Bi'dah - The Innovation

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By Azhar Khalid Abbas Jafri

Islam is the last message of God to all mankind, sent down upon Prophet Muhammad
(p.b.u.h), recorded in broad outlines in the Qur'an, and described in detail in the
Sunnah [the way of Prophet Muhammed (p.b.u.h.)]. Islam is an Arabic word which
means "Submission to One God. The religion of Islam, is the religion of Muslims, it
is based on only one teaching. In other words there is only one 'true' Islam. There is no
such thing as different versions of Islam or different types or classes of this religion.
The true path is only one and it lies under the shade of Qur'an, Sunnah and the
understanding of the Companions.
Bid'ah is an Islamic term meaning innovation of religious beliefs or worship.
Linguistically, bid'ah means "a newly invented matter". In the terms of Islam, bid'ah
refers to religious innovation, for example, religious practices that were not advocated
by Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h (Wikipedia).
Aisha (raa) reported Muhammad (saw) said, "Whoever innovates into this affair of
ours (Islam) something that we have not commanded it is to be rejected." Another is:
"Every innovation is misguidance and every misguidance is in the hellfire." (Reported
by Bukhari and Muslim).
Wa sharrul Umoori Muhdathaatuhaa, Wa kulla Bid'atin dhaialah, wa kulla dhalatin
fin-naar" Al-Hadith (Sahih Muslim).

The Good and Bad Innovations

There are types of innovations; the good and the bad. In order to understand what is
good and what is bad we should first know what innovation really is. Many Muslims
especially the new converts in Islam are often in a state of confusion when someone
says, "This act is an innovation," and other will reply, "Yes, but it is a good
innovation". This confuses them thinking weather this act is bi'dah or not, scared that
this act will take them step away from Allah (swt). Today Muslims perform several
acts today that the Prophet [peace be upon him (p.b.u.h)] never performed.

First of all, it should be borne in mind that bidah is something related to religion as a
belief or worship or transaction, so all matters outside this scope such as innovations
and discoveries in the scientific, industrial and military fields, means of transportation,
facilities and advancement of technology which dont bring any harm to Islamic
beliefs and make every day life easy, are welcome in Islam and have nothing to do
with bidah.
The difference between a good innovation and the bad innovation is that, the good
innovations are those that comply with the Qur'an and the narrations of Prophet
Muhammad (saw), whereas the bad innovations or 'innovations of misguidance' are
those that do not comply with the Qur'an and hadith. Proof of this judgment is
indicated by the following authentic hadith of Prophet Muhammad (saw) narrated by
Muslim:

"The one who innovates a good innovation in Islam has its reward and the reward of
those who would practice with it until the Day of Judgement without lessening the
rewards of those who practice with it. The one who innovates the innovation of
misguidance, would take the sin for it and the sin of those who practice with it until
the Day of Judgement without lessening the sin of those who practice with it".
An example of a good innovation: Yahya Ibn Ya^mar added the dots above and below
some of the Arabic letters in the Qur'an according to the Arabic grammar rules. These
did not change the meaning of the Quran instead made it easy for the Muslims who
were not from the Arab world hence this is considered a good innovation.
Some examples of bad innovation are:
Celebrating birthdays
This ceremony reffered to as birthdays (eid milaad in Arabic) by many high societal
communities, including muslims, is normally celebrated in great masses by
non-Muslims as their custom which we Muslims blindly follow. Following hadith
speaks about this imitation:
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, warning us against
following their ways and traditions: You would follow the ways of those who came
before you step by step, to such an extent that if they were to enter a lizards hole, you
would enter it too. They said, O Messenger of Allah, (do you mean) the Jews and
Christians? He said, Who else? The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him) also said: Whoever imitates a people is one of them. (Reported by al-Bukhaari
and Muslim).
Based on this, Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) issued the
following fatwa:

Everything which is taken as an eid (something which is celebrated regularly) and

is repeated each week or each year and is not prescribed in shareeah, is a kind of bide
(reprehensible innovation). The evidence for that is the fact that the Lawgiver
prescribed aqeeqah for the newborn, and did not prescribe anything after that. When
they adopt these observances every week or every year, it means that they are making
them like the Islamic Eids, which is haraam and is not permitted. There are no
celebrations in Islam apart from the three prescribed Eids: Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha,
and the weekly Eid which is Friday (Yawm al-Jumuah).
This does not come under the heading of customs because it is repeated. Hence when
the Prophet (pbuh) came to Madina and found that the Ansaar had two festivals which
they used to celebrate, he said, Allah has given you something better than these: Eid
al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr. (Narrated by al-Nasaai, 1556; Abu Dawood, 1134; classed
as saheeh by al-Albaani in Silsilat al-Ahaadeeth al-Saheehah, no. 124), even though
this was one of their customs. (Sharh Kitaab al-Tawheed, 1/382)

Therefore the confirmation given in the Quran and Hadiths indicates that celebrating
birthdays is a type of bi'dah or innovation in Islam, which has no base in the pure
shareeah. Hence it is advised not to accept invitations to birthday celebrations,
because this involves supporting and encouraging bidah which is haraam.
Saying Prophet Muhammad (saw) is created from light & calling him for help

Saying that the Prophet Muhammad (saw) is not like the rest of humanity, and that he
is created from the Light of Allah (swt) is not a proper belief, because it contradicts
Allahs word, the Quran itself. Allah has stated that the Prophet Muhammad (saw) is
human and is created exactly like us as we have been created, but has also explained
what makes the Prophet different from the rest of mankind. Allah (swt) says
(interpretation of the meaning):
Say (O Muhammad): I am only a man like you. It has been inspired to me that your
God is One God (Allah). So whoever hopes for the Meeting with his Lord, let him
work righteousness and associate none as a partner in the worship of his Lord. [Surah
al-Kahf 18:110]
So when people say that Prophet Muhammad (saw) is created from Allahs light then
they are associating him as a partner with Allah (swt) they do such a thing which leads
us to our next example Shirk.
Shirk
This is the worst of all the bidah as it is a major sin too. A Muslim should believe in
Allah alone, call on His Almighty alone and seek His help alone. He should not call
on or seek the help of anyone else. The penalty of shirk are shocking, as it will wipe
out all a persons good deeds and lead to his doom in Hereafter and is bound to go to
Hell.

"Narrated Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him): "These are the names (of the
idols) which formerly were pious men from the people of Noah. When they died,
Satan inspired the people to (prepare) and erect idols at the place where they used to
sit, and to call these idols by their (the pious men) name. The people died, but the
idols were not worshipped until the people had died, and the origins of the idols had
obscured; whereupon people began worshiping them." (Sahih Bukhari)

Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said, "More than one of the
Salaf (the companions, the generation which followed them, the third generation and
those of the scholars who followed them in their understanding and practice of the
Quran and the sunnah). said, when the pious men of the people of Noah died, the
people who followed them secluded themselves by the graves of the pious men. They
prepared idols which resembled the pious men and with the passage of time, they
began to worship them."
Bidah is a serious matter, which will cause a persons good deeds go astray. A
Muslim should love, respect, honor and obey the Prophet (saw), and give his words
priority over the words of any other human being. It is therefore not permitted to
overstate about him, or to raise his status above that which has been bestowed upon
him by Allah, or to call on him instead of Allah, because this is a breach of the rights
of Allah, and involves direct acts of worship to someone else other than Allah, when
they should only be towards Allah.

The Knowledge we get from all this is do not exceed the limit in praising Prophet
Muhammad (saw) because the end point is putting him above the limit where Allah
placed him as the Christians exceeded the limits by claiming that Jesus was divine.
Many Muslims followed this act of non-Muslims and went as far against Allah as
they could, and became equal to the Christians in their act of shirk. These so called
Muslims built domes and Mosques over the graves of the pious people, and started
offering their prayers inside these places for the sake of Allah but with the aim of
giving honor to those people buried in their graves and also started to go around their
graves the way they make tawaf around Al Kaaba only because they think they are
calling upon those pious people to end their hardships and to give them their desires.
Therefore they started believing that offering prayer inside these domes is better than
offering prayer in the Mosques.
In the authentic hadith, narrated by Aisha about the Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi
wasallam) she said, "As the messenger of Allah was about to breathe his last breath,
he drew his sheet upon his face, and when he felt uneasy, he uncovered his face and
said, (in this very state) 'Let Allah's curse be upon the Jews and the Christians, that
they have taken the graves of their prophets as places of worship (mosques).' He, in
fact, warned (his men) against what they (Jews and Christians) did." She (Aisha)
reported, "Had it not been so, his (the prophet's) grave would have been in an open
place. But it could not be (in an open place) due to his (the prophet's) fear that it might
be taken as a mosque." (Authentic: Bukhari, Muslim)
Prophet Muhammad (saw) has cursed these types of so called Muslims as they not
only bring harm to themselves but to those pious people in their graves and most of all
to the whole ummah.
These are some of the examples of Bidah but many more are present in the outside
world. A true Muslim should not indulge in these acts for they lead to many dangers
in this world and in the hereafter.
Dangers of Bidah

Bidah has many causes many harms and dangers in a followers path. The dangers of
bidah and the harms and evils of bidah spread from the person following it to the
people he is around and finally to the entire ummah. The religion as a whole is
effected because of their heresy and innovations.
According to Shaikh Mohammed Sharoot wrote in his book on Bidah the following

are some of the dangers of bidah :

[1.]Bidah causes disunity in the Ummah.
[2.]Bidah is the cause of fitna (test or trials) or severe punishment for this Ummah.
[3.]Bidah is the source of fasad (evils) in the Ummah
[4.]Bidah cause Sunnah to die and creates hatred for Sunnah.
[5.]Bidah is a stepping stone to Kufr.
[6.]For the Ummah as a whole, bidah hurts the spreading of Islam and Dawah for the
sake of Allah.
[7.]Individually, bidah destroys the akhira of the person.
Finally; Solution to Avoid Bidah

First of all, the people claiming to follow the Sunnah have to realize that the dangers
of bidah and how to hate and oppose bidah. This is necessary as when anything goes
against Qur'an and Sunnah then it is due to the lack of understanding of bidah.
Secondly, we have to establish "Amara bil ma'roof wa naheen anil munkar (ordering
good and forbidding evil)." Bidah is a kind of high munkar (evil) and Prophet (saw)
has clearly told us in a hadith that we should stop munkar with the best of our
abilities.

Last but not least, we should educate ourselves about the 'real' Sunnah of Prophet
(saw) and find out what bidah is and why is it haraam.
May Allah protect us form committing bidah and guide us all to the His path and help
us in strengthening our faith. All the good is from Allah (saw) and His Messenger
(saw) and all the evil is form me and Satan.
References:-

The Holy Quran

Sahih Sitah Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Abu Dawood, Ibn Majah, al-Nasaai
Wikipedia An online encyclopedia
Sharh Kitaab al-Tawheed
The Islamic Academy - http://www.islamicacademy.org/

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