Some Hadith on Bidah (or Innovation):
He who innovates (an act or practice) or gives protection to an innovator, there is a curse of Allah and that of His angels and that of the whole humanity upon him-Sahih Muslim
He who innovates things in our affairs for which there is no valid (reason) (commits sin) and these are to be rejected-Sahih Muslim
If somebody innovates something which is not in harmony with the principles of our religion, that thing is rejected.”- Sahih Bukhari
Every innovation is a misguidance and every misguidance goes to Hell fire.- Sahih Muslim
Background:
Rabi-ul-Awal is the 1st month of Spring, the word “rabi” itself means spring in Arabic. The Prophet(S) was born in this month. There is some debate among scholars on the exact date i.e b/w 9, 12 or 21st of RabiulAwal. This is because the Arabs did not attach much importance to dates of birth or of deaths. The only reason the month was remembered is because of the Arab practice of naming years after any important event occurring in that particular year. In this case it was the attack on Ka`abah by Abraha. The date of death of the dear Prophet(S) is known for sure (relatively) i.e 12th of Rabi-ul-Awal. Interestingly enough, nobody knows for sure the d.o.b of ANY of the prophets (if you said Christmas, then you`ve yet to meet an Orthodox Christian;p google it!) which goes to show the level of importance Allah(S.W.T) attaches with the subject. Also, none of the Khulfa-e-Rashideen celebrated any such event. Furthermore no Hadith or Verse can be found which supports the celebration of the day. Allah (S.W.T) in all His wisdom created 2 Eids for us, who are we to change that. Hence anything which cannot be supported from the Prophet(S) `s life is an invention and hence Bidah in religion.
How it started:
It all started SIX HUNDRED years AFTER the Prophet(S) left this world by two men (I`ve forgotten the names, somebody please enlighten) in Iraq as a “Majlis-e-Malood” to do Zikr. Their intention may have been good but it started a chain of events where all year round Muslims forget the Prophet(S) and his teachings and his Sunnah and in this month lavish parties and events are thrown where Naats are recited and then on the 13th everyone is back to the usual state of affairs till next year. What is more alarming is that some of the Naats that are read that confuse the status of the Prophet(S) with that of Allah (S.W.T)!! Imagine! The Prophet (S) who taught us the Kalima and the very concept of Tauheed, and we make the VERY SAME man Allah`s partner in our over-zealous devotion with Naats such as:
bhar de jholi meri ya Muhammad
Unfortunately our people in their simplicity and lack of knowledge confuse such matters, and in their emotions start name-calling (such as Gustakh-e-Rasool(S)) on those who beg to differ. When REAL devotion requires that we follow the Prophet(S)`s teachings the way he taught us, do we not believe him to be the best of men and an example for all mankind? Then what gives us the authority to ASSUME on his behalf?
لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ
Verily you have in the Prophet of Allah an excellent model
May Allah guide us and grant us the wisdom to follow the Sunnah of the greatest man EVER to walk the face of the Earth, Ameen.
Asalaam alaikum
Im Sunni Hanafi, me and my family do milaad every year masha allah,our love for the Prophet peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, there have been a few introductions into Islam after the demise of the Prophet peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Here are a few examples: Variant thought of schools if your Sunni, the six kalimas, the quran compiled into one perfect book, diatrical arabic marks in the quran, full stops in the quran, milaad, domes and minarets, during Fajr azhaan we say “Pray Is Better Than Sleep”, mehrab in the Masjids, reading Traawi Prayer in congregation, whether your Sunni or Salafi we follow a lot of innovationsthan were implemented after the death of the Prophet peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, a lot of people say we follow the quran and sunnah yet they practice stuff that wasnt around during the Prophets peace and blessings of Allah be upon him time, you say Islam was perfect than why do you follow stuff that isnt from the Prophet peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, you say Islam is perfect than what right did the Sahabah or or tabi’een have to add stuff to Islam, why didnt anybidy say to them that what the’ve implemented into Islam is biddah or shirk, doing milaad is a good thing, especially now, i mean look at the state of muslims today, we are lost, we fight aoing each other, instead of looking at similareties we fight each other on the basis of our differences, Allah has given us the chance to earn reward too as long as it doesnt contradict the quran or sunnah, there must be more things that have been added that i didnt mention, i am not posting this to debate or critisize, if i said anything wrong may Allah Azawajal forgive me
mashALLAH..it would help me to drive my logics about innovation in a right direction inshALLAH..
insha`Allah =)
Wa Jazakkum!!
Much Love ♥
jazak`Allah khair ya ukhti <3
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid saied :
There is no such thing as bid’ah hasanah in Islam for the following reasons
[1] The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) stated repeatedly that: “Every newly-invented thing is a bid’ah (innovation), every bid’ah is a going astray, and every going astray will be in the Fire.”
(Reported by al-Nisaa’i in al-Sunan, Salaat al-’Eedayn, Baab kayfa al-Khutbah).
Reports with the same meaning were narrated via Jaabir (may Allaah be pleased with him) by Ahmad, via al-’Irbaad ibn Saariyah by Abu Dawud and via Ibn Mas’ood (may Allaah be pleased with him) by Ibn Maajah.
[2] The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to say, when beginning a khutbah (sermon): “… The best of speech is the Book of Allaah and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. The worst of things are those which are newly-invented, and every innovation is a going astray…”
(reported by Muslim, no. 867)
[3] If every bid’ah is a going astray, how can some people then say that there is such a thing in Islam as “bid’ah hasanah”? By Allaah, this is an obvious contradiction of the statement and warning of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) stated that whoever innovates something new in the deen (religion) will have his deed rejected, and Allaah will not accept it, as is stated in the hadeeth narrated by ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her), who said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Whoever innovates something in this matter of ours that is not a part of it will have it rejected.’” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, Fath al-Baari, no. 2697).
How can anybody then say that bid’ah is acceptable and it is permitted to follow it?
When a person innovates something and adds to the deen something that does not belong to it, he is implying a number of bad things, each worse than the last, for example:
(1) That the religion is lacking, that Allaah did not complete and perfect it, and that there is room for improvement. This clearly contradicts the statement in the Qur’aan (interpretation of the meaning): “… This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion…” [al-Maa'idah 5:3]
(2) That the religion remained imperfect from the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) until the time when this innovator came along and completed it with his own ideas.
(3) That the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was “guilty” of either of two things: either he was ignorant of this “good innovation,” or he knew about it but concealed it, thus letting his ummah down by not conveying it.
(4) That the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), his Companions and the righteous salaf (early generations) missed out on the reward of this “good innovation” – until this innovator came along and earned it for himself, despite the fact that he should say to himself, “If it was truly good, they would have been the first to do it.”
(5) Opening the door to bid’ah leads to changing the deen (religion) and opens the way for personal whims and opinions, because every innovator implies that what he is introducing is something good, so whose opinion are we supposed to follow, and which of them should we take as a leader?
(6) Following bid’ah leads to the cancelling out of sunnah practices and the ways of the salaf. Real life bears witness that whenever a bid’ah is followed, a sunnah practice dies out; the reverse is also true.
We ask Allaah to save us from the misguidance of personal whims and from all trials whether they are open or secret. And Allaah knows best!
@ ayesha..jazkALLAH!!