What is the true innovation and the additional innovation?

The Shaykh : You reminded me of al-Shatibi’s term, the additional innovation. By virtue of this man’s knowledge and his jurisprudence in Islam, he came with a precise scientific classification of bid'ah (religious innovation). That is, the bid'ah of misguidance, which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) generalized as misguidance when he was delivering a sermon and saying: He divided bid'ah into two categories: true bid'ah and additional bid'ah, and he explained the meaning of each of the two categories. He said, and the meaning is clear: Is true bid'ah that which contradicts the Book and the Sunnah, or one of them, in an explicit contradiction? He cites some examples of false beliefs, such as Jabriyyah, for instance, and al-I'tizal, and departing from what has no basis in the Book and the Sunnah in any way whatsoever. This is true bid'ah. As for additional bid'ah, it is that which, if you look at it from one angle, you find it prescribed, and if you look at it from another angle, you find it not prescribed. From this perspective, additional bid'ah differs from true bid'ah. I will explain this somewhat, but we must pause briefly. Contradicting the Shari'ah in what it has prohibited is not called bid'ah; rather, it is a sin. Many people call, for example, cinemas or the modern entertainment venues that contain open sinfulness and lewdness "bid'ah." It is not permissible to call this bid'ah; rather, these are forbidden sins. Except from a distant angle regarding the subject of Shari'ah bid'ah, which is linguistic: that these cinemas did not exist before. But this is not what is intended by the one who says that this is bid'ah and bid'ah of misguidance. Therefore, bid'ah in religion is all of it, and it is of the two categories mentioned earlier: either true bid'ah, which has no basis in the Book and the Sunnah, but rather contradicts what is in the Book and the Sunnah, like the examples mentioned previously; or it is additional bid'ah. We said that if you look at it from one angle, you find it prescribed, and if you look at it from another angle, you find it not prescribed. The non-prescribed aspect overcomes the prescribed aspect. Most of the bid'ah present today in the Muslim world is of this type. He cites some very clear examples, such as seeking forgiveness after the prayer. Seeking forgiveness after the prayer is established in Sahih Muslim. He used to seek forgiveness from Allah three times when he prayed. He says this is a Sunnah. But raising the voice with it, and raising the voice collectively, in that there is bid'ah. So, by looking at the fact that this seeking forgiveness has a basis, it is a Sunnah. And by looking at what was added to this Sunnah that is not prescribed, it became additional bid'ah. So it falls under the general hadiths warning against bid'ah. Similarly, he cites an example where he addresses an issue that was prevalent in his time, as it appears. He narrates his story when he appointed an imam in a mosque. He said, "The people had become accustomed to the imam, after he says the taslim, turning to the people and teaching them the dhikr, then raising his hands and making du'a, and they would say 'Ameen.' So I was confused in my affair: should I follow the people and contradict the Sunnah, or should I follow the Sunnah even if the people oppose me?" So he did that. Naturally, the arrows of criticism, rejection, and attack came from every direction and angle. He says, "The du'a after the salam has a basis in the Shari'ah, but the du'a in this manner, collectively, and the long and broad du'a, these are additions attached to the original du'a, so it became a non-prescribed bid'ah, as I said earlier. The bid'ah that is walking among Muslims today, and the easiest thing for them is to call it bid'ah. What is their problem? They looked at the original, they looked at the addition to the commands, whether in the beginning or the end. I say to you, my brother, what is the problem with sending blessings upon the Messenger? Allah commanded sending blessings upon the Messenger. The Messenger said: But they are ignorant that these are additions attached to this ... prescribed matter, so they made the prescribed matter misguidance and bid'ah, and it is not permissible to draw near to Allah the Exalted and Majestic with it. This is what al-Shatibi (may Allah have mercy on him) intends by additional bid'ah.

The questioner : If you allow us to complete the discussion, some of the scholars of knowledge, who are qualified for ijtihad and whose principles are sound, consider this issue to be bid'ah, because the basis of the ruling in their view is considered. And another of the scholars does not consider it so, because the basis of the ruling in his view is considered, just like authenticating a hadith or weakening a hadith, and so on. Can we call it, by convention, for example, "ijtihadi bid'ah"?

The Shaykh : And we have previously mentioned that if a man falls into bid'ah, and he is from the people of knowledge, virtue, and ijtihad, he is not blamed for it, just as if he deemed a forbidden thing permissible. This is a matter more important than the issue of bid'ah. A scholar may fall into deeming permissible what Allah has forbidden, but by ijtihad, without intending it. Do we say that what he fell into is halal because it came from a mujtahid who has a mechanism for ijtihad? We say no. The haram is haram, and the halal is halal. But this is a mujtahid, and it is not denied that he erred, because he is rewarded in any case. But this does not mean that we correct his ruling and declare his ruling to be correct, when in reality it is wrong. Similarly, and perhaps even more so, if the scholar-mujtahid falls into bid'ah and contradicts a Sunnah in that, without intending that contradiction, we say that he fell into bid'ah, but he is rewarded for what came from him because it was by ijtihad.

The questioner : We can say, based on your words, that there are three conditions, or rather one condition that allows for detail and teaching: that he be from the people of knowledge and people of ijtihad, or that he have sound principles.

The Shaykh : He is not from the people of knowledge unless he is so.

The questioner : And that the basis of his citation be a correct basis. Similarly, he is not from the people of ijtihad unless his basis is a correct basis.

The Shaykh : There is no power and no strength except by Allah. There is no power and no strength except by Allah. There is no power and no strength except by Allah. There is no power and no strength except by Allah.