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An Excellent Innovation 1
Shaykh `Abdul Hayy al-`Amrawi and Shaykh `Abdul Karim Murad
Translated: Ustadha `Aisha Bewley
Released by www.marifah.net 1428 H
The meaning of the words of `Umar ,
“An excellent innovation”
On page 110, you mentioned regarding the words of `Umar , “An excellent
innovation,” that the scholars who are considered all agreed that it refers to a linguistic
innovation, i.e. something new.
We want to know the source of this consensus because the commentators of Hadith,
including al-Qastallani and Ibn Hajar in their commentary on the Sahih al-Bukhari, who
are those who are trusted in Hadith, agree that it is not a linguistic innovation, as you
claim. You must look at the text of the Hadith of al-Bukhari from `Abdul Rahman ibn
`Abdul Qari’. He said,
One night in Ramadan I went out with “`Umar ibn al-Khattab to the mosque and
the people were separated in different groups. One man was praying on his own
and another man with a group behind him following his prayer. `Umar said, “I
think that it would be better for all these people to join together behind one
reciter.” So he decided to gather them behind Ubayy ibn Ka’b. Then another
night I went out with him again and all the people were praying behind one
reciter. `Umar said, “This is an excellent innovation! But the one they sleep
through is better than the one they are praying,” meaning prayer in the last part of
the night. People used to stand in prayer during the first part of the night.
This is the text of the Hadith of al-Bukhari, and you can consult the text of al-Qastallani,
vol. 3, p. 426 with commentary on this Hadith. `Umar called it bid`ah (innovation):
1. Because the Prophet had not made it their custom to gather together for it.
2. Nor was it the custom in the time of Abu Bakr .
3. It was not done in the first part of the night.
4. Nor was it done every night.
5. Nor was this number of rak’at done.
1 Excerpted with the translators’ kind permission from “Sufis and Sufism: A Defence” by Shaykh
`Abdul-Hayy al-`Amrawi and Shaykh `Abdul-Karim Murad of the Qarawwiyyin Mosque, Fes.
Published by Madinah Press, order from (http://islamicbookstore.com/b8387.html)
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Innovation can be either mandatory, recommended, permissible, disliked, or forbidden.
The Hadith, “Every innovation is misguidance” is a general one which is subject to
specification. `Umar judged this innovation desirable with his words, “This is an
excellent innovation.” Ni’ama is a word which includes all that is good as bi’isa includes
all that is evil.
Then al-Qastallani said,
The number of rak’at which were prayed is not mentioned in this Hadith. It is
known and it is the view of the majority that it was 20 rak’at with 10 taslims, and
that is five rests, each rest consisting of four rak’at with two taslims, not counting
the shaf’ and witr, which are three. Malik related that in the Muwatta’: “The people
used to pray twenty-three rak’ats at night during Ramadan in the time of `Umar
ibn al-Khattab.” Then he said, “Malik preferred to pray 36 rak’at, not counting the
witr, and said, ‘That is the practice in Medina .’” He said, “It was 23 rak’at, and
then was made 39 with the shaf’ and witr.”
In the book of Ibn Abi Shayba, he is reported as saying, “I found people in Madina in
the time of `Umar ibn ‘Abdul Aziz and Aban ibn `Uthman praying 36 rak’ats and doing
the witr with three.” This is the action of the people of Medina because they wanted to
be equal to the people of Mecca who did tawaf as seven between every two of the
tarawih. The people of Medina put four rak’at in place of every seven. Al-Shafi`i said in
what al-Za`frani transmitted, “I saw people praying 37 in Medina and 23 in Mecca.”
There is no specific limit in any of that. The Hanbalis say, “Tarawih is 20, and there is
nothing wrong in doing more as Imam Ahmad stated.”
Ibn Hajar mentioned in al-Fath, vol. 4, p. 353, Dar al-Fikr, when he quotes this Hadith
under no. 2010,
The root meaning of bid`ah is that which occurs without prior example. In the
Shari`ah it is opposite the Sunnah and so it is blameworthy. The truth is that if it
is part of what is though good in the Shari`ah, it is considered good, and if it is
part of that which is thought ugly in the Shari`ah, it is considered ugly. Otherwise,
its category is permissible (mubah). It is divided into five rulings.
Al-Qastallani said on the same subject, “Others believe that the prayer alone at home is
better since the Messenger of Allah persisted in that and he died while matters were
like that and that continued until well into `Umar’s Caliphate.” `Umar admitted that it
was preferred, as was stated. Imam Malik, Abu Yusuf and some Shafi`is say that.
You can see by these texts that by bid`ah, `Umar meant legal, not linguistic bid`ah, and
that some scholars originated an increase in the numbers of rak’at, like Imam Malik who
knew that the Messenger had not prayed 39 rak’at. That is confirmation that what is
meant by the words of `Umar, “an excellent innovation” is a legal, not linguistic
innovation. We are discussing a legal ruling as `Umar spoke of a legal ruling connected to
tarawih. If the tarawih prayer which continues in Ramadan is not a legal innovation, why
do scholars disagree about it and there are differing views about its number and the
manner of its performance? If it had been a firm Sunnah which the Messenger did,
scholars and Imams would not have disagreed about it and its number.
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Al-Zurqani said in the commentary of the Muwatta’, vol. 1, p. 214, about the words of
`Umar, “An excellent innovation,”
Ibn `Umar said about the duha prayer, ‘An excellent innovation.’ Allah Almighty
said, ‘They invented monasticism – We did not prescribe it for them –
purely out of desire for the pleasure of Allah.’ (57:27) This is a clear statement
from `Umar that he was the first to gather people together to pray behind one
Imam in Ramadan because the innovation is what the innovator begins which no
one has done before him. So `Umar innovated it and the Companions and people
follow that, etc. This explains the soundness of giving a verdict by opinion and
ijtihad, and it is called innovation because the Prophet did not make it a Sunnah
to gather for it nor did that exist in the time of Abu Bakr. Linguistically it means
what is originated without prior model, and legally it is the opposite of Sunna. It is
what did not exist in the time of the Prophet . Then innovation is divided into
five rulings. The Hadith ‘Every innovation is misguidance’ is general and then
made specific. When the Companions agreed to that with `Umar, then the name
innovation is removed from it.
Imam al-Ubbi mentioned the following Hadith in the Sahih Muslim, vol. 3, p. 152,
“Anyone who creates a good sunnah in Islam has its reward and the reward of
whoever does it after him until the Day of Rising” with the following isnad:
Muhammad ibn Muthanna al-`Anazi related from Muhammad ibn Ja`far from Shu`ba
from `Awn ibn Abi Juhayfa from al-Mundhir ibn Jarir from his father who said,
Once we were with the Messenger of Allah at the beginning of the day when
some people came, barefoot, unclothed, wearing striped garments or cloaks,
girded with swords. Most of them were from Mudar. The face of Messenger of
Allah showed his concern at what he saw of their extreme need. He went inside
and then came out and commanded Bilal to give the adhan and the iqama. He
prayed and then spoke and said, “O mankind! Be fearful of your Lord who
created you from a single self…” (4:1) and the ayat in al-Hashr, “Be fearful of
Allah! Let each self look to what it has forwarded for Tomorrow.” (59:18)
“Let a man give from his dinars, from his clothes, from the sa’ of his wheat, from
the sa’ of his dates, even, “, he said, “a half of a date.” A man of the Ansar
brought a bag which he could barely get his arms round, indeed, he could not do
so. Then the people came one after another until I saw two heaps of food and
clothes and I saw the face of the Messenger of Allah shining as if it was
illuminated. The Messenger of Allah said, “Anyone who creates a good sunnah
in Islam has its reward and the reward of whoever does it after him without that
decreasing his reward in any way. Anyone who creates a bad sunnah in Islam bears
its burden and the burden of whoever acts by it after him without that decreasing
his burden in any way.”
Its commentator said,
It contains encouragement to initiate what is good. This Hadith narrows down the
meaning of the general Hadith: ‘Every new thing is innovation’ . What is meant
by new things are those which are innovations, new false things.” Included in the
Hadith, ‘Anyone who creates a good sunna’ are recommended innovations, like
preparation with equipment, a morning meal, and writing books.
We see that the scholars innovated that. Shaykh al-Maliki included celebration of the
Mawlid of the Prophet as one of the recommended innovations.
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Omission does not indicate prohibition
The conclusions of the author of the Hiwar about bid`ah and prohibition are usually
phrased, “The Messenger did not do that,” “It is not established that the Messenger
did that,” and “The Messenger did not celebrate the Mawlid”, and he deduces
prohibition from the fact that the Messenger did not do that. We ask, “Does omission
indicated prohibition?”
The noble Hadith scholar, Abul Fadl `Abdullah Muhammad ibn al-Siddiq al-Ghumari
wrote in a book called, Excellent Understanding and Perception of the Question of Omission:
Omission means that the Prophet omitted something and did not do it, or that
the Salaf omitted it without there being a Hadith or tradition about the
prohibition of that omitted thing which would demand that it is prohibited or
disliked. Man later people use that as proof of the prohibition or censure of
things, and some obstinate individuals go to excess in that.
When the Messenger omitted something, that can imply things other than prohibition.
He may have omitted it by his custom, as he did not eat lizards. He may have omitted it
by forgetting it, like forgetfulness in the prayer. He may have omitted it out of the fear of
imposing something on his community, like not doing the tarawih prayer. He may have
omitted it by not thinking of it. So the Messenger spoke on a palm trunk and did not
think about using a chair until the Companions suggested that a minbar be made and then
he did that. Or he may have omitted it out of fear of having a negative effect on the
hearts of the Companions or some of them, as he said to `A’isha, “Were it not that
your people were recently unbelievers, I would have demolished the House and then
rebuilt it on the foundations of Ibrahim ” as we find in the two Sahih Collections.
So omission alone, if not accompanied by a text that what was omitted is forbidden, does
not constitute proof. This verdict is not derived from the mere fact of omission on its
own. It is derived from evidence which indicates that.
Abu Sa`id ibn Lubb said,
Those who dislike supplication at the end of the prayer rely on the fact that the
supplication at the end of the prayer rely on the fact that the supplication was
unknown at the end of the prayers, necessitating the interpretation: since it was
not part of the action of the Salaf. Based on the assumption of the soundness of
this transmission, omission does not oblige a ruling about what is omitted other
than the fact that it is permitted to omit it and there is no interdiction in it. As for
connecting prohibition or dislike to the omission, that is not the case, especially
when it has a basis in the Shari`ah, as supplication does.
In al-Muhalla pt. 2, p. 254, Ibn Hazm mentioned the evidence of the Malikis and Hanafis
for it being disliked to pray two rak’at before Maghrib along with the verdict of Ibrahim
al-Nakha’i since Abu Bakr , `Umar and `Uthman did not pray it. He replied to
them: “If it were sound, there still would be no proof in it because it does not say that
they were forbidden that.”
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Evidence that omission
does not indicate prohibition
Part of the evidence is what Ibn al-Siddiq al-Ghumari says about omission not
entailing prohibition.
1. Allah Almighty, “Whatever the Messenger gives you, you should accept
and whatever He forbids you, you should forgo.” (59:7) He did not say,
“Leave what he left.”
2. The Messenger of Allah said, “When I command you to do something,
then do it as much as you can. When I forbid you to do something, then
leave off doing it.” He did not say, “Avoid what I omit.” How then does
omission indicate prohibition?
3. The Usulis define the Sunnah as the words of the Prophet his actions and
his affirmation. They did not include his omission because it is not evidence.
4. Omission can have categories other than prohibition. The rule in the usul is
that something which is theoretical is not used for conclusion. We do not say
that what the Messenger did not do, like celebrating the Mawlid, is haram
because that is forging against Allah since omission does not necessitate
prohibition. Al-Shaf`i said, “All that has a source in the Shari`ah is not
innovation, even if the Salaf did not do it.” So if someone forbids celebrating
the Mawlid of the Prophet with the claim that is innovation, we argue with him
with what we said, followed by the words, of Allah , “Say: ‘Has Allah
given you authority to do this or are you inventing lies against Allah?”
(10:59)
Omission is not a proof in our Shari`ah.
It does not demand prohibition or make mandatory.
Whoever desires prohibition by the omission
of our Prophet and sees it as true judgment and correct
Has been misguided from the path of all proofs.
He errs in the sound ruling and fails.
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