A word from the Shaykh explaining the blameworthy religious innovation and warning against it, and the permissibility of innovation in worldly affairs.

The Shaykh : Indeed, 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 selves and from the badness of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomsoever He leaves to misguide, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity 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 newly invented ones. Every newly invented matter is a religious innovation, every religious innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.
Perhaps the brothers present all know, from the indication of this hadith and its like, which is established in the books of the Sunnah with sound chains of narration back to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), such as the hadith of A'ishah: , and the hadith of al-'Arba' ibn Sariyah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) gave us a sermon that made our hearts tremble and our eyes weep, so we said: 'O Messenger of Allah, give us a bequest.'" He said: . These hadiths confirm what I think you understand and believe: that religious innovation in religion is entirely misguidance. I mean in religion, because the blameworthy religious innovation is specific to religion. As for worldly affairs, some of it is praiseworthy and some is blameworthy. If this newly invented matter contradicts the Shari'ah, it is blameworthy; if it does not contradict the Shari'ah, it is at least permissible. Among the best things transmitted on this occasion is the word of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), for he established a very important rule derived from those hadiths and other texts indicating that the original ruling for things is permissibility, which is a principle of jurisprudence. He said (may Allah have mercy on him): "The original ruling in religion is prohibition except by explicit text, and the original ruling in worldly affairs is permissibility except by explicit text." He means: every newly invented matter in religion is prohibited, whereas the newly invented matter in worldly affairs is permissible unless it contradicts an explicit text, as we mentioned. Then, what should be noted is that his saying (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): means that every act of worship that was invented after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) is misguidance, even if many people think it is good. And rightly said Abdullah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him): "Every religious innovation is misguidance, even if people see it as good." This is because considering something good in religion means that this person who considers it good has equated himself with the Lord of the worlds, for no one other than Him has the right to legislate except what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) wills. For this reason, Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Whoever considers something good has legislated," because how does this person who considers it good know, by his intellect and thought alone, without deriving it from his Lord's Book or the Sunnah of His Prophet, that this is a good matter? Therefore, it is obligatory for all of us to take the stance of abstaining from every newly invented matter in religion, based on the authentic hadiths mentioned above.