What is the ruling on raising the voice in seeking forgiveness after every prayer? It includes a discussion on the innovation of gathering for dhikr, and the classification of innovations into additional and real.

The questioner : , O Shaykh, regarding, for example, in some mosques, after every obligatory prayer.

The Shaykh : Pardon me.

The questioner : After every obligatory prayer, the congregation seeks forgiveness three times, and some people are praying; is this considered a disturbance to the worshippers?

The Shaykh : Yes, seeking forgiveness after the prayer is a sunnah (recommended practice) from the sunnahs of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). It is reported in Sahih Muslim from the hadith of the Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say after completing the prayer: . Also, in Sahih Muslim, from a hadith, perhaps from Abu Dharr or another of the Companions, that the Messenger (peace be upon him) used to seek forgiveness from Allah three times after completing the prayer, then say: . It was asked of one of the narrators of the hadith, Sufyan al-Thawri, how the seeking of forgiveness was done? He said: I seek forgiveness from Allah, I seek forgiveness from Allah, I seek forgiveness from Allah; meaning the seeking of forgiveness of the Messenger (peace be upon him) was not prolonged, but was brief as you have heard. So the seeking of forgiveness in question is, first, a sunnah, and a sunnah in a brief manner. Then, it is not prescribed to gather in this seeking of forgiveness, meaning to form a choir and raise the voice; because that was not the practice of the righteous Salaf. And as the scholars said:
"And all good is in following those who came before, and all evil is in the innovation of those who came after."
Gathering for dhikr after the prayer in particular, or at any time in general, is from the additional innovations, in the terminology of Imam al-Shatibi in his great book Al-I'tisam. Innovations are divided into two categories, and this classification must be understood by students of knowledge; because through it, many problems in their minds regarding the differences occurring among individuals or groups of Muslims are removed.
Imam al-Shatibi divides innovations into two categories: a real innovation and an additional innovation. He says in defining the real innovation: "It is that which has no basis at all in the Book or in the Sunnah." And he cites as an example the innovation of the doctrine of compulsion (jabr), the doctrine of the Mu'tazilah, the denial of divine decree, and declaring one who commits a major sin a disbeliever, and the like; these are real innovations.
The second category, which is more important of the two, because the first matter is clear to all people, whereas the second category is hidden from many of the scholars, let alone others. Regarding the additional innovation, he says: "It is that which, if you look at it from one aspect, you find it prescribed, and if you look at it from another aspect, you find it contrary to the Sunnah." And he cites examples, among which is the question submitted: dhikr after the prayer with raised voices in a group, and supplication after the prayer in a group, where the imam supplicates and the people say "Ameen" to his supplication. He says: This and that are from the additional innovations; why? Because dhikr after the prayer is established in the Sunnah, and we mentioned to you earlier the seeking of forgiveness of the Messenger three times, and his saying: and so on. But something occurred to this dhikr that was not there; so by this consideration, it entered into the additional innovation. And this should not be difficult for any of you; because if we saw a person, for example, raising his voice in recitation in the third rak'ah of the Maghrib prayer, we would hasten to rebuke him; why? Because he contradicted the sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Did he contradict the sunnah of the Messenger in a fundamental way? No, it is a formal contradiction. The Prophet certainly recited in the third rak'ah, but how did he recite it? Quietly. So if he raises his voice, he has contradicted the sunnah in raising the voice; so this is called an additional innovation; because as for the recitation, the recitation is a sunnah, but as for raising the voice, raising the voice is an innovation; because the sunnah in it is to recite quietly.
Likewise, seeking forgiveness after the prayer is a sunnah, but the sunnah in it is to do it quietly, so raising the voice is an innovation, but it is an additional innovation. Likewise, the Messenger (peace be upon him) used to supplicate after the prayer with a brief supplication: for example. He also used to say: . He used to say to Mu'adh: . But the original state of this dhikr is secrecy, so raising the voice becomes an additional innovation.
So if you want us to realize in ourselves the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic): ; we must realize the complete verse: . And following the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) must be absolute and complete following, without any philosophy, without any private logic, where it is said, as many people say: "My brother, what is the harm?" "What is the harm if we know such and such?" "What is the harm if we raise our voices in dhikr?" It is sufficient for you, O Muslim, to know the answer to your question "What is the harm? What is the harm?" The harm is that you have contradicted the Messenger (peace be upon him), whose every action is from the revelation of the sky, and no falsehood comes to him from before him or from behind him.
And among the clear and close examples of what we are saying, Muslims to this day; they still do not call the adhan (call to prayer) for other than the five prayers. And perhaps I will have to specify my previous statement when I say: Muslims still, I mean their scholars, otherwise you will hear an exception to this. Muslims to this day do not call the adhan except for the five prayers, so they do not call the adhan, for example, for the prayer for rain, nor for the eclipse prayer, nor for the two festivals, nor for the funeral prayer; why? If an inventor, or rather an innovator, in a village where there are no scholars, stood and called the adhan for the festival prayer, and one of the students of knowledge rebuked him; he said to him: "My brother, this is not something we heard from the Messenger, nor from the Companions, nor from the imams, and all their books are unanimous that the festival prayer has no adhan." So he answered with the same answer mentioned earlier: "What is the harm, my brother? It is the remembrance of Allah, Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest." As Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) and may Allah be pleased with him, when a man came to him while he was in the Prophet's Mosque seeking his fatwa, saying to him: "I want to enter the state of ihram for 'Umrah from the Prophet's Mosque (peace be upon him); meaning: not from the miqat of Dhul Hulayfah, or the place that the common people today call Abi 'Ali, and this name has no basis.
-- [The adhan is raised, and the Shaykh repeats behind him: Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest] --.
He said—and I end the speech with this—he said: "I want to enter the state of ihram from the Prophet's Mosque (peace be upon him)." He said: "I fear fitnah (trial) for you." He said: "What fitnah is this? It is only a few steps I am adding!" He said: "... A fitnah greater than you thinking that you are more guided than the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) by these steps you are adding to the Messenger. Either the Messenger was deficient and you corrected him, or he was heedless and misguided and you were guided to it; so what fitnah is greater than this?" This word, in reality, must be recorded in the minds of all Muslims so that they know the danger of innovation in religion, even in the simplest things and the most trivial forms, as we were speaking earlier about raising the voice in seeking forgiveness after the prayer and in the dhikr in general, in which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not prescribe raising the voice.
And with this amount, it is sufficient, and Glory be to You, O Allah, and with Your praise, I bear witness that there is no god but You, I seek Your forgiveness and I repent to You.