What is the meaning of the hadith: “Whoever introduces a good practice in Islam...”? And is there a good religious innovation in the religion?

The Shaykh : It occurred to me, and was put into my heart, to mention something of this meaning contained in the hadith, which we have now seen as a tangible reality, meaning by the hadith his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): So you must have heard many people citing this hadith as proof that there is a good innovation in Islam, as long as they resort to such reasoning; they claim that the good innovation is explicitly stated in this hadith. We say, with certainty and conviction, that this understanding is a foreign, false understanding that does not align with the correct meaning of this hadith, first; and with the occasion in which the Messenger (peace be upon him) mentioned the hadith, second. I recall that I touched upon this topic in this place or in another room long ago, but there is no harm in repeating it, as they say: "There is benefit in repetition." I imagine that some of our brothers did not have the opportunity to hear such a word in that old session; so I say that the mentioned hadith was narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih from the hadith of Jarir ibn 'Abd Allah 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 patched cloaks and carrying swords, most of them from Mudar, or rather all of them from Mudar. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw them, his face became stern—meaning his features changed (peace be upon him)—with sadness and grief over the poverty of these Bedouins. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) stood up to address his companions and then said: تصدق رجل بدرهمه بديناره بصاع بره بصاع شعيره ، ثم تلا قوله تبارك وتعالى : يا أيها الذين آمنوا أنفقوا مما رزقناكم من قبل أن يأتي أحدكم الموت فيقول رب لو لا أخرتني إلى أجل قريب فأصدق وأكن من الصالحين A man gave charity with his dirham, his dinar, his sa' of barley, his sa' of wheat. Then he recited the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): “O you who believe, spend from what We have provided for you before death comes to any of you and he says, ‘My Lord, if only You would delay me for a short term so I could give charity and be among the righteous.’” After the Messenger (peace be upon him) finished this sermon, a man from those present went to his home to return to the gathering to place before the Messenger (peace be upon him) whatever charity he could manage. When the rest of the Prophet's companions (peace and blessings be upon him) saw what their companion had done, each of them also set out to return with whatever charity they could manage. So there gathered before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) charities like mountains, meaning piles. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw that, his face brightened, as if it were a polished piece of gold; his face brightened, as if it were a polished piece of gold, meaning as if it were silver coated with gold, shining. Then he said this hadith: So you see with me that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) uttered this noble hadith on the occasion of the first man standing up and returning with the charity. There was no newly invented matter in the gathering, nor was it known to the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); rather, it was a newly invented innovation. There was absolutely nothing of that sort; rather, all that happened was that the first man opened the way for the others with the prescribed charity that had been established before. And at that moment, the Messenger (peace be upon him) reminded them of the previous verse and with his saying, encouraging them with his saying: So the interpretation of this hadith as meaning "whoever innovates in Islam" is a wrong interpretation that is not permissible to attribute to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), because it never aligns with what happened in that gathering: the standing up of the man and his return with the charity before the others, and then the following of the others in those charities which were the cause of relieving the distress of those Bedouins. And that was a cause of joy for the Messenger (peace be upon him) until his face brightened as if it were a polished piece of gold. So the meaning, in brief—and the research can bear a great deal of lengthening—is that means whoever opens a way to a prescribed Sunnah, to a legislated matter, has the reward of it and the reward of whoever acts upon it until the Day of Resurrection. This is the meaning of the hadith, and it does not mean that a person should invent a new act of worship that was not known from the day Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) said: It is not the meaning of "whoever establishes" or "whoever innovates," but rather whoever opens a way to a known Sunnah. And conversely, the second part of the hadith: whoever opens a way to an evil Sunnah, to a bad Sunnah ; so the good Sunnah is not known except by the way of the Shari'ah, and the bad Sunnah is not known except by the way of the Shari'ah. So whoever opens a way to the good Sunnah has its reward and the reward of whoever follows him in it until the Day of Resurrection, and whoever opens a way to a bad Sunnah whose badness is known in the Shari'ah, he bears its sin and the sin of whoever acts upon it until the Day of Resurrection. For this and other reasons, the Imam of the City of Migration said—and with his word I conclude this word: "Whoever innovates in Islam an innovation—meaning one—regarding which he thinks it is good, has claimed that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) betrayed the message. Read the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): Malik said: So whatever was not a religion at that time will not be a religion today, and the end of this Ummah will not be set right except by what set right its beginning." And please, Professor.
Abu Malik: Just this answer, or this introduction that you heard from our Shaykh, is in fact an answer to a number of questions that some of the brothers wrote and wanted to inquire about. In this answer, there is sufficiency and abundance, and there is no need to repeat these questions or mention them. And we hope that we are all benefited from it, and may Allah reward him with good.