I ask you, O honorable Shaykh, to give us examples from the reality of daily life regarding religious innovations, which we might not expect to be innovations, with clarification.

The questioner : O honorable Shaykh (may Allah preserve you), I ask you, O Shaykh, to give us examples from the reality of daily life regarding religious innovations, which we might not expect to be innovations, with clarification. What is a religious innovation and what are its harms on the Muslim community?

The Shaykh : In reality, this is a question that cannot be answered in detail.

The questioner : Yes, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Because a person is not all-encompassing in knowledge of everything, but I will give the questioner a rule.

The questioner : Okay, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Whoever worships Allah with something, whether by belief in the heart, speech with the tongue, or action with the limbs, we say to him: You are an innovator until you bring us evidence that this is prescribed. Take this rule with you, O questioner. Any person who worships Allah with something, by belief in his heart, speech with his tongue, or action with his limbs, and says: This is a Shari'ah, we say: You are an innovator until you bring us evidence from the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger, the sayings of the Companions, or the consensus of the community that this is prescribed. Because the original principle in religion is the Shari'ah, and the original principle in acts of worship is prohibition until evidence establishes that it is prescribed. For this reason, our Imam and our model, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), gave us a rule in this matter, saying: And he gave us another rule, saying: meaning it is rejected by its doer because it is an innovation. So if someone says to you: Whoever sends blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) a thousand times a day and night, such and such is written for him, we say: Bring the evidence, otherwise you are an innovator. If someone says: Whoever reads a thousand times, such and such is written for him, we say: Bring the evidence, otherwise you are an innovator. If he says: Sending blessings upon the Messenger is prescribed at all times, we say: You are right, but why did you restrict it to a thousand? Where is your evidence? And if he says: is a third of the Qur'an, and reading it is prescribed, we say: You are right, but who restricted it to a thousand? And so on. This rule, and praise be to Allah, is comfortable and clear and evident. And what we find in some published books, or in files that are published, or what is sometimes published in papers, mentioning things that have no truth, such as: Whoever abandons prayer is punished with fifteen traits, this is a lie fabricated upon the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Then the story of the girl who was sick and went around all the hospitals and saw Zaynab in a dream and what happened to her, this is also a lie. Many things are promoted by the ignorant or the misguided who want to mislead people. Therefore, I warn my brothers not to accept every publication and every written text until they present it to the people of knowledge, because the callers to misguidance are many, either with the intention of corruption and misguidance, or with good intention. So let a person beware of such things until he presents them to the people of knowledge.
And the summary is that the rule regarding religious innovation is that it is everything by which a person worships that is not prescribed, whether it is belief, speech, or action. Therefore, you are able to say to a person who prays two rak'ahs: Come, who told you that this is prescribed? Bring the evidence. If he brings the evidence, it is on my eyes and head. If he does not bring the evidence, we say: This is rejected by you. If he said, for example: Whenever lightning flashes, I pray two rak'ahs. Who told you this? He said: Two rak'ahs are a recommended practice at all times. We say: Yes, two rak'ahs are a recommended practice at all times, except at the times of prohibition. But who told you that it is recommended to pray two rak'ahs when lightning flashes! Or when it rains, it is recommended to pray two rak'ahs, for example! For this reason, some people who have been tried by celebrating what they claim is the day the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was born, claim that they did not do anything, but rather they gathered to mention the biography of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), that fragrant biography beloved to souls, which increases a person's faith and love for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And they say: This is a prescribed thing. We say: Yes, everything that makes people love the Messenger is a prescribed command, and loving the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is an obligation, and his love must be placed before the love of oneself, and before the love of a child and a parent. But who said: It is prescribed on this night, which is not established as the night of his birth, who said: It is prescribed to gather on it, send blessings upon the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and mention his biography? And the matter did not stop at this; they began to bring poems and praises of the Prophet, which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) warned against, and in them is an excess that contradicts servitude. Some of them would repeat the saying of al-Busiri, addressing the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), saying: "O the most noble of creation" And he is truthful that he is the most noble of creation, but he says: "I have no one to take refuge in but You when the general calamity befalls" If the general, dark calamity that encompasses all people happens, I have no one to take refuge in but you, O Messenger of Allah. I seek refuge in Allah. He forgot Allah, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded him to say: Rather How can the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) be the refuge when the general calamity befalls! And he says:
"O the most noble of creation, I have no one to take refuge in" Yes, and he says,
"For from Your generosity is the world and its neighbor, and from Your knowledge is the knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen"
From His generosity is the world and its neighbor, and not all of His generosity. From His generosity, glory be to Allah, "and from Your knowledge is the knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen" and not all of Your knowledge. You have something more eloquent than that. Does the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) accept being described with this? No, by the One who created the creation, he does not accept this. Rather, when they said to him: You are our master and the son of our master, he said: .
So the important thing is that absolute acts of worship, when restricted by a specific time, place, number, or form, become an innovation from this angle, and they must be avoided, even if they are prescribed in their original form. So be careful, O brother questioner, and let everyone who hears this speech of ours be careful of this point by which the people of innovation and new matters veil the truth, saying: This is a prescribed thing, this is a thing in which there is no prohibition. It is said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , Yes.

The questioner : May Allah reward you and bless you. The questioner from Jordan says in this question: O honorable Shaykh Muhammad.