Sheikh Atabek Shukurov

Innovation/ Bid’a




The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “Whoever innovates a new action will have it rejected.” Bukhari


Also


“All innovations are misguidance and every misguidance is in the fire.” Nisa’i



In the Arabic language Bid’a means innovation, something is done with previous presidence



Innovation/Bid’a is the scared law has to meet two conditions


1) A new action has not been done by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)


2) Which has no roots in Islam
To meet one condition is not enough it has to meet both to be innovation



The Wahabi/Selafi scholars only accept the first condition



A different description of innovation/bid’a is to fabricate an action about religion that did not occur during the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)



It has to be about Islamic law not lifestyle and it has to oppose Islamic law, a law that is currently present



Bid’a/Innovation can be good/Hassana or acceptable


1. The hadith, “The one who innovates a good innovation has the reward of it and those who follow.”


2. Tarawiah (Prayers after the night prayer in the month of Ramadan) was done individually at the same time in the masjid, during Umar ibn Khattab’s khaliphate he ordered and them to follow one Imam; when Umar came into the masjid and saw the unity of the Muslims he said, “What a blessed innovation.”


3. Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) made two calls to prayer/Adhans for Friday/Jumma congregational prayer. One when the Imam comes out and the second one at the khutba/speech (after the bayan).



Bid’a Hassana/good innovation is of two kinds


1. Wajib/necessary: the rules of Arabic grammar which are sourced from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) when he said, “Words are: nouns, verbs and particles.”


2. Mustahab/desired: write number of ayats/verses, to build a place away from the masjid to teach –madrasa or university



A rule that illustrates this is, “Something you need to perform a necessary action; is itself necessary.”



Izzudeen ibn Abdussalam (may Allah show him mercy) said, “Check if the innovation supports Islam; if it does then it’s okay.”



Bid’a Sayyiah/ sinful innovation is two kinds


1. Haram/Prohibited: to make creation equal to creator, Quran has 40 parts and calling Muslims disbelievers


2. Makruh/highly disliked: to over decorate a masjid



As long as the innovation has root in Islam (it has a traceable act) then it is Bid’a Hassana



Some scholars of the Sunna namely Imam Malik, Imam Bayhaqi and Imam Ibn Rajab say there is only one bid’a; they mean bid’a haram not bid’a hassana



Imam Ghazali (may Allah show him mercy) said, “One of the biggest sins is to call someone a disbeliever, innovator or a hypocrite.” From his book Minhaj Al-‘Abideen


Imam Shaf'i states in Kitab al-Umm, "There are two kinds of innovation; praiseworthy innovation and blameworthy innovation. Whatever agrees with Prophetic practice is praiseworthy and what is against it is blameworthy."


If someone has called anyone any of the above; then he must seek that persons forgiveness.