The story of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud regarding his rejection of the innovation of gathering in circles for dhikr, and a discussion on the danger of religious innovation.

The Shaykh : And for this reason, we found Ibn Mas'ud hastening to reject the circles of dhikr in the famous story in "Sunan al-Darimi" and others, with a valid chain of narration. I do not see it appropriate to narrate it in full now, but I will mention the relevant part of it. He saw people in some of the mosques gathered in circles, and in the center of each circle was a man saying to those around him: "Recite tasbih thus, say alhamdulillah thus, say takbir thus." And in front of each of them was a pebble with which he counted the tasbih, alhamdulillah, and takbir. So he said to them: "Woe to you! What is this that you are doing?" They said: "Pebbles" — meaning a simple task with nothing strange or objectionable about it — "pebbles with which we count the tasbih, takbir, and alhamdulillah." He said: "Count your sins, and I guarantee that nothing of your good deeds will be lost. Woe to you! How swift is your destruction! These are his garments (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, are you truly more guided than the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), or are you clinging to the tail of misguidance?" He said this... regarding their innovation in the religion. So what was their answer? Their answer was wrong, but even so, it was less wrong or less immersed in error than the answers of people today. People today, when an innovation like this is rejected to them, say: "My brother, what is the problem with it? We gathered to remember Allah, praise Allah, recite tasbih, and send blessings upon the Messenger of Allah; what is the problem with it?"
Their answer was one that matched their reality, but it did not have the boldness to establish the issue through ignorance as the later people do, saying "what is the problem with it?" meaning there is nothing wrong with it! They did not say it that way. They said: "By Allah, O Abu 'Abd al-Rahman." As if they were saying: "If you see that this is a reprehensible matter, then we did not intend it. By Allah, O Abu 'Abd al-Rahman, we did not intend anything but good." And this is true; we did not intend anything but good. So what was the answer of the truly learned jurist, who was 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud? He said: "How many are there who seek good but do not attain it!" "How many are there who seek good but do not attain it!" Why? Because the matter is as the poet said:
"You hope for salvation but have not taken its paths *** For the ship does not run on the dry land"
The one who wants to be saved must take the means that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has made in His cosmic Sunnah or His legislative Sunnah as a means of salvation. As for the ignorant person who follows his own head and imagines that this is the path of salvation and the path of good, he will not attain this good. Ibn Mas'ud said: "How many are there who seek good but do not attain it! Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us: This also supports the previous statement of Ibn Mas'ud... Your reciters; because these reciters recite the Qur'an, rattling it off like poetry, without understanding it or gaining understanding through it. And for this reason, the Messenger (peace be upon him) said in this hadith that 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud informed us of: The Qur'an does not reach their hearts . And here is the lesson. The witness of this story said: "Indeed, we saw those people fighting us on the Day of al-Nahrawan."
The Day of al-Nahrawan, as is known in early Islamic history, was a battle that took place between the Khawarij, who rebelled against the Commander of the Faithful, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib. He was compelled to fight them in implementation of known texts, including His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): So the rebellious faction was the faction of the Khawarij, these people. 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) fought them after establishing the proof against them and sending 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas to debate them. Nevertheless, they did not submit to the proof, so it became necessary for 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) to fight them by the text of the Noble Qur'an. He fought them and uprooted their roots, except for a few of them. Among these Khawarij were the owners of the circles of dhikr, those people.
From this authentic story — and it is not just a story that is narrated, but is narrated with a valid chain of narration — we take a lesson, indeed many lessons. Among them is what the scholars say: "Minor sins are the herald of major sins." Therefore, they say that a Muslim should not belittle a small sin, because by habituating himself to these small sins, his self will become accustomed until it reaches the point of finding a major sin acceptable. So minor sins are the herald of major sins. I derived from the scholars' statement that a small religious innovation leads its owner to a major religious innovation, and my evidence for that is this authentic story.
And among these lessons is that we look at those to whom Ibn Mas'ud rejected their gathering and clustering in those assemblies. What is the reprehensible thing? Many people, even those attributed to knowledge, imagine that this story, or rather Ibn Mas'ud's rejection of these people's gathering for the remembrance of Allah as you heard, contradicts the authentic hadiths that encourage gathering and dhikr, and that the angels... are specially designated by the Lord of the Worlds, descending from the sky to the earth to follow the circles of dhikr. This is an authentic hadith in "Sahih Muslim." So they imagine that such a hadith contradicts Ibn Mas'ud's rejection of the owners of the circles. Why does he reject this when the hadiths encourage gathering?! This immersion and this imagination of a contradiction between Ibn Mas'ud's story and the hadiths encouraging circles of dhikr comes from a lack of understanding of the religion.