The Shaykh Al-Albani’s commentary on the statement of the Shaykh al-Islam (that one should not worship Allah except by what He has prescribed).

The Shaykh: Indeed, praise is to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomsoever He leaves to misguide, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His messenger. As for what follows, 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 and his family). And the worst of matters are their innovations, and every innovation is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.
The Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) has a comprehensive phrase for the foundation of Islam, and this phrase is originally derived from the testimony which is the first pillar of Islam. Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Islam is that we worship Allah alone, associating nothing with Him." This is one part, and the second part is that we do not worship Him except by what He has prescribed for us. Thus, Islam is gathered in these two words: that we worship Him (Blessed and Exalted is He) alone, with no partner, and that we do not worship Him except by what He has prescribed. This is the completion of tawhid (the oneness of Allah), and this is a precise scientific terminology of the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah. It is well known that tawhid has three categories: tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship), tawhid al-uluhiyyah (oneness of worship) or worship, and tawhid al-asma' wa al-sifat (oneness of the names and attributes). So Ibn Taymiyyah came with this concise expression: "That we do not worship except Allah, and we do not worship Him except by what He has prescribed." The phrase "that we do not worship Allah except by what He has prescribed" here encompasses a very serious scientific issue in which the later scholars have differed, and the least of them have not been saved from this detestable disagreement. I mean their disagreement over whether there is a good religious innovation (bid'ah) in Islam or not. The majority of the later scholars, with great regret, hold in speech, principle, and belief that there is a good religious innovation in Islam. Opposing them are those we referred to, namely the few, who say what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said in the many hadiths, including what you heard at the beginning of our speech tonight, which is always recited in the sermon of necessity (khutbat al-hajah) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) taught his Companions. We usually begin our sermons and speeches with this sermon, then we follow it with what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to follow the sermon of necessity in the Friday sermons. He (peace and blessings be upon him) would say in the Friday sermon: "As for what follows, 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 and his family). And the worst of matters are their innovations, and every innovation is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire." The Messenger (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him) would repeat this comprehensive phrase, "every innovation is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire," so that it would be firmly established in the minds. The few have been guided by the guidance of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), so they held fast to the speech of the Messenger (peace be upon him) in its generality and comprehensiveness, and they said as he (peace be upon him) said: But the important thing that should be noted is that among these few, by way of report, there are many who fall into religious innovation. This is only because they have not grasped the rule of innovation. They say to themselves, "Every innovation is a misguidance," as the Messenger (peace be upon him) said, because they are of the few group who were guided by the hadiths of the Messenger (peace be upon him) which declared every innovation to be misguidance. But so that these few do not fall into the innovation they flee from... from the general rule "every innovation is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire," they must master the study of innovation to distinguish it, whereas it falls under the generality of the text, so they do not act upon it. Because his saying "every innovation is a misguidance" is comprehensive, and even if this matter that falls under the general text has a basis in the Shari'ah, the matter becomes confusing for many people when they see us taking some texts that encourage certain righteous deeds and they take their generality, and they do not notice that some of this generality is encompassed by that general text: So distinguishing between this comprehensiveness, which is his (peace be upon him) saying "every innovation is a misguidance," and the comprehensiveness in other texts where they command certain acts of worship or encourage certain acts of worship in a general way, here much confusion and ambiguity occurs for some people. And before I mention what I have of knowledge in this regard, I want to advise you, in your capacity as students of knowledge like me, to study this issue only and to understand it with correct understanding, and to be upon what the righteous Salaf were upon, which is staying away from religious innovation, even if this religious innovation is based on a general text from the hadiths of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), so that you do not fall into religious innovation. I advise you to read a book which is the greatest book I have known on this subject, and that is al-I'tisam by the Imam al-Shatibi (may Allah have mercy on him). This book is specialized in this subject, and I know of no equivalent to it. Everyone who came after him is dependent on it and draws from it. Also, a specific chapter that you should read is by the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) in his great book Iqtida' Sirat al-Mustaqim Mukhalafat Ahl al-Jahim. In this book, the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah addressed this important and serious issue, and in summary, he concluded with what the previous hadith and its equivalents indicate: But he looked at the issue from another angle, which is that some matters may occur, and the scholars see them as prescribed matters, and yet they were not in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). So how was the rule "every innovation is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire" not applied to them? Whereas many, and very many, innovations occurred, and the scholars of research, such as al-Shatibi and Ibn Taymiyyah and others, considered them as innovations. What is the distinction? What is the ruling that distinguishes between what occurs and is prescribed and what occurs and is not prescribed? This is what the Imam al-Shatibi clarified in the aforementioned book al-I'tisam, and the Shaykh al-Islam summarized the speech in it in the aforementioned book. So I will summarize the speech for you. I do not naturally want to remind you of the texts that confirm this great Islamic rule: "every innovation is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire," because I believe you are aware of that, as I suppose and hope. But I actually want to clarify two matters for you so that you may verify the meaning of this authentic hadith: So that you do not fall into excess or negligence, because some people, due to their ignorance of what will be mentioned aboutThe Shaykh : innovations occurring and holding fast to them because they fall under general texts, and other people denying matters that occurred on the pretext that they occurred, and they are not among the innovations of matters. This precise detail is something we all need. The Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) says in the aforementioned book...