Fatwa

On innovations in religion (bid’a)

In Allah’s name, His mercy is infinite and eternal! Hoping on the Single God, the Posessor of true knowledge and wisdom, I pray to Him for strength and skills to express a humble judgement that would correspond to the truth of God’s Word, and not to the temporal knowledge of this age.

 “Bid’a is any innovation. In religion it is any new trend, judgement, point of view which does not come directly from the text of the Holy Qur’an, Sunna and sayings of theologians from among the Prophet’s companions. There are two kinds of B.: an innovation of the right path (bid’atu hadiy) which corresponds to the aims and goals of Shariat; and an innovation of the wrong guidance (bid’atu dolal) which contradicts the aims and goals of Shariat”[1].

   “Bid’a is a made-up trend similar to a religiously right tendency. It aims at an excessively diligent worship of the Lord”,- this definition was given to the term “bid’a” by imam ash-Shatybi[2].[3]

   One of the theological dictionaries gives the following comment on the word “bid’a”: “Bid’a can be praiseworthy (mahmuda, hassana) and blameworthy (mazmuma, sayia). Normally this term is used negatively and characterizes that which results in neglecting the established religious norms and defines the norms that are introduced in addition to the qur’anic laws. A hadith reads:”An innovation is a novelty (bid’a), a novelty is going astray from the right path, and going astray from the right path is the road to Hell”. In the terminology of Shariat “bid’a” means that which is not a sunna. It would be important to mention the words of the great scholar Ibn Hadjar:”If an innovation falls under the permitted by Shariat (mustahsan), it is called praiseworthy (bid’a hassana); and if an innovation falls under the prohibited by Shariat, it is called blameful (bid’a sayia). If it does not belong to any of these two categories it is freely permitted (mubah)”.[4]

   Here is the judgement of a well-known theologian of our time Yussuf al-Qardawi on the innovations connected with the Friday prayer:

   “Not everything that appeared after Prophet Muhammad (may the Lord greet and bless him) is a blameful innovation. We know that the practice of performing the second azan during the Friday prayer was introduced by the pious caliph ‘Usman due to the extention of the city and the increase in its population. After the Prophet as well Islamic scholars created and systematized a vast number of sciences – religious and secular ones. Not a single innovation  mentioned above contradicted God’s commandments transmitted by Prophet Muhammad. On the contrary, these novelties corresponded to God’s Word and contributed to the enacture of His laws by people. All that does not contradict the essence and aim of a religion cannot be censured. Among such innovations that are connected with Friday, we know, for exampe, the custom of reading the Holy Qur’an before the calling for the Friday prayer in certain Arabic countries and wa’az (religious lessons and admonitions) in several non-Arabic countries, conducted before or after the prayer. This was not introduced as fard or sunna; this innovation aimed at strengthening faith and broadening religious knowledge in the society without contradicting the postulates of faith”[5].

   To sum up everything that has been written above we can draw the following conclusion: if an innovation does not contradict the laws of faith, contributes to broadening the meaning of a religious teaching and its values, strengthening moral value of the society, it is extremely praiseworthy. Otherwise, any innovation is a herecy and is inadmissible.

Those who seek more persuasive arguments are offered a more profound analysis of the issue.

   Islamic theologians are unanimous in the opinion that an innovation in religion is a deviation from the rightful path. Muslims, preserving piety and God-fear should keep away from the temptation of innovations, for it is said in the Holy Qur’an:

- “Have they idols which in the practice of their faith have made lawful to them what Allah has not allowed?” (the Holy Qur’an, 42:21);

- “Do not falsely declare:”This is lawful and this is forbidden”, in order to invent a falsehood about Allah” (the Holy Qur’an, 16:116).

   Confirming the qur’anic revelations Prophet Muhammad (may the Lord greet and bless him) said:

“Whoever innovates in this affair of ours (religion) that which is not from it, it is rejected” (a hadith from ‘Aisha; the holy ahadith from al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Daud and Ibn Madj)[6];

   “The best speech [narration] is the Book of the Lord [the Holy Qur’an], the best guidance [path] is that which was commanded by Muhammad. The worst things are the innovations [bid’a]” (a hadith from Ibn Mas’ud; the holy ahadith from imam al-Bukhari)[7].

Examples of heretical strongly censured innovations:

- adding a sixth obligatory prayer (fard) to the five daily prayers established by the Lord;

- establishing for oneself another day of obligatory fasting apart from the days of fasting established in the Holy Qur’an and the Sunna;[8]

- worshipping God through fasting on the days when observing fast is prohibited, for example, on the holiday of  Eid al-Fitr (Uraza-bayram) or during the four days of the holiday of ‘Id al-Adha (Kurban-bayram);

- making oneself abstain from certain kinds of food, regarding it as a sacrifice in the name of the Lord;[9]

- reading azan at the burial of the deceased;

- supposing that Hell is not eternal;

- believing that the dwellers of Hell will not endure physical sufferings and pains, and their punishment will be only shame, disgrace, moral depression and grief;

- wiping the feet when performing ablution instead of washing them with water, which is practised by the Shi’ites who reject an authentic sunna of the Prophet  and proceed from their own interpretation of the qur’anic ayah;

- imposing a prohibition on wiping the feet (maskh) over leather boots (“huffeyn” or “djawrabeyn”) when performing ablution, which is practised by the Shi’ites, who thus reject an authentic sunna of the Prophet (may Allah greet and bless him), etc.[10] 

 According to the unanimous opinion of Islamic scholars the ayat and the ahadith, that have been adduced above, imply exactly such kind of innovations.

   Let us adduce an example from the Sunna of Prophet Muhammad (may theLord greet and bless him).

   Once the Prophet on seeing a man exposing himself to the rays of the blazing sun, asked him why he was doing it. Somebody said that this man made a vow (nazr) to the Lord to observe fast exposing himself to the full sun. After hearing it God’s Apostle ordered the man to sit in the shadow and break the fast (a hadith from Ibn ‘Abbas; the holy ahadith from al-Bukhari, Abu Daud and Ibn Madj, “sahih”).

   “As far as the innovations connected with the customs and traditions of various peoples are concerned, after the death of Prophet Muhammad (may the Lord greet nad bless him) the opinions of scholars were divided. Some of them affirm that any innovation, which appeared after the Prophet’s death, is inadmissible even if it deals with nutrition, clothes or housing. Yet the following judgement is the “golden mean” on the issue. This judgement corresponds to the general spirit of the faith with regard to its flexible legal principles, to their actuality in all epochs irrespective of technical or intellectual progress. The judgement runs as follows: customs, traditions and everyday life (of various peoples) are not prohibited innovations as long as they do not contradict the Qur’an, the authentic Sunna of the Prophet and idjma’[11]”.[12]

   In conclusion let us consider in every detail with God’s help the main hadith that deals with innovations (bid’a).

   In his last sermon Prophet Muhammad (may the Lord greet and bless him) said:”He who will live after my death, will witness many differences. Your duty is to follow my Sunna [path] and the Sunna of pious caliphs who will lead you after me. Observe it as diligently as possible. Fear innovations! Verily, every innovation is going astray from the right path” (the holy ahadith from Abu Daud, at-Tirmizhi, Ahmad and Ibn Madj; at-Tirmizhi regarded this hadith as “hassan”, “sahih”).[13] 

   For a better understanding of the meaning of the adduced hadith let us turn to the broad comment from the book by an authoritative theologian al-Hanbali I. “Djami’ al-‘ulum wa al-hikam...”:

“1. In the hadith the Prophet calls upon us to follow his path and the path of pious caliphs, which presupposes sharing their convictions, following their actions and deeds.

2. Imam Malik transmits the words of ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul-‘Aziz:”The Prophet as well as the caliphs, who ruled after him, defined the path following which means being guided by the Book of the Lord, which is the force of His religion. Nobody may change this path or follow another way that would contradict it. He who keeps in with the injunctions of the Book of the Lord, goes the right way. He who begs the Lord for help and fulfills these commandments, will receive it. Whereas he who does not take heed of them and does not follow the path of the Muslims, who have truly believed in the Truth, will be exposed by the Creator to those temptations that he has sought and Hell is in store for him in the hereafter”.

3. “...every innovation (bid’a) means going astray from the right path”. The word “bid’a” implies everything new that appears and has nothing in common with the norms of Shariat whatsoever. I.e. the Holy Qur’an and the Sunna comprise nothing that would directly or indirectly point at it. That which is connected with the foundations of Shariat is not the religious innovation (bid’a) that is implied (in the negative sense) in the adduced hadith, and it can be called an innovation (bid’a) only from the linguistic point of view.[14] It means that we attribute only a linguistic, and by no means a religious meaning to the word “bid’a”.

4. For a deeper understanding of the true nature of the rejected innovation we adduce the following hadith. Kassir ibn ‘Abdullah transmits:”The Prophet said:”He who introduces an innovation, that will lead astray from the right path, and with whom neither God nor His Apostle will be contented, will bear this sin as well as the sin of those who will follow this innovation; and the sin [of those who follow this innovation], that he bears, does not release them from [the] sin [which they bear for accepting this innovation]” (the holy ahadith from imams at-Tirmizhi and Ibn Madj).

5. Al-Hafiz Abu Na’im transmits from Ibrahim ibn Djuneyd and Harmal ibn Yahya:”I heard imam ash-Shafi’i saying:”Bid’a can be of two kinds: a praiseworthy bid’a (bid’a mahmuda) and a blameworthy bid’a (bid’a mazmuma). That which complies with the Prophet’s Sunna is praiseworthy and that which is incongruous with it and contradicts it is inadmissible and blameworthy”. Imam ash-Shafi’i proceeds from the general understanding of the Qur’an and the Sunna, as well as from the words of caliph ‘Umar (may the Lord be pleased with him) which he [the caliph] pronounced after establishing the daily prayer “Tarawih” (during Ramadan) as obligatory and ordering to perform it together in a mosque with an imam at the head:”How beautiful this innovation (bid’a) is!”[15]

6. It is necessary to compare the following two ahadith from canonical aspect:”Fear innovations! Verily, every innovation means going astray from the right path”, and “He who introduces a noble custom (sunnatan hassanatan, sunnata hayrin), which will be followed by other people, will receive a reward worthy of himself as well as the reward of all those who will follow this noble custom. He who introduces a pernicious custom (sunnata sharrin, sunnatan sayitan), that will be followed by other people, deserves a punishment, of which he himself is worthy as well as the punishment of all those who will follow this bad custom”[16]. The last hadith is adduced in many authoritative books, including the ahadith collection of imam Muslim. The comment on the hadith indicates that its authenticity (“hassan”, “sahih”) was confirmed by a prominent scholar Abu ‘Isa”.[17]

   In conclusion it would be relevant to adduce the following words of imam ash-Shafi’i:”There are two kinds of innovations (bid’a): 1) innovations that contradict the Holy Scripture – the Qur’an, Prophet Muhammad’s Sunna and the tradition of the Prophet’s companions (assar) and the opinion which is shared by Islamic scholars (idjma’); such kind of innovations is heresy, it means going astray from the right path; 2) that which does not contradict the above mentioned; in such case an innovation is not regarded as a blameworthy novelty”.[18]

   Of course, the compliance or the incongruity of any innovation with the Holy Qur’an or the Sunna are defined by every scholar differently. But if the aspiration for truth is lofty and the knowledge of a scholar is vast, then, as Prophet Muhammad (may the Lord greet and bless him) said, “if a scholar is right before the Lord, he receives double for his efforts; if a theologian has made a mistake, he receives a single recompense”.

May God protect us against blameworthy innovations!

I beg God, He is the Compassionate and the Merciful, to accept this work which has been  produced only with the hope for His kindness and forgive me my probable mistakes and sins, for the only intention I had was to bring good to people who follow His path, He is worshipped by everyone and everything that is in heaven and on earth. 

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