The Shaykh’s mention of the athar of Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father): “Every religious innovation is misguidance, even if people see it as good,” and the saying of al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him): “Whoever exercises juristic preference has legislated.”

The Shaykh : And rightly did 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) say: “Every religious innovation is misguidance, even if people see it as good”. This is because istihsan in religion means that this person who exercises juristic preference has equated himself with the Lord of the worlds, to whom no one else 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 exercises juristic preference has legislated” “Whoever exercises juristic preference has legislated”. For how does this person who exercises juristic preference know that what he has deemed good by his intellect and thought alone, without deriving it from the Book of his Lord or the Sunnah of His Prophet, is a good matter?
Therefore, it is obligatory for all of us to refrain from every newly invented matter in religion, due to the authentic hadiths mentioned previously.

The questioner : ... .