How do you respond to one who cites the saying of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), "What a good innovation this is," as evidence for his innovation?

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy, 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:
His EminenceThe Shaykh : How do you respond to one who cites the saying of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), "What a good innovation it is," as evidence for his innovation?

The Shaykh : The saying of 'Umar, "What a good innovation this is," was narrated by Imam al-Bukhari in his *Sahih*. The context there also clarifies the meaning of this phrase, just as the context of Jarir's hadith clarifies the correct meaning of the marfu' hadith in it .
You all know, if Allah wills (Blessed and Exalted is He), that the original ruling for standing in night prayer is that it is a voluntary prayer for which it is not prescribed to call people to pray it in congregation. It is only permissible occasionally without calling people to it, and this has another detailed explanation. Therefore, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not enliven any part of the night prayer with his companions as if he were praying the obligatory prayer with them, except in the last Ramadan of his life (peace and blessings be upon him). He went out one night and prayed the standing prayer in the mosque. Some of the Companions present woke up to his prayer and followed him. Then this news spread in the city. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went out on the second night, he also prayed the standing prayer with a group of Companions who were more numerous than the first group. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) went out on the third night, and the mosque was filled with worshippers, because the news had spread that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had prayed the congregational prayer with the standing of Ramadan on the previous night—that is, the prayer of tarawih. When the fourth night came and the people waited for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to come out, when he delayed beyond his custom in those three nights, some of them could not wait. Perhaps he was a recent convert to Islam and did not know how to estimate and revere the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So he took some pebbles and threw them at the door of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), thinking that perhaps he was sleeping. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) came out to them reluctantly and said: .
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away in Rabi' al-Awwal and did not reach the next Ramadan. The caliphate of Abu Bakr came, and the people throughout his caliphate, which lasted about two and a half years, prayed in the mosque in groups and individually; there was no imam to gather them, until the caliphate of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab came, and the people were still doing so. You know that among his conduct (may Allah be pleased with him) was that he would check on the conditions of the Muslims, not only in the mosque but also in the markets, and this was part of his justice and excellence. When he saw them praying separately, he said: "If we were to gather them behind one imam." Then he resolved to do so and ordered Ubayy ibn Ka'b to lead the people in prayer, so he led them. 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) then went out as was his custom to check on the Muslims in the mosque. He saw them in a state different from what they had been in at the beginning of his caliphate during the caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq; he saw them praying behind one imam and in one congregation. So he (may Allah be pleased with him) said on this occasion: "What a good innovation this is, and the one in which they sleep is better."
By his saying (may Allah be pleased with him), "and the one in which they sleep is better," he is indicating that delaying the night prayer is better than hastening it. But the matter is as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ; because that is the better. However, to avoid hardship, he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not delay it. When 'Umar ibn al-Khattab resolved to gather the Muslims behind one imam, wisdom required that he not make this gathering at the end of the night, because not everyone is able to do that. Therefore, he combined the facilitated legislation, or returned the Muslims to the facilitated legislation, which is in the early part of the night, while pointing out that delaying is better. And on this occasion, he said: "What a good innovation this is."
So his saying "innovation" does not mean the shari'ah innovation that ... the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) criticized in the hadiths mentioned earlier, especially the rule: . Far be it from 'Umar to mean this meaning. His saying "What a good innovation" is a linguistic innovation, not a shari'ah innovation here; for what we mentioned is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went out to his Companions for three nights, and that he only left that practice out of fear that the Companions would assume that following the Messenger (peace be upon him) in gathering for the standing prayer in every night of Ramadan was obligatory, so he left it to avoid this concern. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) departed to the Highest Companion and the rulings of the Shari'ah ended, no one remained who could change or alter; therefore, Allah opened the heart of the Commander of the Faithful, and he revived this sunnah. Considering the urging of the Messenger (peace be upon him) for it, and the continuation of Abu Bakr throughout his life, and 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) also in the early part of his life in this ...; he called this ... an innovation; meaning: something new considering what came before it. But it is not a linguistic innovation covered by the generality of his (peace be upon him) saying; because the Prophet legislated it by his action as we mentioned ... a hadith narrated by Imam Abu Dawud in his *Sunan* from the hadith of Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . By merely praying the 'Isha' prayer in congregation with the group and standing with them, Allah records for him as if he had stood the whole night. So in this is an urging from his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying to revive the prayer of tarawih with the imam; so it is not possible to interpret the saying of 'Umar: "What a good innovation" as meaning the shari'ah innovation, how could it be when the Messenger of Allah did it and the Messenger of Allah urged it? So it is a practical sunnah and a verbal sunnah supported by him (peace be upon him) with this authentic hadith.