Is it an innovation to declare a person an innovator for disagreeing on matters of scholarly disagreement due to the weakness of a hadith, for example, the prayer of tasbih?
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The questioner : Your Eminence, the Shaykh
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : What is the ruling on a form of worship for which there is a text regarding which scholars differ on its authenticity, such as the prayer of tasbih?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Do those who consider the hadith regarding it weak rule that the one who authenticates the hadith and acts upon it is an innovator, or do they remain silent and not denounce him because the text regarding it is disputed in terms of its weakness?
The Shaykh : First, may Allah reward you, you must know the rule: "The original ruling regarding acts of worship" is what? It is prohibition and prevention. So if a hadith comes regarding which there is disagreement on its authenticity, it is obligatory to prevent what this hadith indicates, because the original ruling is prohibition until evidence is established for the existence of this thing, especially something like the prayer of tasbih. The prayer of tasbih, first: it is anomalous in its form and how it is performed. Second: it is anomalous in its timing, because it is prayed every day, or every week, or every month, or every year, or once in a lifetime. Where is the worship that is done in this manner?
Third: from a practical standpoint, if the prayer of tasbih were a legitimate and established Sunnah, how could it have been hidden from the Muslim community such that acting upon it did not appear except in the era of the Tabi'un? Because the most famous person from whom it was narrated is 'Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak, and after 'Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak, did it spread in the Muslim community? It did not spread. So this is also one of the means by which the weakness of a hadith is known: that the Muslim community did not act upon it. Did you understand? And from that is the hadith of Umm Salama regarding the pilgrim who does not perform the farewell tawaf before the sun sets on the Day of Sacrifice; he returns in a state of ihram. No one acted upon this hadith, except one of the Tabi'un, who was 'Urwah ibn al-Zubayr, and a few others. And such a matter is one where the incentives to transmit it are abundant, because many pilgrims do not have the opportunity to perform the farewell tawaf except after descending from Mina. This is one of the means of knowing the weakness of a hadith: that the Muslim community abandoned acting upon it. So the prayer of tasbih is of this category. And for this reason, the Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Its hadith is false, and none of the Imams recommended it". The great Imams in the Muslim community did not recommend it. As for whether this person is described as an innovator? This is looked into. If the man is one who has the capacity for independent legal reasoning (ijtihad), then we cannot describe him as an innovator, as he has ijtihad, and this is a practical matter. But if he does not have the capacity for ijtihad, it is said: it is an innovation. Its origin is an innovation. But do we say to the one who acted upon it: he is an innovator? Or is it an innovation? As long as it is not established, it is an innovation. Did you understand?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : So regarding him, I do not call him an innovator, but the prayer itself is an innovation.
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : What is the ruling on a form of worship for which there is a text regarding which scholars differ on its authenticity, such as the prayer of tasbih?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Do those who consider the hadith regarding it weak rule that the one who authenticates the hadith and acts upon it is an innovator, or do they remain silent and not denounce him because the text regarding it is disputed in terms of its weakness?
The Shaykh : First, may Allah reward you, you must know the rule: "The original ruling regarding acts of worship" is what? It is prohibition and prevention. So if a hadith comes regarding which there is disagreement on its authenticity, it is obligatory to prevent what this hadith indicates, because the original ruling is prohibition until evidence is established for the existence of this thing, especially something like the prayer of tasbih. The prayer of tasbih, first: it is anomalous in its form and how it is performed. Second: it is anomalous in its timing, because it is prayed every day, or every week, or every month, or every year, or once in a lifetime. Where is the worship that is done in this manner?
Third: from a practical standpoint, if the prayer of tasbih were a legitimate and established Sunnah, how could it have been hidden from the Muslim community such that acting upon it did not appear except in the era of the Tabi'un? Because the most famous person from whom it was narrated is 'Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak, and after 'Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak, did it spread in the Muslim community? It did not spread. So this is also one of the means by which the weakness of a hadith is known: that the Muslim community did not act upon it. Did you understand? And from that is the hadith of Umm Salama regarding the pilgrim who does not perform the farewell tawaf before the sun sets on the Day of Sacrifice; he returns in a state of ihram. No one acted upon this hadith, except one of the Tabi'un, who was 'Urwah ibn al-Zubayr, and a few others. And such a matter is one where the incentives to transmit it are abundant, because many pilgrims do not have the opportunity to perform the farewell tawaf except after descending from Mina. This is one of the means of knowing the weakness of a hadith: that the Muslim community abandoned acting upon it. So the prayer of tasbih is of this category. And for this reason, the Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Its hadith is false, and none of the Imams recommended it". The great Imams in the Muslim community did not recommend it. As for whether this person is described as an innovator? This is looked into. If the man is one who has the capacity for independent legal reasoning (ijtihad), then we cannot describe him as an innovator, as he has ijtihad, and this is a practical matter. But if he does not have the capacity for ijtihad, it is said: it is an innovation. Its origin is an innovation. But do we say to the one who acted upon it: he is an innovator? Or is it an innovation? As long as it is not established, it is an innovation. Did you understand?
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : So regarding him, I do not call him an innovator, but the prayer itself is an innovation.