A discourse on the sermon of necessity, the blessing of the completion of the religion, and the danger of religious innovation.

The Shaykh : All praise is due 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 evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomsoever He misguides, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. As for what follows:
Indeed, the best of speech is the speech of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). The worst of matters are their newly invented ones, and every newly invented matter is a religious innovation, and every religious innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.
It was the way of our Prophet (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him) to begin his speech, his admonition, and his sermons with this concise and eloquent sermon that you have heard, and that you hear from us as a custom. As you know, it contains this great principle: . We say in this blessed sermon that this is an important principle among the principles of the Shari'ah, and its importance becomes clear to one who understands the Book of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), especially in His saying: .
Indeed, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) bestows a favor upon His servants in this noble verse by completing their religion and perfecting His blessing for them. Many people do not realize this great blessing, and by its greatness, Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) has bestowed it upon His servants. This is due to their negligence regarding the importance of the perfection of the Shari'ah. This perfection makes people unnecessary to occupy themselves from one day to another, or one week to another, or one month, year, or century to another, by thinking and occupying their minds with what brings them closer to Allah. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) perfected the blessing for them by perfecting their religion. This point was noted by some of the rabbis of the Jews in the time of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), when he came to him to say: “O Commander of the Faithful, there is a verse in the Book of Allah that, if it had been revealed to us, the Jews, we would have taken the day of its revelation as a festival.” He said: “What is it?” So he mentioned the previous verse: . 'Umar said to him: “It was revealed on a day of festival.” As if he was saying: “Be glad, for the Muslims have taken the day of the revelation of this verse as a festival.” This is because it was revealed while the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was at 'Arafah on a Friday, and Friday is the weekly festival of the Muslims, which recurs not just once a year, but once every week. Why did this Jewish rabbi say that if this verse had been revealed to them, they would have taken the day of its revelation as a festival? Because of the favor of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) upon His servants by perfecting the Shari'ah for them, completing it, and making them in no need of personal independent legal reasoning, in which they might become skilled and expand, seeking thereby to draw near to Allah.
They may be misguided, for we all know that the one who exercises independent legal reasoning is exposed to error, even though he is rewarded for his error if he has devoted his effort to knowing the truth that Allah has commanded. As he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith in al-Bukhari and others: . So the completion of the Shari'ah makes them in no need of such independent legal reasoning intended to expand the circle of drawing near to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This circle has been filled, closed, and perfected, so people have no need to exercise independent legal reasoning, for Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has perfected the blessing by that. For this reason, he (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) said: . Therefore, it is established from some of the Salaf, or it is reported from some of the Salaf, and specifically from Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, that he said: “Any act of worship that the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not perform, do not perform it.” That is, do not worship with it. “Any act of worship that the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not perform, do not perform it.”
The first of the Khalaf received this meaning from the first of the Salaf in various expressions, the most important of which is the saying of Malik (may Allah have mercy on him): “Whoever innovates a religious innovation that he sees as good has claimed that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) betrayed the message. Read the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): .” Malik said: “What was not a religion at that time will not be a religion today, and the end of this community will not be set right except by what set right its beginning.” This word from the Imam of the City of Migration (may Allah have mercy on him) is, as they used to say in old times, something to be written in gold ink, because it clarified for us the intended meaning of this verse, which that Jew wished had been revealed to them so they would take it as a festival. And the Muslims, praise be to Allah, have also taken it as a festival, as you heard from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) that it was revealed on a Friday and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was at 'Arafah.
He says in the form of the indefinite, which implies comprehensiveness: “Whoever innovates a religious innovation—one that he sees as good—has claimed that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) betrayed the message.” From here, every Muslim who knows this reality and this favor that Allah has bestowed upon His servants by completing their religion should not dare to challenge the status of the Shari'ah by approving what his custom or his desire or anything else of innovations and newly invented matters dictates, on the pretext of; and this pretext is a refuted one that we constantly hear from many people, some of whom may be attributed to knowledge. When an innovation is denied to them that was not in the way of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and was not in the time of the righteous Salaf, the answer is: “What is wrong with it, my brother?” All these people neglect the previous verse, the wish of the rabbi, and the interpretation of Imam Malik of it by his saying: “Whoever innovates a single religious innovation that he sees as good has claimed that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) betrayed the message.” So these are the ones who, when the proof is established against them that what you are doing is an innovation, begin by saying or by their saying: “What is wrong with it?”
The answer is that it attributes ignorance to the Wise Lawgiver, who is Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), who revealed this verse. Or it attributes the concealment of knowledge to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), who was commanded to convey everything revealed to him that relates to the Shari'ah of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as He (Mighty and Majestic) said: . I do not want to lengthen this matter, which has many branches and details, but I wanted to present a word before an innovation that is the daughter of this age and the daughter of this hour in which we live, which was not known before, and no one can know it or be aware of it unless he is a follower of the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the Sunnah of his Companions, who followed him in everything relating to the Shari'ah.