What is the correct guidance regarding the hadith: “Whoever introduces a good practice in Islam…”?

The questioner : When we explain to some people this kind of statement that you mentioned, may Allah reward you with good, they cite the hadith in which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So it would be wonderful if you could clarify for us how to respond to them with the correct, sound response?

The Shaykh : In truth, this question is very important for many people, because it is strongly related to what I indicated in the context of my previous speech, which is that it is not permissible for us to deem something good based on our own opinion. Someone might ask: How is that? Yet he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: .
In response to that, I say: We have learned from the books of the scholars of Qur’anic exegesis that one of the ways by which a student of knowledge can understand a verse in a sound and correct manner is to know its occasion of revelation, if it has one. This strongly helps in reaching the correct understanding of it, after utilizing the Arabic literary conventions that help in understanding Arabic speech, and especially the speech of the Lord of the Worlds (Blessed and Exalted is He). We learned this from them, so I derived a benefit from it and said, just as they said regarding knowing the occasions of revelation of verses, that it is a great aid to understanding the verse correctly. I derived from that and said likewise: What helps in understanding the Prophetic hadith correctly is to know the occasion of the hadith’s transmission. In the Qur’an, there is the occasion of revelation, while in the hadith, there is the occasion of transmission, meaning that we know the context in which the Messenger (peace be upon him) said the hadith. You will clearly know the importance of this rule, which is to know the occasion of the hadith’s transmission. It will become clear to you how great the difference is between one who knows the occasion of transmission and one who overlooks this occasion and does not know it.
This hadith: is what the Imam Muslim narrated in his Sahih, from the narration of Jarir ibn Abdullah al-Bajali (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: “We were sitting with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when a group of Bedouins came to him, wearing their cloaks and carrying their swords, most of them from the tribe of Mudar, indeed all of them from Mudar. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw them, his face changed.” His face changing means that the features of his face changed to indicate his sadness (peace be upon him) when he saw the signs of poverty on these people who came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). “So he stood up and addressed the Companions, and he recited the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): Then he admonished them, and part of his admonition to them was that he said to them: .
“Tasadqa” is a past tense verb, as the scholars of grammar say, but it carries the meaning of a command, meaning “let him give charity.” “Tasadqa rajul” means “let one of you give charity” with whatever charity is easy for him, whether in coins, dirhams or dinars, or in food, wheat or barley or dates or the like. “So the first one to move was a man from those who had heard the sermon of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he quickly went to his house to return carrying in the corner of his garment whatever charity was easy for him. He placed it in front of the Messenger (peace be upon him). Then the others stood up and each one of them went to return with whatever charity was easy for them. So there gathered in front of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) from charity piles like mountains, piles. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw that, his face brightened as if it were gilded.” “His face brightened as if it were gilded”; gilded means silver coated with gold, so it shines with beauty. This is how the narrator of the hadith, who is Jarir ibn Abdullah al-Bajali, describes how the impressions of the Messenger (peace be upon him) changed from his initial impressions to his final ones. He said at the beginning: about him (peace be upon him), and he said about him at the end: .
And this cause is clear, or this change and brightening, its cause is clear, because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was pleased by the response of his Companions to his command to them to give charity, so they were generous to those Bedouins who came to him (peace be upon him) in a state of extreme poverty. His face brightened (peace be upon him) as if it were gilded. Then he said: to the end of the hadith. Look now at how much these people err who use this hadith as evidence for their innovations, which they deemed good merely by their intellects, if we do not say that they followed their desires. Where is there a place for innovation in this incident that you heard narrated from Sahih Muslim? You will not find here anything that can be mentioned or described as an innovation at all. It is only charity, and charity was prescribed before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) preached to the Companions encouraging them to give charity, because you heard that part of his sermon (peace be upon him) in this incident was that he recited to them the noble verse: to its end. So there is nothing that can fall under the category of “good innovation” as they claim! Because charity is prescribed by the explicit text of the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the Ummah.
So when they interpret his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): “Whoever introduces a good innovation in Islam,” this interpretation, not the hadith, contradicts reality, because in reality there is nothing that can be associated with innovation at all. But if it is interpreted by the Arabic meaning, “sanna” meaning “opened a path,” then this is very clear, because that first man was the one who opened the path before the other Companions when he went to return with whatever charity was easy for him, so the others followed him in that. So he had established charity for them in that gathering. As for the one who made it good and the one who legislated it and made it a religion for the people, it was not him, nor the Messenger (peace be upon him), but rather the Lord of the Worlds, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has no share in legislation. Rather, he is as He said, addressing him in the verse: ... . And therefore, it is a very grave error, the verbal error, what we read in some newspapers and magazines and some lectures: “The legislator.” Who is the legislator? They mean the lawgiver. They do not mean the Lord of the Worlds by that. And here we mention the saying of our Lord (Mighty and Majestic): So Allah alone (Mighty and Majestic) is the legislator. And the point is that that first Companion had no part in this incident except that he opened the path, reminding the others that they had to respond to what the Messenger (peace be upon him) encouraged them to do, which was charity. So he had the reward of that charity and the reward of the other charities given by those who followed his path and emulated him (may Allah be pleased with them all).
This is what relates to knowing the occasions of the hadith’s transmission, and that if we know this occasion, then we cast aside their interpretation of the hadith as meaning “whoever introduces a good innovation in Islam,” and we say to them: Bring it, where is the innovation in this incident? And therefore I said once or more than once, if there is not in the incident, as you heard, an event that can be something not previously known as a religion, but rather something good that one of the attendees deemed good, then it would be an innovation. We said then that his saying (peace be upon him): and he said it on the occasion of charity, does not agree with the interpretation that some of the later generations say, “whoever introduces a good innovation in Islam.” I used to say and affirm that sometimes, that it is not possible for an Arab man, indeed it is not possible for a non-Arab man like me, I am Al-Albani, to say “whoever introduces a good practice in Islam” meaning “whoever introduces a good innovation in Islam,” on the occasion of charity. This is an Arabized man whose origin is non-Arab; it is a disgrace for him to say such a thing, “whoever introduces a good practice in Islam” meaning “whoever introduces a good innovation in Islam,” on the occasion of an incident in which nothing happened except charity. How can this non-Arab meaning, indeed the one that even the Arabized non-Arab rejects, how can this meaning be attributed to the most eloquent of those who spoke the Arabic language? This is a very grave error, so take heed, O you who have insight.
This is something we benefit from only by our knowledge of the occasion of the hadith, and as I told you just now, the scholars of Qur’anic exegesis say: Knowing the occasion of revelation of a verse helps in knowing its meaning, and the rest is from the Arabic language and its literary conventions. Likewise, knowing the occasion of the hadith’s transmission helps in understanding the hadith, and then the rest is from the literary conventions and language of Arabic.
I will say something else, regardless of this first matter, which is the reason for the coming of the hadith. The hadith says: Then in the second paragraph: We ask these people who dare to challenge the status of the wise Lawgiver, who has bestowed upon us the verse with which we began our discussion: They make things good and open up in the religion what has been closed and sealed off before... Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as we mentioned in the previous hadith.
We say to these people: What is the way to know the good sunnah and the bad sunnah? Is it the intellect or the Shari'ah? This question is very important, and in my belief, if they are fair, accepting, and seeking the truth, they will say one of two things, and at that point it will become clear what is in the hearts of these people, or the souls of these people, of knowledge or ignorance. The good sunnah and the bad sunnah in this hadith—knowing that—is it through the path of transmission or the path of intellect? If they say the path of transmission, we say you have hit the mark, so let us stop here to investigate. If they say the path of intellect, they have departed from the people of the Sunnah and the community and joined some of the misguided sects, such as the Mu'tazilah, whom many people think is a sect that has passed away and perished. In reality, the effects of this sect are still scattered among the masses of people, even among those who claim to be from the people of the Sunnah, because the methodology of those is the methodology of these. The methodology of these in making their intellects the judge is exactly the methodology of those. I told you earlier, during the discussion of this important topic, if one of them is denied one of these innovations, he will say to you: "What is wrong with it, my brother?" Do you see this as a ruling of transmission or a ruling of intellect?
As for me, I say: Neither intellect nor transmission, but rather they have ruled by their desires and customs. If they hit the mark and say: "No, knowing the good sunnah and the bad sunnah, we refer that to the Shari'ah, to transmission," and if they stand with us here, if we say this matter is from the good sunnah, and if we agree that knowing that is from transmission, then bring the transmission that indicates that this thing which you consider good came through transmission, not intellect. Here the argument with these people will be silenced, because their outcome will be either submission to the truth when they are unable to bring the transmission that makes their innovation good, or they will be stubborn and argue with falsehood. At that time, we say to them as the Exalted said: So, making something good and making it ugly here is only by referring to transmission. And if we refer to transmission, we will all be at ease, and the disagreement will be resolved.
I will give you a very simple example, other than the issue we raised previously, for which we presented this word: the handshaking that people do today after the prayer, by the fact that I andThe Shaykh : entering the mosque, we met and shook hands and talked, and did everything we did, we prayed, may Allah accept it, may Allah accept it, what is this? A good innovation? Well, what is your evidence that it is a good innovation? He will not tell you that the Messenger did that, because he knows that this is an innovation, and he will not tell you that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered that, because there is no way to know about such a matter. So their argument is like the argument of the first ones: .
So this is the answer to the previous question: that the hadith: to the end, does not indicate that there is a good innovation in Islam, but rather in Islam there is a good innovation, but rather in Islam there is a good sunnah, and knowing the good sunnah is from the path of the sunnah, not from the path of intellect or custom or desire.