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Bidah.Com

A Concise Explanation of the Shariah Definition of Bidah

and Its Proofs From the Prophetic SunnahPosted byAbu.Iyaadon Tuesday, July, 19 2011 and filed under Foundations

This article should be read alongside this one(on the completion and perfection of the Shariah) and

this one(al-Shatibi's definition of bidah).

Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamaa'ah, the followers of the Righteous Salaf, follow the Messenger (alayhis

salaam) in all of their beliefs and understandings. Hence, all of their conceptions, thoughts and

understandings are founded upon what is related in his Sunnah, because they believe that final

authority rests with him, and they are the greatest of people in loving, respecting and giving

precedence to him. This is opposed to the way of the people of innovation who raise other authorities

above and over him and prefer their sayings over and above his, despite their lip service in the claim of

love and obedience to him. There is nothing which illustrates this more clearlythan in the issue of

the understanding of bidah (). In this article we will present the Prophetic definition of bidah. Before

proceeding into the main subject of the article, we will quickly mention the linguistic definition of bidah.

The Linguistic Definition of Bidah

The linguistic definition of bidah is provided by (

), "Something

invented without having any prior example." This is based upon its usage in the Qur'an inthe saying of Allaah, (

), "Say: "I am not a new thing amongst the

Messengers" (46:9), meaning Muhammad is not a new thing amongst the Messengers,

as he has precedents and prior examples before him (Eesaa, Musa, Ibrahim and so on).

Also the saying of Allaah, (

), "The originator of the heavens and the

earth" (2:117), meaning the one who originated them without them having any prior

example. This definition of bidah incorporates all new things, religious or otherwise, since

its general meaning extends to all things without restriction, be they praiseworthy or

blameworthy, be they from the religion or not from the religion, as the general underlying

concept behind the word bidah is "anything which has no prior example for it." And there

are from the Salaf those who used the word bidah specifically upon its linguistic meaning(not its Shariah meaning) within certain contexts and situations (and this is what has

allowed the Innovators to confuse and deceive others about the true nature of innovation

intended by the Shariah).

Shariah definitions of words differ from linguistic meanings because the Shariah may

restrict, qualify, expand, or attach conditions (to the linguistic meaning) to give a new

conceptual meaning which is employed by the Shariahto address the people. Examples

include, prayer(

), belief, faith (

), charity (

) amongst others, all of which have

intended Shariahmeanings which are different to the original linguistic meaning afforded

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by the root words in the language. Thus, anyone who claims the Qur'an can be

understood purely through the language, or primarily through language will go astray no

doubt.

The Shariah Definition of Bidah is Founded Upon Five Statements of the Messenger (alayhis

salaam)

The conception of the word bidah (

) as intended by the Shariah and as conveyed by the

Messenger (alayhis salaam) to his Ummah, and upon which warnings have been made is foundcompletely in five ahaadeeth of the Messenger (alayhis salaam), and we will address them here one

by one.

1. The First Hadeeth of Aa'ishah

Both al-Bukhari and Muslim relate the hadeeth of Aa'ishah (radiallaahu anhaa), which is the foundation

of the definition of bidah in the Shariah:

:

:

Whoever introduces into this affair of ours that which does not belong to it, will

have it rejected.

Al-Shatibi's definition of bidah (see article here) is in fact founded upon this hadeeth, since this

hadeeth has provided three very important conditions or restrictions which have made the

meaning of bidah intended by the Shariahto be something unique. As such, nothing is considered a

bidah in the Shariahsense except when these conditions are met.

These three conditions are:

(

) - Introducing something new

(

) - Ascribing it to the religion

(

) - Absence of Shariahevidence [for this newly-introduced matter] in either a

general way or a specific way

These three qualifications are found in the hadeeth itself:

First, he (alayhis salaam) said, ( ), and this refers to bringing anything new without

any prior example. At this point, this could refer to all newly-invented things, praiseworthy

or blameworthy, religious, or otherwise. Second, he (alayhis salaam) then qualified and

restricted this by saying (

), which has now made it specific to the religion, so this

newly-invented thing must be ascribed to the Shariah and to the religion. This now

excludes all worldly matters and customs which have no connection to the religion, and

likewise all matters of sin and disobedience which are unlawful in the Shariah (like

stealing, fornicating gambling and so on), since no one takes them as being from the

religion when falling into them. Third, it could be the case that this newly-invented thing

may have a basis in the Shariah, so he (alayhis salaam) further qualified the affair and

said (

), which means, as explained by the Scholars, that it has no support from the

Shariah, neither in a general sense (a general evidence) or in a specific sense (a specific

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evidence). An example of a general, non-specific evidence would be in the case of the

compilation of the Qur'an into a single book (mushaf), since this comes under a general

foundation in the Shariah which is the preservation of the religion (as one of the five

essential matters it came to protect, religion, life, intellect, wealth, honour). So the

compilation of the Qur'an exits from the Shariahdefinition of bidah. And an example of

specific evidence would be that of the Tarawih prayerbeing prayed in congregation that

was initiated by Umar bin al-Khattaab. This has a direct, specific evidence (the Prophet

led the people in congregational Tarawih prayer for three nights in Ramadan in the

mosque), and thus it exits from being a bidah in the Shariah sense. The same would

apply to all legislated matters which have been forgotten or abandoned, and which are

revived, they do not come under bidah with its Shariahmeaning. And some scholars may

refer to these matters as "good innovations" purely from a linguistic point of view, but what

they really mean is revival of a forgotten Sunnah, and this is the meaning of the saying of

Umar bin al-Khattaab (

), "What an excellent innovation this is" about his re-

instituting the Tarawih prayerin congregation in the mosque.

This is the same understanding of bidah that is found in the explanations of the overwhelming majority

of Scholars such as Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali and Ibn Hajaral-Asqalani and others. And everything that

comes under this definition is what is intended by the Messenger (alayhis salaam) in his saying (

:), "Every innovation is misguidance." Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali said

So his saying (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) that "every innovation is misguidance"

is from the comprehensive, concise words from which no matter (of innovation)

[introduced in the religion] escapes from, and it is a mighty foundation from the

foundations of the religion. It resembles his saying (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam),

"Whoever introduced into this affair of ours that which does not belong to it will have it

rejected." Hence, everyone who introduced something and ascribed it to the religionand it does not have any foundation in the religion to which it returns back to, then it is

misguidance and the religion is free of it, irrespective of whether it is in the matters of

belief, or actions or outward and inward statements. As for what occurs in the speech

of some of the Salaf of considering some of the innovations to be good, then that is

with respect to innovations with the linguistic meaning, not the Shariah meaning and

from [the examples of that] is the saying of Umar (radiallaahu anhu) when he gathered

the people together for praying in Ramadan behind a single imaam in the mosque.

Jami' al-Ulum al-Hikam of Ibn Rajab in explanation of the hadeeth of al-Irbaad bin Saariyah

(2/128).

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And Ibn Hajaral-Asqalani said:

And what is intended by his saying "Every innnovation is misguidance" is whatever

is newly-introduced and has no evidence in the Shariahin neither a general way nor a

specific way. Fath al-Bari (13/253).

And he also said:

" "

" "

And "the newly invented matters" (

), with the fathah on the daal, is the pluralof novelty (

) and what is intended by it is what has been newly-introduced and

does not have any basis in the legislation. It is referred to in the usage of the Shari'ah

as innovation (). As for what has a basis indicated by the Shari'ah then it is not an

innovation. For "innovation" in the usage of the Shari'ah is blameworthy as opposed to

its usage (with its) linguistic (meaning), for everything that has been newly-invented

without any prior example is named "bid'ah" irrespective of whether it is praiseworthy,

or blameworthy. Fath al-Bari (13/253).

2. The Second Hadeeth of Aa'ishah

Muslim relates the hadeeth of Aa'ishah (radiallaahu anhaa) with his wording, in addition to the one

above, that the Prophet (alayhis salaam) said:

Whoever did an action which is not upon our affair will have it rejected.

3. The Third Hadeeth of Ai'shah (through Ibn Isa)

And Abu Dawud relates in his Sunan, from Ibn Isa, that the Prophet (alayhis salaam) said:

Whoever worked an affair in discrepancy with ours will have it rejected. Sahih. See

Sahih al-Jami al-Saghir (no. 6369)

The second and third hadeeths both add further meaning to what has preceded in that whoever works

an affair or does an action which is not in agreement with the Shariahin its details and particulars will

have it rejected. Together with the first hadeeth, these three ahaadeeth cover a) what is newly-

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invented having no basis whatsoever and b) what may have a basis but which in its details and

particulars deviates and differs from what is in the Shariah. Thus, both the bidah haqiqiyyah (proper

innovation) and bidah idafiyyah (relative innovation) - [see this article] - are both clarified in the

Sunnah, warned against, and rejected.

4. The Hadeeth of al-Irbaad bin Saariyah

There occurs in the well known hadeeth of al-Irbaad bin Saariyah (radiallahu anhu) about the

Prophet's farewell sermon:

,

And beware of the newly-introduced affairs, for every newly-introduced affair is an

innovation, and every innovation is misguidance. Reported by Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah and al-

Tirmidhi.

This hadeeth establishes that everything which falls under the confines of the first three ahaadeeth -

bidah haqiqiyyah, bidah idafiyyahand which meet the three conditions of a) introducing, b) ascribing

and c) absence of general or specific evidence -is a misguided innovation (

). There are noexceptions to this because the precise nature of the bidah intended has already been qualified by the

Messenger (alayhis salaam) in what has preceded. Thus, the word (

) has already been qualified, it

does not mean every innovation absolutely and unrestrictedly (with its linguistic meaning), but rather

every innovation qualified as such by the Shariahand as intended by the Shariah, which has narrowed

down, restricted and qualified the linguistic meaning.

The Hadeeth of Jabir bin Abdullaah

Al-Nasaa'ee relates with his wording, from Jaabir bin Abdullaah (radiallaahu anhu) the following:

:

:

The Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) used to say when delivering a

sermon:

To proceed: Indeed, the best speech is the Book of Allaah and the best

guidance is the guidance of Muhammad and the worst of affairs are thenewly-invented matters, every newly-invented matter is an innovation and

every innovation is misguidance, and every (instance of) misguidance is in

the Fire.

Sahih. Reported by al-Nasa'i, al-Bayhaqi, al-Aajurree and others.

This hadeeth establishes that every innovation (as qualified and defined by whatever has preceded)

which is misguidance is in the Hellfire, and this completes the understanding of bidah in the Shariah,

upon the Prophetic Sunnah. This also connects with the other Prophetic statements such as the

hadeeth of the seventy-two sects that are threatened with the Hellfire (all of whom split away from the

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Sunnah and Jamaa'ah and become sects due to innovations), and the hadeeth of the straight line and

the lines to the right and left at the end of which there are devils, calling the people to these divergent

paths.

As for the doubts of the Innovators, then in order to justify their newly-introduced matters of worship

into the religion, they deceive and confuse the people about the linguistic and Shariahdefinitions of

the word bidah, and they provide instances where the word has been used in a linguistic sense only

to deceive the people into thinking that the censure and rebuke of innovation in the Shariahsense is

not absolute and general, and that it is permissible to innovate into the matters of worship. This is

great deception indeed and a lie upon the Messenger himself and upon the Scholars of Islam whose

words they twist.

Refer to:

al-I'tisamof al-Shatibee

Qawa'id Ma'rifat al-Bida'of Muhammad al-Jizani.

Further related reading:

Imaam al-Shatibee Explaining bidah haqiqiyyahand bidah idafiyyah- (see here)

Innovation Is of Two Types, Haqeeqiyyah (Essential, Proper) and Idaafiyyah (Relative) - (see

here)

Imam al-Shatibi's Comprehensive and Definitive Definition of Bid'ah - (see here)

The Completion and Perfection of the Shari'ah - (see here)

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