The ruling on citing 'Umar's action of gathering the people for the tarawih prayer as evidence for the permissibility of the Mawlid
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
These people who celebrate his (peace and blessings be upon him) birth say: There is a basis for it: (Whoever introduces a good practice in Islam will have the reward of it and the reward of everyone who works by it after him) And they also say: 'Umar ibn al-Khattab introduced the practice of the tarawih prayer, so how do we respond to these people?
We say: They are correct: (Whoever introduces a good practice in Islam will have the reward of it and the reward of everyone who works by it until the Day of Resurrection),But: (Beware of newly invented matters, for every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance),For this reason the Messenger said: (Whoever introduces a good practice in Islam) and the meaning of the phrase (Whoever introduces a good practice) is one of two things: 1- Either the meaning is that he initiated the work of it, as indicated by the occasion of the hadith.
2- Or the meaning is that he revived it after it had died out, and the meaning is not that he creates a new act of worship, this is not possible.
Because the occasion of this hadith is: The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) encouraged charity, so a man from the Ansar came with a bag that weighed down his hand, and placed it before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him),So he said: (Whoever introduces a good practice in Islam will have the reward of it and the reward of everyone who works by it until the Day of Resurrection), and it is not possible for an innovation to be good ever,And the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says: (Every innovation is misguidance).
As for 'Umar's action, 'Umar never initiated the congregational prayer for standing in night prayer, the first to introduce the congregation for standing in Ramadan was the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he prayed with his Companions for three nights, then he was absent on the fourth,And he said: (I feared that it would become obligatory upon you and you would be unable to fulfill it) Then it was left and abandoned in the days of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), in the time of 'Umar he went out one day and found the people praying in separate groups, a man praying with one man and a man with two men, scattered,So he said: If I gather them under one imam, so he ordered Tamim al-Dari and Ubayy ibn Ka'b to stand for the people under one imam, so 'Umar did not invent this innovation but he revived it after it had been left.
The questioner: Is this hadith authentic?
The Shaykh: It is authentic, established in al-Muwatta with the most authentic chain of narration.
We say: They are correct: (Whoever introduces a good practice in Islam will have the reward of it and the reward of everyone who works by it until the Day of Resurrection),But: (Beware of newly invented matters, for every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance),For this reason the Messenger said: (Whoever introduces a good practice in Islam) and the meaning of the phrase (Whoever introduces a good practice) is one of two things: 1- Either the meaning is that he initiated the work of it, as indicated by the occasion of the hadith.
2- Or the meaning is that he revived it after it had died out, and the meaning is not that he creates a new act of worship, this is not possible.
Because the occasion of this hadith is: The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) encouraged charity, so a man from the Ansar came with a bag that weighed down his hand, and placed it before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him),So he said: (Whoever introduces a good practice in Islam will have the reward of it and the reward of everyone who works by it until the Day of Resurrection), and it is not possible for an innovation to be good ever,And the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says: (Every innovation is misguidance).
As for 'Umar's action, 'Umar never initiated the congregational prayer for standing in night prayer, the first to introduce the congregation for standing in Ramadan was the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he prayed with his Companions for three nights, then he was absent on the fourth,And he said: (I feared that it would become obligatory upon you and you would be unable to fulfill it) Then it was left and abandoned in the days of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), in the time of 'Umar he went out one day and found the people praying in separate groups, a man praying with one man and a man with two men, scattered,So he said: If I gather them under one imam, so he ordered Tamim al-Dari and Ubayy ibn Ka'b to stand for the people under one imam, so 'Umar did not invent this innovation but he revived it after it had been left.
The questioner: Is this hadith authentic?
The Shaykh: It is authentic, established in al-Muwatta with the most authentic chain of narration.