The Shaykh’s remarks on the meaning of the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): “Indeed, Allah has blocked repentance from every person who commits religious innovation.”
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The Shaykh : From this, our understanding of one of the hadiths of the Messenger (peace be upon him) becomes clear, upon which renowned scholars built their rulings, stating that religious innovation in Islam is worse than sin. Why? Because the innovator thinks he is on the right path, and therefore it is not expected that he will repent, just as Allah said regarding those whose evil deeds were made attractive to them. Allah the Exalted said: [Surat al-Kahf: 103-104]. Does the one who thinks he is doing good repent? Does the one who thinks he is doing well repent? This is not conceivable. Therefore, the scholars said that the danger of religious innovation for its practitioner is greater than the danger of sin.
Because the sinner knows that he is sinning, so it is hoped that he will repent one day and return to his Lord. But as for the innovator, his inner state says, “My Lord, increase me, My Lord, increase me,” and he is doing good deeds.
From this, we understand the hadith you referred to, which is His saying (peace be upon him):. “Blocked” here means a natural blockage, not a legal blockage. It means that this person who walks the path of innovation is made to believe that this is good, so he does not repent. This is the blockage, prevention, and barrier to repentance for the person who commits religious innovation. From this, the scholars said that innovation in religion is more dangerous than sin, as I explained to you.
This is a regrettable and very serious matter. Eight hundred million Muslims, most of whom live in religious innovation in creed and worship,
For example, today in the Levant, there is a regular practice for the adhan (call to prayer) that must have an introduction and a conclusion. This is not a good innovation. And wherever we travel in the countries, we find in some of them innovations that we do not find in other countries. For example, here with you, they call the adhan for the 'Asr prayer twice. We used to complain about the two adhans for Jumu'ah, and now we are surprised by a new innovation: two adhans for one time, 'Asr, and perhaps also for Zuhr? What is this? They have imposed their own reasoning, deciding that one adhan is to announce the entry of the time and the other is to announce the practical preparation for prayer. Well, what about the iqamah? Is this iqamah the second adhan? They were not satisfied with this complete legislation, so they made it two adhans and an iqamah. This is innovation in religion. Try to turn the people back from this error. Oh, for the sake of Allah’s jealousy! They changed, altered, and innovated in religion, and they are the innovators.
Some of our brothers in Jordan discovered the error in the adhan for the Fajr prayer. They call the adhan a third of an hour or half an hour before Fajr. This awareness spread among many conscious Muslim youth and reached some officials in the Ministry of Awqaf there. They strongly condemned this rumor, calling it a new fitnah from the Salafis there, as this official claimed. Some of the Salafi brothers close to him softened the situation and said, “Let us go to a place outside Jordan, outside Amman, and see the matter with our own eyes. If it is so, we will correct it and clarify it; otherwise, we will silence those who spread errors among the people that are not errors.” So they went to an agreed-upon place, and there they were broadcasting the adhan with a loudspeaker. One adhan, and this is also a new innovation; the adhan is not called in every mosque, but rather there is a mosque called Masjid Darwish on a very high mountain, and the adhan is called from there and broadcast on the radio. The mu'adhdhin called the adhan. Look, O so-and-so, O official, where is the dawn? Where is the breaking of light? It was not there. Come, come, come, come, in about a third of an hour, fifteen minutes, the light appeared. He saw with his own eyes that they were calling the adhan about half an hour before Fajr. After he saw it and was convinced, he returned to say, “By Allah, now if we want to give a warning, it will cause a commotion, what will it be? Confusion among the people. So let the old way remain as it is.” Even though this means that they are praying the Fajr prayer before its time, meaning they are forbidding food and drink to the fasting person before the time. All this... so that it is not said that so-and-so did such and such. Without a doubt, people are talking; this is the nature of a new matter. But after that, the truth will settle and people will proceed on the right path. He did not do this, and this is one of the simplest matters that can be corrected. And thus the Muslim world lives in accumulated errors, and yet we seek Allah’s victory and want to establish the Muslim state, while we have not yet established a part of the Muslim state specific to each of us. So we ask Allah the Mighty and Majestic to inspire us with guidance and grant us success in understanding the Book of our Lord and the Sunnah of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) according to the methodology of the righteous Salaf.
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(103) Say, [O Muhammad], "Shall we [believers] inform you of the greatest losers as to [their] deeds? (104) [They are] those whose effort is lost in worldly life, while they think that they are doing well in work."
قُلْ هَلْ نُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِالأَخْسَرِينَ أَعْمَالًا * الَّذِينَ ضَلَّ سَعْيُهُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ يَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ يُحْسِنُونَ صُنْعًاBecause the sinner knows that he is sinning, so it is hoped that he will repent one day and return to his Lord. But as for the innovator, his inner state says, “My Lord, increase me, My Lord, increase me,” and he is doing good deeds.
From this, we understand the hadith you referred to, which is His saying (peace be upon him):
Indeed, Allah has blocked repentance from every person who commits religious innovation.
إن الله احتجر التوبة عن كل صاحب بدعةThis is a regrettable and very serious matter. Eight hundred million Muslims, most of whom live in religious innovation in creed and worship,
For example, today in the Levant, there is a regular practice for the adhan (call to prayer) that must have an introduction and a conclusion. This is not a good innovation. And wherever we travel in the countries, we find in some of them innovations that we do not find in other countries. For example, here with you, they call the adhan for the 'Asr prayer twice. We used to complain about the two adhans for Jumu'ah, and now we are surprised by a new innovation: two adhans for one time, 'Asr, and perhaps also for Zuhr? What is this? They have imposed their own reasoning, deciding that one adhan is to announce the entry of the time and the other is to announce the practical preparation for prayer. Well, what about the iqamah? Is this iqamah the second adhan? They were not satisfied with this complete legislation, so they made it two adhans and an iqamah. This is innovation in religion. Try to turn the people back from this error. Oh, for the sake of Allah’s jealousy! They changed, altered, and innovated in religion, and they are the innovators.
Some of our brothers in Jordan discovered the error in the adhan for the Fajr prayer. They call the adhan a third of an hour or half an hour before Fajr. This awareness spread among many conscious Muslim youth and reached some officials in the Ministry of Awqaf there. They strongly condemned this rumor, calling it a new fitnah from the Salafis there, as this official claimed. Some of the Salafi brothers close to him softened the situation and said, “Let us go to a place outside Jordan, outside Amman, and see the matter with our own eyes. If it is so, we will correct it and clarify it; otherwise, we will silence those who spread errors among the people that are not errors.” So they went to an agreed-upon place, and there they were broadcasting the adhan with a loudspeaker. One adhan, and this is also a new innovation; the adhan is not called in every mosque, but rather there is a mosque called Masjid Darwish on a very high mountain, and the adhan is called from there and broadcast on the radio. The mu'adhdhin called the adhan. Look, O so-and-so, O official, where is the dawn? Where is the breaking of light? It was not there. Come, come, come, come, in about a third of an hour, fifteen minutes, the light appeared. He saw with his own eyes that they were calling the adhan about half an hour before Fajr. After he saw it and was convinced, he returned to say, “By Allah, now if we want to give a warning, it will cause a commotion, what will it be? Confusion among the people. So let the old way remain as it is.” Even though this means that they are praying the Fajr prayer before its time, meaning they are forbidding food and drink to the fasting person before the time. All this... so that it is not said that so-and-so did such and such. Without a doubt, people are talking; this is the nature of a new matter. But after that, the truth will settle and people will proceed on the right path. He did not do this, and this is one of the simplest matters that can be corrected. And thus the Muslim world lives in accumulated errors, and yet we seek Allah’s victory and want to establish the Muslim state, while we have not yet established a part of the Muslim state specific to each of us. So we ask Allah the Mighty and Majestic to inspire us with guidance and grant us success in understanding the Book of our Lord and the Sunnah of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) according to the methodology of the righteous Salaf.