I bear witness that
non deserves to be worshiped except Allah and our Prophet Mohammed is the slave
and Messenger of Allah.
There is no blind
following or worship in Islam except following the Messenger. The Prophet is
the only person we follow blindly because Allah says:
إِنْهُوَإِلَّاوَحْىٌيُوحَىٰ
,عَلَّمَهُۥشَدِيدُٱلْقُوَىٰ
He says nothing but
a revelation revealed. He has been taught by one mighty in power.
Allah again advice
is to follow the teaching of the Prophet.
قُلْإِنكُنتُمْتُحِبُّونَٱللَّهَفَٱتَّبِعُونِىيُحْبِبْكُمُٱللَّهُوَيَغْفِرْلَكُمْذُنُوبَكُمْۗوَٱللَّهُغَفُورٌرَّحِيمٌ
Say, [O Muhammad],
"If you should love Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and
forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."
All the above
verses teaches us that the best person to teach Islam or show the best way to
worship Allah is the Prophet. Any other person must take what the Prophet
thought and teach people.
The deen (Islam) is
a well cooked religion and does not need any salt again. Anybody who puts an
additional salt to the religion is spoiling it.
Allah says in the
Holy Quran :
ٱلْيَوْمَأَكْمَلْتُلَكُمْدِينَكُمْوَأَتْمَمْتُعَلَيْكُمْنِعْمَتِىوَرَضِيتُلَكُمُٱلْإِسْلَٰمَدِينًاۚ
This day I have
perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved
for you Islam as religion.
The verse above
teaches us that Islam is not lacking anything, there is no better way to
worship Allah that the Prophet didn't teach us. Doing anything contrary is
Bidia'.
*Bidia* is an
Arabic word that comes from the root Al-Bada' meaning
to create something without precedence. In English we would use the word
“innovation".
Hence the Prophet
cautioned us against doing something Bidia'. He asked us to only worship Allah
the way he has taught us to.
Hadith
يُحَدِّثُقَالَحَدَّثَنَاأَنَسُبْنُمَالِكٍ،
أَنَّالنَّبِيَّصلىاللهعليهوسلمقَالَ
لَيَرِدَنَّعَلَىَّالْحَوْضَرِجَالٌمِمَّنْصَاحَبَنِيحَتَّىإِذَارَأَيْتُهُمْوَرُفِعُواإِلَىَّاخْتُلِجُوادُونِيفَلأَقُولَنَّأَىْرَبِّأُصَيْحَابِيأُصَيْحَابِي.فَلَيُقَالَنَّلِيإِنَّكَلاَتَدْرِيمَاأَحْدَثُوابَعْدَكَ"
Anas b. Malik
reported Allah's Prophet (ﷺ)
as saying:
Some persons from
amongst my associates would turn to my Cistern; when I would see them and they
would be presented to me, they would be detained in the way while coming to me.
I would say: My Lord, they are my companions, they are my companions, and it
would be said to me: You don't know what innovations they made after you.
Sahih Muslim 2304
There are two types
of innovations :
1. innovation in
the matter of things pertaining to our worldly life. Things like technology,
electricity and transport would come under this category. this is
acceptable.
2. Innovation in
the religion. This is not acceptable.
Hadith
وَحَدَّثَنِيمُحَمَّدُبْنُالْمُثَنَّى،
حَدَّثَنَاعَبْدُالْوَهَّابِبْنُعَبْدِالْمَجِيدِ، عَنْجَعْفَرِبْنِمُحَمَّدٍ، عَنْأَبِيهِ،
عَنْجَابِرِبْنِعَبْدِاللَّهِ، قَالَكَانَرَسُولُاللَّهِصلىاللهعليهوسلمإِذَاخَطَبَاحْمَرَّتْعَيْنَاهُوَعَلاَصَوْتُهُوَاشْتَدَّغَضَبُهُحَتَّىكَأَنَّهُمُنْذِرُجَيْشٍيَقُولُصَبَّحَكُمْوَمَسَّاكُمْ".وَيَقُولُ"بُعِثْتُأَنَاوَالسَّاعَةَكَهَاتَيْنِ".وَيَقْرُنُبَيْنَإِصْبَعَيْهِالسَّبَّابَةِوَالْوُسْطَىوَيَقُولُ"أَمَّابَعْدُفَإِنَّخَيْرَالْحَدِيثِكِتَابُاللَّهِوَخَيْرُالْهُدَىهُدَىمُحَمَّدٍوَشَرُّالأُمُورِمُحْدَثَاتُهَاوَكُلُّبِدْعَةٍضَلاَلَةٌ".ثُمَّيَقُولُ"أَنَاأَوْلَىبِكُلِّمُؤْمِنٍمِنْنَفْسِهِمَنْتَرَكَمَالاًفَلأَهْلِهِوَمَنْتَرَكَدَيْنًاأَوْضَيَاعًافَإِلَىَّوَعَلَىَّ"."
Jabir b. Abdullah
said:
When Allah's
Messenger (ﷺ)
delivered the sermon, his eyes became red, his voice rose, and his anger
increased so that he was like one giving a warning against the enemy and
saying: "The enemy has made a morning attack on you and in the evening
too." He would also say: "The Last Hour and I have been sent like
these two." And he would join his forefinger and middle finger; and would
further say: "The best of the speech is embodied in the Book of Allah,
and the best of the guidance is the guidance given by Muhammad. And the most
evil affairs are their innovations; and every innovation is error.
Innovation in
religion is very dangerous and people feared it even before the Prophet even
was born. The story of the father of the Prophet (Abdullah) tells us how
dangerous innovation is.
After
Abdul-Mutallib found the well of ZamZam he had only one son so he prayed if
Allah gave him 10 sons he will sacrifice(kill) one for Allah. When Allah have
him the 10 sons he was not allowed by his family to kill one of them
(Abdullah).
He was told if he
does it those after him will adopt that tradition. He finally replaced Abdullah
with 100 Carmels and still today the blood money for killing someone is 100
carmels.
HOW DO PEOPLE
INNOVATE
I have noticed two
different ways by which people do Bidia. These are:
1. Introducing
something Islam dislike.
2. Doing a good
thing at a very wrong time.
Those who claim
there is a good Bidia uses certain hadiths. Amongst them are 👇
First Claimed
Evidence,
JareerIbn‘Abdullaah Al-Bujali may Allaah be pleased
with him, narrated
that the Prophet sallallaahu‘alayhi
wasallam said: “Whoever introduces a good practice in Islaam will get the
reward of performing it and that of all those who perform it until the Day of
Resurrection; Whoever introduces
a bad practice in Islaam will get the punishment of performing it and that of
all those who do it until the Day of Resurrection.”(Muslim)
But this hadith has
been taken out of contest. Reading the
full hadiths makes it clear it doesn't support bringing anything new into Islam
Refutation of this
claim,
The proof of this
is actually to be found in the very same Hadeeth, if you were to read it all,
as
JareerIbn
'Abdullaah Al-Bujali, may Allaah be pleased with him, said: "We were with
the Prophet (SAW) (in the Masjid) just after dawn one day when some people
entered barefooted and clad in woollen matting (or covered with sleeveless
woollen blankets) with their swords hung around their necks. Most of them
belonged to the tribe of Mudhar. The face of the Prophet (SAW) turned pale due
to their wretched condition. Then, the Prophet (SAW) went into his house,
re-emerged and commanded Bilaal to call the Adhaan, and the Iqaamah and then he
(SAW) led the prayer. After the prayer, the Prophet (SAW) stood up and
addressed people saying (that which translates as): “O mankind!
Fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and
dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allaah, through whom
you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed Allaah is ever, over you, an
Observer.” (An-Nisaa’: 1) “O you who have
believed! Fear
Allaah. And let every soul look to what it has put forth for tomorrow – and fear Allaah. Indeed, Allaah is Acquainted with what you do.” (AlHashr: 18). Then, the Prophet said: “Give in
charity from (what you possess
of) Deenaars (gold
coins) Dirhams (silver coins) a Saa’
(a small measure of
weight) of wheat or even a Saa’ of
dates.” until he (SAW) said: “Give, even if it as little as half a date”Thereupon, a man from the Ansaar (residents of Madeenah) came with a bag of
food which was so heavy that it was difficult for him to carry. Thereafter,
people came successively until I saw two huge piles of food and clothes, and
the Prophet’s face was bright as a glittering golden
coin (due to his happiness). Then the Messenger (SAW) said: *“Whoever introduces a good practice in Islaam will get the reward of
performing it and that of all those who perform it until the Day of
Resurrection; Whoever introduces a bad practice in Islaam will get the
punishment of performing it and that of all those who do it until the Day of
Resurrection*.”"(Muslim).
this is the full
hadiths
This implies that
if you do something good and other follow it. The innovation there is not about
introducing something that isn't in Islam.
It can be seen that
what was talked about in the hadiths is not something new. It is sadaka which
the Prophet has already encouraged us to do
Using the word
Seera as an example.
Seera means the
life or story of an individual. Nontheless we have used it to mean the life or
story of the Prophet Mohammed (SAW). One can then say the seera of Ali etc.
[The same way the
innovation used in the hadiths doesn't mean the introducing something that has
no precedence.
The second claim
that they use to say there is a good Bidia is the hadiths below.
‘Umar ibn Al-Khattaab, may Allaah be pleased
with
him, remarked upon
seeing people playing Taraaweeh in congregation that: *"This is a good Bid’ah." (Bukhaari).
In Refuting this
ImaamIbn Rajab, may Allaah have mercy upon him,
said: "Any
words from the Salaf considering something
as a good Bid’ah were meant in the linguistic and not the Islamic sense, such as the
saying of ‘Umar, may Allaah be pleased with him, when
he saw people praying Taraaweeh in congregation, that "This is a good Bid’ah
To conclude with,
Sa’eedIbn Al-Musayyib, may Allaah have mercy upon him, saw a man praying too
many optional prayers before the Fajr prayer and therefore he forbade him from
doing so. The man retorted: "O Abu Muhammad! Will Allaah punish me for
praying?" Sa'eed replied: "No, but He will punish you for doing other
than the Sunnah."
(Ibn Rajab)
From the story
above we should learn to do things exactly as the Prophet thought us to.
Deviating or adding something to it or subtracting from it will end up making
us change the teachings of Islam.
Let's end it here
for today. Assalaamualaikum