Some people cite the hadith in which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever introduces a good practice in Islam will have the reward of it and the reward of those who act upon it

The questioner : This letter, which we received from Ishaq Muhammad Nur Hamed al-Hajj from the Republic of Sudan, states: Some people cite the hadith in which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, until the end, and they also cite the fact that Hassan ibn Thabit praised the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). They use this as evidence for the permissibility of praise. We ask you to issue a ruling on this, and may Allah grant you success?

The Shaykh : Praising the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) with the perfect attributes, high morals, and excellent character with which Allah praised Him is prescribed. However, praising him (peace and blessings be upon him) in a way that leads to exaggeration is forbidden. This is because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited exaggeration. Therefore, it is not permissible for a person to praise the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in a way that leads to exaggeration, such as making him a partner with Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) in creation, management, or power, or the like. A man once said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “What Allah wills and what you will,” and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, However, this praise, which we have mentioned is permissible, cannot be established as a fixed event in the religion of Allah, tied to a specific time or place, to be repeated whenever that time comes or whenever a person arrives at that place. This is because restricting absolute acts of worship to a specific time or place is an innovation, because acts of worship must be performed according to the form, time, and place in which they were revealed. Therefore, it is not permissible for a person to restrict absolute acts of worship to a specific time, place, or state as long as they were revealed as absolute, because this is the perfection of worship. As for the argument of some innovators in these matters using the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), , the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) qualified this by saying “whoever introduces in Islam.” And what is an innovation is not part of Islam at all, based on the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), . This is general for everything innovated in the religion of Allah, for it is misguidance, and what is misguidance cannot be religion or Islam. If someone says that the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), , means that every bad innovation is misguidance, we say this is refuted, because a bad thing is bad whether it is an innovation or not. For example, zina is misguidance, and it is not an innovation because the Shari'ah has come with it and clarified its ruling. Also, if we said that the meaning of the hadith is “every bad innovation,” there would be no benefit at all in describing the innovation, or no benefit at all in mentioning the innovation, because a bad thing is bad whether it was innovated or not. But the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says, , so whoever innovates in the religion of Allah something that is not part of it, he is misguided by that innovation. This is the summary of the answer.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Yes.