Clarification that dividing innovations into five categories is an invalid division, and do we say: every innovator is misguided?
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The Shaykh : And the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) every innovation implies that whoever divides innovations into five categories, his division is rejected. There is no good innovation; all innovations are misguidance. This is the word of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
And we testify by Allah that He is the most knowledgeable of creation, and that He is the most sincere of creation, and that He is the most eloquent of creation, is that not so? If there were something to be excepted from innovations, would the Messenger be ignorant of it? Never. And if there were something among the innovations that is excepted, would the Messenger conceal it from the Ummah? No, never. If he concealed it, that would be contrary to sincerity. And if something among these innovations were excepted, would the expression be like this with this generalization? Does the Messenger not know how to express himself? He knows, and he is better at expressing himself than anyone else. He said So when those who divide innovations into five categories, or three categories, or something similar come to us, we say this is incorrect, and we do not accept from you any deviation or compromise. All innovations are bad.
And we say: what you claim to be an innovation is not an innovation in the Shari'ah. It may be an innovation in terms of language, but do not make it a subject for division. If you make it a subject for division, that means, indeed, the implication of that is objecting to the words of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Do you understand, or is it not clear?
The student: Clear.
The Shaykh : It is clear. We say: if we concede the division to you, we do not concede to you that this division applies to the Shari'ah innovation, but rather it applies to the linguistic innovation. If you intend that it applies to the Shari'ah innovation, we do not accept it from you because of the generality of the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)
Fine, and "every innovation is misguidance," does it necessarily follow that every innovator is misguided?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : We say: misguidance, declaring someone a disbeliever, and declaring someone an open sinner are, in reality, of two types: one type with respect to the genus, and one type with respect to the individual. With respect to the genus, it is correct to say every innovator is misguided, every innovator is misguided, or an open sinner, or a disbeliever, according to what his innovation necessitates. But with respect to the individual and specific designation, no. We say his innovation is misguidance, but we do not describe him as an open sinner or a disbeliever until the conditions for declaring someone a disbeliever are present and its impediments are absent, until the conditions for declaring someone a disbeliever are present and its impediments are absent. And I think this was discussed recently, yes. But as for what he adopted from the innovation, we say it is disbelief, or open sinfulness, or misguidance, according to what the Shari'ah texts necessitate, and we do not care about this, because Allah says[Yunus 10:32] So if we say, for example, distorting the verses of attributes from their apparent meaning is misguidance, one person would swell up, his neck veins would bulge, his eyes would turn red, and he would say: do you say Ibn Hajar is misguided? Do you say al-Nawawi is misguided? Do you say al-Suyuti is misguided? What do we say?
The student: We say this ... person is misguided ...
The Shaykh : We say yes, as for his statement, it is a statement of misguidance. As for him, if we know from him sincerity to Allah, to His Book, and to the leaders of the Muslims, we say he is mistaken, but we do not say he is misguided, because the word "misguided" implies criticism and blame. So we may refrain from describing him as misguided, but we do not approve of it, even if his intention is good, because a good intention is not sufficient for the acceptance of an act. Is it sufficient? It is not sufficient unless it is in accordance with the Shari'ahSahih Muslim 1718b Yes.
The questioner : We mentioned ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : And if he is excused ...
The Shaykh : No, we did not mention that, except that his action is an action of misguidance, his action is an action of misguidance. Then he said "And the Rightly Guided Caliphs are", we thought we would complete it.
Every innovation is misguidance.
كل بدعة ضلالةAnd we testify by Allah that He is the most knowledgeable of creation, and that He is the most sincere of creation, and that He is the most eloquent of creation, is that not so? If there were something to be excepted from innovations, would the Messenger be ignorant of it? Never. And if there were something among the innovations that is excepted, would the Messenger conceal it from the Ummah? No, never. If he concealed it, that would be contrary to sincerity. And if something among these innovations were excepted, would the expression be like this with this generalization? Does the Messenger not know how to express himself? He knows, and he is better at expressing himself than anyone else. He said
Every innovation is misguidance.
كل بدعة ضلالةAnd we say: what you claim to be an innovation is not an innovation in the Shari'ah. It may be an innovation in terms of language, but do not make it a subject for division. If you make it a subject for division, that means, indeed, the implication of that is objecting to the words of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Do you understand, or is it not clear?
The student: Clear.
The Shaykh : It is clear. We say: if we concede the division to you, we do not concede to you that this division applies to the Shari'ah innovation, but rather it applies to the linguistic innovation. If you intend that it applies to the Shari'ah innovation, we do not accept it from you because of the generality of the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)
Every innovation is misguidance.
كل بدعة ضلالةFine, and "every innovation is misguidance," does it necessarily follow that every innovator is misguided?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : We say: misguidance, declaring someone a disbeliever, and declaring someone an open sinner are, in reality, of two types: one type with respect to the genus, and one type with respect to the individual. With respect to the genus, it is correct to say every innovator is misguided, every innovator is misguided, or an open sinner, or a disbeliever, according to what his innovation necessitates. But with respect to the individual and specific designation, no. We say his innovation is misguidance, but we do not describe him as an open sinner or a disbeliever until the conditions for declaring someone a disbeliever are present and its impediments are absent, until the conditions for declaring someone a disbeliever are present and its impediments are absent. And I think this was discussed recently, yes. But as for what he adopted from the innovation, we say it is disbelief, or open sinfulness, or misguidance, according to what the Shari'ah texts necessitate, and we do not care about this, because Allah says
And what can be beyond truth except error?
فماذا بعد الحق إلا الضلالThe student: We say this ... person is misguided ...
The Shaykh : We say yes, as for his statement, it is a statement of misguidance. As for him, if we know from him sincerity to Allah, to His Book, and to the leaders of the Muslims, we say he is mistaken, but we do not say he is misguided, because the word "misguided" implies criticism and blame. So we may refrain from describing him as misguided, but we do not approve of it, even if his intention is good, because a good intention is not sufficient for the acceptance of an act. Is it sufficient? It is not sufficient unless it is in accordance with the Shari'ah
He who did any act for which there is no sanction from our behalf, that is to be rejected.
من عمل عملا ليس عليه أمرنا فهو ردThe questioner : We mentioned ...
The Shaykh : Yes
The questioner : And if he is excused ...
The Shaykh : No, we did not mention that, except that his action is an action of misguidance, his action is an action of misguidance. Then he said "And the Rightly Guided Caliphs are", we thought we would complete it.