussion; so that we save some time to answer some questions; therefore I say: The saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the authentic hadith that Imam Muslim included in his Sahih, from the hadith of Jarir ibn 'Abd Allah al-Bajali (may Allah be pleased with him), he said: "We were sitting with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when a group of Bedouins came to him, wearing their leather armor, carrying swords on their shoulders, most of them from the tribe of Mudhar; indeed, all of them were from Mudhar. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw them, his face changed color—meaning his features changed with sadness over the state of these Bedouins in poverty. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) addressed the Companions and recited His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): Then he said (peace and blessings be upon him): . So a man from the Companions stood up and went to his house to return carrying in the end of his garment whatever charity he could manage, and he placed it in front of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). When the rest of the Companions saw what their brother had done, each of them went to his house—also—to return with whatever food and charity he could manage. Jarir said: "So there gathered in front of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) from the charities... When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw that, his face brightened as if it were gilded—meaning as if it were silver plated with gold, shining with light; rejoicing at the response of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to his urging them to give charity to those people. So he said (peace and blessings be upon him) on this occasion: . Here ends the hadith that Imam Muslim included in his Sahih."
The point of it is: that it is a grave error now, and in the end of times, for some people to use this hadith as proof for that general rule: ; they use this hadith to specify that rule, and they claim that the meaning of the hadith is: They claim that its meaning is: "Whoever introduces a good innovation in Islam..." This is the height of ignorance and the height of foreignness; because the incident—as you heard—revolves entirely around the urging of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to give charity, both by the verse and by his saying. Then the first to respond was that first Companion, and then the other Companions followed him. So he said, urging whoever wants to have the reward of his deed and the reward of those who follow him in his deed to establish a good Sunnah. So he said on this occasion—meaning on the occasion of the charity and the standing up of the first man who established that Sunnah in that place—he said (peace and blessings be upon him): ; meaning: whoever opens a path that leads to a good Sunnah. From where do we know the good Sunnah? From our minds or from the Shari'ah of our Lord?!
You know the difference between the people of the Sunnah and the Mu'tazilah. The Mu'tazilah say: "The good is what the intellect has made good." As for the people of the Shari'ah, they say: "The good is what the Shari'ah has made good."
And the evidence is in this very story; where Allah commanded His servants to give charity... and then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) confirmed that with some of his hadiths, and his saying: meaning: a man gives charity with his dirham, the least amount . So when this man stood up and opened the door of charity, he established a good Sunnah. This good Sunnah was not from himself, but from what he heard of the good exhortation from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); therefore he had the reward of his charity, and the reward of those who followed him in that exhortation.
Likewise, he said (peace and blessings be upon him) in the completion of the hadith: . From where do we know the bad Sunnah? From our minds or from the Shari'ah of our Lord? The answer is the same: from the Shari'ah. Both the determination of good and the determination of evil are from the Shari'ah, and there is no entry for the intellect in it. Since the matter is so, in conclusion I say:
It is incumbent upon all Muslims to adhere to the boundaries of the acts of worship that were clearly established by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and not to introduce into them any additions that did not come from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), nor from the Companions, nor from the righteous predecessors. Therefore, it is no wonder that the scholars of knowledge say:
And all good lies in following those who came before, and all evil lies in following those who came after.