The Division of the Great Scholars of Religious Innovation into Five Categories, and the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says: Every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire
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The questioner : The Division of the Great Scholars of Religious Innovation into Five Categories, and the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says: Sunan an-Nasa'i 1578Sahih (Darussalam) What is your comment on this, O honorable Shaykh?
The Shaykh : Our comment on this is that no one’s statement holds weight after the statement of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Indeed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is the most knowledgeable of creation regarding the religion of Allah, the most sincere of creation toward the servants of Allah, and the most eloquent of creation in what he says. When these three matters are established, their implication is that his speech is the truth that nothing can contradict, nothing from the speech of people. Therefore, we say that all these divisions that some of the scholars of knowledge have made are contrary to the text, so they must be discarded, and one must take what the text indicates. Whoever says about an innovation that it is good, it is either not an innovation but he thought it was, or it is not good but he thought it was. As for it being a true innovation and good, this is absolutely impossible, because this necessitates contradicting the report of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when he said: And it is known that misguidance contains no goodness at all, but rather it is all evil and all ignorance. So whoever thinks that one of the innovations is good, he does not escape one of the two states we mentioned earlier, which are either that it is not an innovation, or that it is not good. Otherwise, every innovation is bad and misguidance, and it is not good.
If you say: What is the answer to the statement of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) when he gathered the people for the night prayer in Ramadan with Ubayy ibn Ka'b and Tamim al-Dari, and ordered them to lead the people in eleven rak'ahs, then he left while the people were praying and said: "What a good innovation this is"? So 'Umar called it an innovation and praised it by saying: "What a good innovation".
The answer is that 'Umar did not call it an innovation because it was an innovation introduced into the religion of Allah, but rather it was a renewal, so he called it an innovation only in terms of its renewal. Otherwise, it is established by the Shari'ah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), for it is established that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stood with the people for three nights in Ramadan, then he (peace and blessings be upon him) delayed on the fourth night and said:Muwatta Malik 6:1 And by this it becomes clear that the people standing in prayer in Ramadan in congregation in the mosques is from the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and from his Sunnah, and it is not from the innovations of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab as one who does not understand the address thinks. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you. The listener is also Muhammad from Ethiopia, he addresses, O honorable Shaykh, the belief regarding the people of the graves, he says.
every innovation is going astray, and every going astray is in the Fire
كل بدعة ضلالة، وكل ضلالة في النارThe Shaykh : Our comment on this is that no one’s statement holds weight after the statement of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Indeed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is the most knowledgeable of creation regarding the religion of Allah, the most sincere of creation toward the servants of Allah, and the most eloquent of creation in what he says. When these three matters are established, their implication is that his speech is the truth that nothing can contradict, nothing from the speech of people. Therefore, we say that all these divisions that some of the scholars of knowledge have made are contrary to the text, so they must be discarded, and one must take what the text indicates. Whoever says about an innovation that it is good, it is either not an innovation but he thought it was, or it is not good but he thought it was. As for it being a true innovation and good, this is absolutely impossible, because this necessitates contradicting the report of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when he said:
Every innovation is misguidance.
كل بدعة ضلالةIf you say: What is the answer to the statement of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) when he gathered the people for the night prayer in Ramadan with Ubayy ibn Ka'b and Tamim al-Dari, and ordered them to lead the people in eleven rak'ahs, then he left while the people were praying and said: "What a good innovation this is"? So 'Umar called it an innovation and praised it by saying: "What a good innovation".
The answer is that 'Umar did not call it an innovation because it was an innovation introduced into the religion of Allah, but rather it was a renewal, so he called it an innovation only in terms of its renewal. Otherwise, it is established by the Shari'ah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), for it is established that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stood with the people for three nights in Ramadan, then he (peace and blessings be upon him) delayed on the fourth night and said:
I feared that it would become obligatory (fard) for you
إني خشيت أن تُفرض عليكمThe questioner : May Allah reward you. The listener is also Muhammad from Ethiopia, he addresses, O honorable Shaykh, the belief regarding the people of the graves, he says.