The Response to Those Who Say: That Some Innovations Are Good Sunnahs

The questioner: Also, Mahfudh from the Democratic Republic of Yemen says: I have colleagues who argue that what has been innovated in the religion is a Sunnah, citing the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): to the end of the noble hadith. He constantly repeats the saying of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab when he gathered the people to pray tarawih behind a single imam, saying: “What a good innovation” from Sahih al-Bukhari. Does this serve as a proof for my colleagues or not?
The Shaykh: This is an error and a fallacy, and it is not permissible to argue for the creation of innovations and the approval of innovations with this authentic hadith: because the intended meaning the intended meaning by that is to manifest them, bring them to light, and call people to them after they had been abandoned or the people had become ignorant of them. The intended meaning is not innovation or introducing new things; because this contradicts the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): , , .
The authentic hadiths are clear in prohibiting innovations and warning against them, and that they are from what is wrong. Therefore, it is not permissible for anyone to judge innovations as good because of his poor understanding of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): This is an error in understanding the Sunnah and a distortion of meanings. Rather, the intended meaning is to bring the Sunnahs to light and manifest them, meaning: he manifested them, brought them to light, and explained them to the people so that they would follow him in them and proceed behind him in them after they had become ignorant of them and after they had neglected them.
As for introducing innovations, it is not permissible. Rather, it is obligatory for people to proceed according to what Allah has prescribed for them in His Book and according to what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) has prescribed in the Sunnah. It is not permissible for them to introduce in the religion what Allah has not permitted. Allah the Exalted and Majestic said: [Surah al-Shura: 21] And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And he said: And his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) precedes: meaning: it is rejected.
As for the saying of 'Umar: “What a good innovation,” the scholars have clarified that his intended meaning by that is from the perspective of the Arabic language; because he (may Allah be pleased with him) gathered the people behind a single imam, whereas they had been scattered during the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and during the time of al-Siddiq. When it was his time (may Allah be pleased with him), he gathered them behind a single imam, and he passed by them one night while they were praying and said: “What a good innovation this is,” meaning: his gathering them behind a single imam in a continuous and organized manner. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) had gathered them and prayed with them on nights, then he left that fearing it would become obligatory upon them (peace and blessings be upon him). So the original tarawih is a Sunnah, its origin is a Sunnah; the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did it, called to it, and encouraged it. But he feared it would become obligatory upon the people, so he left it after he had prayed it with the people in congregation for nights (peace and blessings be upon him). Then the leaving of it continued until the time of 'Umar, and they were praying in the mosque in groups; a man would pray by himself, and two or three would pray with him, or something similar to that.
So when 'Umar saw them one night, he said: “If we were to gather them behind a single imam,” and then he gathered them. When he saw them after that praying all together, he said: “What a good innovation this is,” meaning: the one that is gathering them behind a single imam in a continuous manner. So this is from the perspective of the language; because an innovation is what is done without a prior example. So this is from the perspective of the Arabic language, and his intention was not that this is an innovation in the fundamental sense and origin. Indeed, he (may Allah be pleased with him) could not create innovations or approve of innovations, and he knew that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) had prohibited innovations (peace and blessings be upon him).
And this is a Sunnah, an act of drawing near to Allah, and a known obedience in his time (peace and blessings be upon him) and after that. Yes.