Is increasing beyond eleven rak'ahs a religious innovation?
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The Shaykh : Then what is a bid'ah (religious innovation)? The bid'ah, in what you hold to be his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): Sunan an-Nasa'i 1578Sahih (Darussalam) What is a bid'ah? Is it not the addition to what the Messenger brought of obedience and worship? If that is the case, then that is the answer I mentioned earlier, that the original ruling in acts of worship is prohibition except for a text. For that reason, the scholars, as you know, distinguish between a restricted act of worship and an unrestricted act of worship. Then there is disagreement regarding a specific act of worship: is it unrestricted or restricted? The answer depends on what is established by the researcher and the scholar. So now, if we want to say, as many scholars today say who do not see prohibition in praying one hundred rak'ahs every night, their argument is that standing in night prayer is unrestricted, an unrestricted prayer. I say that my wonder at such a statement hardly ends. Praying one hundred rak'ahs: is it obedience or not? If it is obedience, how did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) overlook it? Why did he not legislate it? I do not say he did not legislate it; why did he not establish it, even once in his life? He who prayed one rak'ah with this long, very long recitation—let him pray one hundred rak'ahs, fifty rak'ahs, so that he makes clear to people what he was commanded to make clear in the Qur'an: [An-Nahl 16:44] that this is an unrestricted voluntary prayer. The commitment of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to eleven rak'ahs, O people, throughout his blessed life, this is what indicates that this is a restricted act of worship? If this does not indicate it, then what is the evidence that we say, no, it is not permissible to increase in any act of worship?
every innovation is going astray, and every going astray is in the Fire
كل بدعة ضلالة و كلّ ضلالة في النارAnd We revealed to you the message that you may make clear to the people what was sent down to them
و أنزلنا إليك الذكر لتبين للناس ما أنزل إليهم
Source
www.al-albany.com
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