The Objection: [It is claimed] that every bid'ah (innovation) is prohibited by Islam. This reasoning is based on the hadith which states "Abstain from innovations, for every kind of innovation is a bid'ah, and every bid'ah is misguidance and all misguidance leads to hell fire." [Sunan Abu Dawud, Kitab-us-Sunnah, Book 40 Hadith number 4590]. There are other various hadith on the same lines. [The argument develops] There is no need to innovate something new in the religion as Allah Almighty stated in the Holy Quran "...Today I have perfected your Din (Religion) for you, and have completed My Blessing upon you, and have chosen for you Islam (as) Din (a complete code of life)..." [Quran 5:3]
Answer: It will be demonstrated that the perception in The Objection is based on the lack of knowledge and violates the reality regarding the true understanding that has always been prevalent within the Ummah. The true understanding will be sought through the Quran, Hadith, and the opinions of the classical authorities:
"He is the One Who has created (badi) the heavens and the earth...(badi-us-sama wati wal ard). [Quran 2:117] Explanation: Badi is the deriative word of Bid'ah, which means to create/innovate, and so this is one ways Allah describes Himself as the 'One who created'.
"...And We sent Isa son of Maryam after them and gave him the Injil (the Gospel). And We created kindness and mercy in the hearts of those who were (the true) followers (of Isa). And they themselves invented the innovation of monasticism (living the life of recluse and committing to asceticism and austerity). We did not prescribe it for them. But they (introduced this innovation of monasticism) merely to seek Allah's pleasure. Then they could not practically keep and maintain that check which was its due (i.e. could not continue its spirit and discipline). So We paid those of them their reward who believed (and continued the innovation of monasticism to seek the pleasure of Allah). And most of them (who left it and changed their ways) are disobedient". [Quran 57:27]
The full hadith from The Objection:
"Narrated by Irbad ibn Sariyah that he heard the Messenger of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him) say: 'I command you to have Taqwa, and to be obedient to those appointed leader over you, even if it be an Abyssinian slave. O my companions, those who will live after me will, very soon, see a lot of differences among you. Stick to my path and the path of the Rightly Guided Khalifahs. Abstain from innovations, for every kind of innovation is a bid'ah, and every bid'ah is misguidance and all misguidance leads to hell fire" [Sunan Abu Dawud, Kitab-us-Sunnah, Book 40 Hadith number 4590]
"Abu Hurayrah reported: The Messenger of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him) used to prompt people to say Tarawih prayer during the nights of Ramadan but did not press it as an obligation or duty...Ibn Shihab reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him) died and matters were left as such even during the time of the Caliphate of Abu Bakr and during the beginning of Umar's Caliphate. Abd al-Rahman bin Abd al-Qari reported: I went with Umar bin al-Khattab to the mosque in Ramadan and saw people saying tarawih in different groups. Someone was saying it alone and with another was a group of eight to ten men. Umar said: 'By Lord, I feel that I should put them all behind one qari, it would be well'. He then grouped them all behind Ubayy bin Ka'b. Abd al-Rahman said: When I went with him the next night, I saw the people were saying their prayer behind Ubayy bin Ka'b. Umar said: This is a good innovation [arabic: ni'matul bida-tul hazihi]." [Sahih Bukhari, Kitab-us-Salat-ur-Tarawih, chapter 31, hadith number 3; Muwatta Imam Malik, chapter 66 on Tarawih in Ramadan, section 243 & 244]
"Mundhir bin Jabir reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him) said: 'Whosoever introduced a beneficiary action in Islam will be rewarded for his practice as well as for the practice of the people who follow him, without lessening their reward. Whosoever introduced a bad practice in Islam will take the sin for it as well as the sin of the poeple who follow him, without lessening their sin." [Sahih Muslim, Kitab az-Zakah, chapter 20, pg. 431; Sahih Tirmidhi chapter 11]
"Narrated by Zaid ibn Thabit: Abu Bakr sent for me when the people of Yamama had been killed (i.e. a number of the Prophet's Companions who fought against Musailma). (I went to him) and found Umar bin al-Khattab sitting with him. Abu Bakr then said (to me) 'Umar has come to me and said: Casualties were very heavy among the Qurra' (i.e. those who knew the Quran by heart) on the day of the Battle of Yamama, and I am afraid that more heavy casualties may take place among the Qurra' on other battlefields, whereby a large part of the Qur'an may be lost. Therefore I suggest, you (Abu Bakr) order that the Qur'an be collected'. I said to Umar, 'How can you do something which the Messenger of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him) did not do?' Umar said, 'By Allah, this is a good thing'. 'Umar kept on urging me to accept his proposal till Allah opened my chest for it and I began to realise the good in the idea which Umar had realised'. Then Abu Bakr said (to me) 'You are a wise young man and we do not have any suspicion about you, and we used to write the Divine Inspiration for the Messenger of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him). So you should search for (the fragmentary scripts of) the Qur'an and collect it'. By Allah if they had ordered me to shift one of the mountains, it would not have been heavier for me than this ordering me to collect the Qur'an. Then I said to Abu Bakr, 'How will you do something which the Messenger of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him) did not do?' Abu Bakr replied, 'By Allah, it is a good thing'. Abu Bakr kept on urging me to accept his idea until Allah opened my chest for what he had opened the chests of Abu Bakr and Umar. So I started looking for the Qur'an and collecting it from (what was written on) palm stalks, thin white stones and also from the men who knew it by heart, till I found the last verse of Surah Tawbah with Abi Khuzaima al-Ansari, and I did not find it with anybody other than him. The verse is: 'Verily, there has come unto you a Messenger of Allah from amongst yourselves. It grieves him that you should recieve any injury or difficulty...(till the end of Surah Bara'a)'. Then the complete manuscripts (copy) of the Qur'an remained with Abu Bakr till he died, then with Umar till the end of his life, and then with Hafsa, the daughter of Umar." [Sahih Bukhari, Fada'il al-Quran, Hadith number 509]
"Anas bin Malik narrates: The Caliph Uthman ordered Zaid bin Thabit, Sai'd bin al-As, Abdullah bin Zubair and Abdur-Rahman bin al-Harith bin Hisham to write the Qur'an in the form of a book and said to them: 'In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit regarding any dialectic Arabic utterance of the Qur'an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish, for the Qur'an was revealed in this dialect'. So they did." (since there were seven different dialects of reciting Qur'an and Caliph Uthman united people on one dialect which was not done before) [Sahih Bukhari, Fada'il al-Quran, Hadith number 507]
Imam Shafi' writes: "There are two kinds of introduced matters. One is that which contradicts the Qur'an, or the Sunnah, or a report from the early Muslims, or the consensus of the early Muslims: this is an innovation of misguidance. The second kind is that which is in itself good and entails no contradiction of any of these authorities: this is a 'non-reprehensible innovation' [Ibn Asakir, Tabyin Khadib al-Muftari]
Imam Nawawi writes that there are certain types of bid'ah. Two of them are bid'ah sayyia and bid'ah hasana. Bid'ah sayyia is a bid'ah that opposes the Qur'an and Sunnah, whereas bid'ah hasanah is a bid'ah that is not against the Qur'an and Sunnah. For example: to invent the usul (principles) of hadith, usul of fiqh, usul of tafsir etc. [an-Nawawi, Tahzib al-Asma wa'l-Lughat, word 'bid'ah']
Imam Shawkani writes: "In Islam there are two kinds of Bid'ah: Bid'ah sayyia and Bid'ah hasana. If a new thing opposes the Qur'an and Sunnah then it is sayyia, but if it is not against the Shari'ah then it is hasana." [Nayl al-Awtar, chapter on Salat at-Tarawih]
Imam al-Asqalani says that if a new thing is against Islam, it will be bad. If it is not against Islam, it will be hasana (good). [Fath al-Bari, chapter on 'Tarawih']
Understanding Ibn Taymiyyah's point of view
Imam Ibn Taymiyyah divides bid'ah into two different categories: bid'ah lugwiyya (linguistic) and bid'ah shari'ah (legal). This division is itself a bid'ah. According to Imam Ibn Taymiyya if a new thing has origins in the Qur'an and Sunnah it is bid'ah lugwiyya, however to create something which has no roots in the Qur'an and Sunnah is bid'ah shari'ah. [Iqtida as-Sirat al-Mustaqim, chapter on Bid'ah]. Therefore, even he does not categorically declare that all bid'ah are misguidance but concludes that bid'ah are of two types. For example during the caliphate of Hadhrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) people began to refuse paying zakah, other people falsely declared themselves as prophets. This is what has no basis in the Qur'an and Sunnah and is condemned. Whereas thing such as celebrating the birth of the Prophet (peace & blessings be upon him) has origins in the Shari'ah, and even Imam Ibn Taymiyyah endorses this.
Some examples of bid'ah hasana (permissible)
The books of hadith such as Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim which are regarded as the two main books after the Holy Qur'an, who gave them this status? Imam Bukhari compiled his Sahih some two hundred years after the Prophet (peace & blessings be upon him), much after the first three generations of the early Muslims.
The development of Islamic Law (fiqh) to introduce new laws to suit new situations. The din requires us to do this. The process is called 'Ijtihad' which involves deriving new legal rules so that shari'ah can accomodate worldly matters. Some people argue that innovation in matters of dunya (secular) is permissible but innovation in matters of din (religion) are not - but how do you differenciate when matters of din and dunya overlap such as when applying rules of shari'ah to the society? Secondly, din means the whole way of life not merely matters of religion.
The building of minarets of Mosques was a practice that was introduced in later centuries.
The use of prayer beads was a practice that was introduced in later centuries.
Understanding the evidences in The Objection
Imam Ali al-Qari, one of history's great Imam's of Fiqh, states that when the hadith from Sunan Abu Dawud reads "every bid'ah is misguidance" it necessarily has to mean that 'every impermissible [sayyia] innovation'. [Mirqat-ul-Mafatih, vol. 1, pg. 216]
History witnesses that there was a rampant emergence of bid'ah sayyia during the time of the Rightly Guided Khalifah's such as those who falsely claimed to be prophets, those who refused to pay zakah, those who did not believe in Divine destiny, and the emergence of new sects. This is why the Prophet warned the people to stick on the path of the rightly guided Khalifah's and abstain from all of these kinds of innovations that would emerge soon after him (peace & blessings be upon him).
Regarding the verse of Surah Ma'idah which says "Today I have perfected your din for you, completed My Blessing upon you, and have chosen for you Islam (as) din," Imam Ibn Kathir writes that the meaning of this verse is that "...they do not need any other religion or any other Prophet except Muhammad (peace & blessings be upon him)...Therefore, the permissible is what he allows, the impermissible is what he prohibits" [Tafsir ibn Kathir, under Qur'an 5:3] What Ibn Kathir means here is the same, that do not invent new things which are contradictory to the Qur'an and Sunnah, by making haram into halal and vice versa, and follow the Prophet (peace & blessings be upon him) for he has made things clear.
http://islamoncampus.blogspot.com/2011/10/bidah-perception-reality.html?m=1
Answer: It will be demonstrated that the perception in The Objection is based on the lack of knowledge and violates the reality regarding the true understanding that has always been prevalent within the Ummah. The true understanding will be sought through the Quran, Hadith, and the opinions of the classical authorities:
"He is the One Who has created (badi) the heavens and the earth...(badi-us-sama wati wal ard). [Quran 2:117] Explanation: Badi is the deriative word of Bid'ah, which means to create/innovate, and so this is one ways Allah describes Himself as the 'One who created'.
"...And We sent Isa son of Maryam after them and gave him the Injil (the Gospel). And We created kindness and mercy in the hearts of those who were (the true) followers (of Isa). And they themselves invented the innovation of monasticism (living the life of recluse and committing to asceticism and austerity). We did not prescribe it for them. But they (introduced this innovation of monasticism) merely to seek Allah's pleasure. Then they could not practically keep and maintain that check which was its due (i.e. could not continue its spirit and discipline). So We paid those of them their reward who believed (and continued the innovation of monasticism to seek the pleasure of Allah). And most of them (who left it and changed their ways) are disobedient". [Quran 57:27]
The full hadith from The Objection:
"Narrated by Irbad ibn Sariyah that he heard the Messenger of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him) say: 'I command you to have Taqwa, and to be obedient to those appointed leader over you, even if it be an Abyssinian slave. O my companions, those who will live after me will, very soon, see a lot of differences among you. Stick to my path and the path of the Rightly Guided Khalifahs. Abstain from innovations, for every kind of innovation is a bid'ah, and every bid'ah is misguidance and all misguidance leads to hell fire" [Sunan Abu Dawud, Kitab-us-Sunnah, Book 40 Hadith number 4590]
"Abu Hurayrah reported: The Messenger of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him) used to prompt people to say Tarawih prayer during the nights of Ramadan but did not press it as an obligation or duty...Ibn Shihab reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him) died and matters were left as such even during the time of the Caliphate of Abu Bakr and during the beginning of Umar's Caliphate. Abd al-Rahman bin Abd al-Qari reported: I went with Umar bin al-Khattab to the mosque in Ramadan and saw people saying tarawih in different groups. Someone was saying it alone and with another was a group of eight to ten men. Umar said: 'By Lord, I feel that I should put them all behind one qari, it would be well'. He then grouped them all behind Ubayy bin Ka'b. Abd al-Rahman said: When I went with him the next night, I saw the people were saying their prayer behind Ubayy bin Ka'b. Umar said: This is a good innovation [arabic: ni'matul bida-tul hazihi]." [Sahih Bukhari, Kitab-us-Salat-ur-Tarawih, chapter 31, hadith number 3; Muwatta Imam Malik, chapter 66 on Tarawih in Ramadan, section 243 & 244]
"Mundhir bin Jabir reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him) said: 'Whosoever introduced a beneficiary action in Islam will be rewarded for his practice as well as for the practice of the people who follow him, without lessening their reward. Whosoever introduced a bad practice in Islam will take the sin for it as well as the sin of the poeple who follow him, without lessening their sin." [Sahih Muslim, Kitab az-Zakah, chapter 20, pg. 431; Sahih Tirmidhi chapter 11]
"Narrated by Zaid ibn Thabit: Abu Bakr sent for me when the people of Yamama had been killed (i.e. a number of the Prophet's Companions who fought against Musailma). (I went to him) and found Umar bin al-Khattab sitting with him. Abu Bakr then said (to me) 'Umar has come to me and said: Casualties were very heavy among the Qurra' (i.e. those who knew the Quran by heart) on the day of the Battle of Yamama, and I am afraid that more heavy casualties may take place among the Qurra' on other battlefields, whereby a large part of the Qur'an may be lost. Therefore I suggest, you (Abu Bakr) order that the Qur'an be collected'. I said to Umar, 'How can you do something which the Messenger of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him) did not do?' Umar said, 'By Allah, this is a good thing'. 'Umar kept on urging me to accept his proposal till Allah opened my chest for it and I began to realise the good in the idea which Umar had realised'. Then Abu Bakr said (to me) 'You are a wise young man and we do not have any suspicion about you, and we used to write the Divine Inspiration for the Messenger of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him). So you should search for (the fragmentary scripts of) the Qur'an and collect it'. By Allah if they had ordered me to shift one of the mountains, it would not have been heavier for me than this ordering me to collect the Qur'an. Then I said to Abu Bakr, 'How will you do something which the Messenger of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him) did not do?' Abu Bakr replied, 'By Allah, it is a good thing'. Abu Bakr kept on urging me to accept his idea until Allah opened my chest for what he had opened the chests of Abu Bakr and Umar. So I started looking for the Qur'an and collecting it from (what was written on) palm stalks, thin white stones and also from the men who knew it by heart, till I found the last verse of Surah Tawbah with Abi Khuzaima al-Ansari, and I did not find it with anybody other than him. The verse is: 'Verily, there has come unto you a Messenger of Allah from amongst yourselves. It grieves him that you should recieve any injury or difficulty...(till the end of Surah Bara'a)'. Then the complete manuscripts (copy) of the Qur'an remained with Abu Bakr till he died, then with Umar till the end of his life, and then with Hafsa, the daughter of Umar." [Sahih Bukhari, Fada'il al-Quran, Hadith number 509]
"Anas bin Malik narrates: The Caliph Uthman ordered Zaid bin Thabit, Sai'd bin al-As, Abdullah bin Zubair and Abdur-Rahman bin al-Harith bin Hisham to write the Qur'an in the form of a book and said to them: 'In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit regarding any dialectic Arabic utterance of the Qur'an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish, for the Qur'an was revealed in this dialect'. So they did." (since there were seven different dialects of reciting Qur'an and Caliph Uthman united people on one dialect which was not done before) [Sahih Bukhari, Fada'il al-Quran, Hadith number 507]
Imam Shafi' writes: "There are two kinds of introduced matters. One is that which contradicts the Qur'an, or the Sunnah, or a report from the early Muslims, or the consensus of the early Muslims: this is an innovation of misguidance. The second kind is that which is in itself good and entails no contradiction of any of these authorities: this is a 'non-reprehensible innovation' [Ibn Asakir, Tabyin Khadib al-Muftari]
Imam Nawawi writes that there are certain types of bid'ah. Two of them are bid'ah sayyia and bid'ah hasana. Bid'ah sayyia is a bid'ah that opposes the Qur'an and Sunnah, whereas bid'ah hasanah is a bid'ah that is not against the Qur'an and Sunnah. For example: to invent the usul (principles) of hadith, usul of fiqh, usul of tafsir etc. [an-Nawawi, Tahzib al-Asma wa'l-Lughat, word 'bid'ah']
Imam Shawkani writes: "In Islam there are two kinds of Bid'ah: Bid'ah sayyia and Bid'ah hasana. If a new thing opposes the Qur'an and Sunnah then it is sayyia, but if it is not against the Shari'ah then it is hasana." [Nayl al-Awtar, chapter on Salat at-Tarawih]
Imam al-Asqalani says that if a new thing is against Islam, it will be bad. If it is not against Islam, it will be hasana (good). [Fath al-Bari, chapter on 'Tarawih']
Understanding Ibn Taymiyyah's point of view
Imam Ibn Taymiyyah divides bid'ah into two different categories: bid'ah lugwiyya (linguistic) and bid'ah shari'ah (legal). This division is itself a bid'ah. According to Imam Ibn Taymiyya if a new thing has origins in the Qur'an and Sunnah it is bid'ah lugwiyya, however to create something which has no roots in the Qur'an and Sunnah is bid'ah shari'ah. [Iqtida as-Sirat al-Mustaqim, chapter on Bid'ah]. Therefore, even he does not categorically declare that all bid'ah are misguidance but concludes that bid'ah are of two types. For example during the caliphate of Hadhrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) people began to refuse paying zakah, other people falsely declared themselves as prophets. This is what has no basis in the Qur'an and Sunnah and is condemned. Whereas thing such as celebrating the birth of the Prophet (peace & blessings be upon him) has origins in the Shari'ah, and even Imam Ibn Taymiyyah endorses this.
Some examples of bid'ah hasana (permissible)
The books of hadith such as Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim which are regarded as the two main books after the Holy Qur'an, who gave them this status? Imam Bukhari compiled his Sahih some two hundred years after the Prophet (peace & blessings be upon him), much after the first three generations of the early Muslims.
The development of Islamic Law (fiqh) to introduce new laws to suit new situations. The din requires us to do this. The process is called 'Ijtihad' which involves deriving new legal rules so that shari'ah can accomodate worldly matters. Some people argue that innovation in matters of dunya (secular) is permissible but innovation in matters of din (religion) are not - but how do you differenciate when matters of din and dunya overlap such as when applying rules of shari'ah to the society? Secondly, din means the whole way of life not merely matters of religion.
The building of minarets of Mosques was a practice that was introduced in later centuries.
The use of prayer beads was a practice that was introduced in later centuries.
Understanding the evidences in The Objection
Imam Ali al-Qari, one of history's great Imam's of Fiqh, states that when the hadith from Sunan Abu Dawud reads "every bid'ah is misguidance" it necessarily has to mean that 'every impermissible [sayyia] innovation'. [Mirqat-ul-Mafatih, vol. 1, pg. 216]
History witnesses that there was a rampant emergence of bid'ah sayyia during the time of the Rightly Guided Khalifah's such as those who falsely claimed to be prophets, those who refused to pay zakah, those who did not believe in Divine destiny, and the emergence of new sects. This is why the Prophet warned the people to stick on the path of the rightly guided Khalifah's and abstain from all of these kinds of innovations that would emerge soon after him (peace & blessings be upon him).
Regarding the verse of Surah Ma'idah which says "Today I have perfected your din for you, completed My Blessing upon you, and have chosen for you Islam (as) din," Imam Ibn Kathir writes that the meaning of this verse is that "...they do not need any other religion or any other Prophet except Muhammad (peace & blessings be upon him)...Therefore, the permissible is what he allows, the impermissible is what he prohibits" [Tafsir ibn Kathir, under Qur'an 5:3] What Ibn Kathir means here is the same, that do not invent new things which are contradictory to the Qur'an and Sunnah, by making haram into halal and vice versa, and follow the Prophet (peace & blessings be upon him) for he has made things clear.
http://islamoncampus.blogspot.com/2011/10/bidah-perception-reality.html?m=1
