Their saying: "An increase in good is good." What is the criterion for the increase in good that is acceptable in the Shari'ah, and the distinction between that and religious innovations?

Al-Halabi: Our Shaykh, regarding the issue you mentioned a moment ago, the matter of "An increase in good is good". Shaykh, the matter is sometimes between excess and deficiency, and there must be criteria. It would be desirable to hear, for example, many people face objections where they say to you, "We are now between the two adhan calls, why don't we pray on Friday?" Even though we tell them, "Before the adhan, you may pray as much as you wish, but why do you specify this?" So, what are the criteria? When is it permissible to worship with expansion, and when is it permissible to be restricted to what has come as worship and specification? May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : This issue is well known, and praise be to Allah, and it does not go beyond what has come in the Shari'ah. It is expected of the Muslim that not everything that is obligatory is necessarily realized in practice, but the Muslim must ensure that his reality always and forever aligns with the rulings of the Shari'ah, whether they are commands or prohibitions. As you all know, if Allah wills, commands and prohibitions are divided into categories. Commands include those within the limits of obligation (fard) and those within the limits of recommended practice (sunnah). Prohibitions include those in the category of forbidden (haram) and those in the category of disliked (makruh). Just as the command in the first category, which is the obligatory, or the recommended/sunnah, where its doer is rewarded for doing it and not punished for leaving it, so too is the second category of what is prohibited. We said the first category is forbidden and the second is disliked. If the Muslim refrains from this disliked act, he is rewarded for that, and if he does it, he is not punished, but it remains disliked for him. So, which category does the issue of increasing in worship fall into? Is it from the category of forbidden or from the category of disliked? The answer is that it is from the category of forbidden, for many reasons, the most important of which at this moment is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) . This warning concerning the one who commits an innovation or in which there is an innovation, with the Fire, necessitates that committing an innovation is not from the matters disliked by way of disapproval (makruh tahrimi) as the Hanafi scholars say, but rather it is forbidden. Accordingly, the acts of worship in Islam are either restricted or unrestricted. As for those acts of worship that are restricted, it is not permissible to increase beyond this restriction. Here, it is said what the common people say in some lands, and it is a word of truth: "The one who increases is the brother of the one who decreases". This means that if a man prays the Fajr prayer with three rak'ahs like the Maghrib prayer, this word is true of him: "The one who increases is the brother of the one who decreases". Likewise, the opposite is the case; if he prays the Maghrib prayer with two rak'ahs, he is also the one who increases being the brother of the one who decreases. In both examples, his prayer is invalid. Whoever prays Fajr with three rak'ahs, his prayer is invalid, and whoever prays Maghrib with two rak'ahs, his prayer is invalid. "The one who increases is the brother of the one who decreases". This is regarding restricted acts of worship. However, it must be noted that there is no difference between what is restricted in the obligatory prayers and what is restricted in the voluntary prayers, because our discussion is still about restricted worship. We gave an example earlier of the two rak'ahs of the Fajr obligatory prayer, and we said if he prays it with three, his prayer is not accepted because he contradicted the restricted Shari'ah. Now we are talking about the voluntary prayer before this obligatory prayer, which is the Sunnah of Fajr, two rak'ahs. These are the two rak'ahs about which he (peace and blessings be upon him) said . If a person says, as we said at the beginning of this speech, "My brother, an increase in good is good, I will pray four instead of two, not three," is this from the good? The answer is no. Why? Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) spent his entire blessed life maintaining these two rak'ahs, not decreasing from them or increasing upon them. So his action (peace and blessings be upon him), which he persisted in, is a practical proof that the one who increases is the brother of the one who decreases. Just as it is not permissible to pray the two rak'ahs of Fajr with one rak'ah, it is not permissible to pray them with three or four. The one who increases is the brother of the one who decreases. This is an example in the voluntary prayer that I mentioned so that it does not occur to any listener that the previous discussion was specific to the obligatory prayers, and some might say, "My brother, this is in the obligatory, and it has been said repeatedly, but as for the voluntary, the matter is broad." Some lean in this issue to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) . But this is applicable to what will be discussed later regarding unrestricted acts of worship. As for the restricted act of worship, whether it is an obligatory or a voluntary, here you are now facing the Fajr obligatory and the Fajr Sunnah. Just as it is not permissible to increase upon the Fajr obligatory, it is not permissible to increase upon the Fajr Sunnah. The proof is the persistence of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) with these two prayers, two rak'ahs, two rak'ahs. So, distinguishing in the issue of increasing between the obligatory and the voluntary is a distinction that contradicts the Shari'ah.