The Sunnah: The Islamic Way of Life

[Islamic Revival]

Bid’ah: Every action that contradicts Islamic legislation



All praise is due to Allah, and He is sufficient for us, and peace and blessings on the Messenger of Allah.

Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal, may Allah be pleased with him, has based all laws in Islam on three principles: Al-HaafiTH Ibn Hajar said in Al-Fat-h, in the explanation of the Hadith “All actions are based on intentions”: “And the words of Imam Ahmed indicate that it (the Hadith) being a third of all knowledge is referring to one of the three principles that all laws in Islam are based on, which are (also): “Whoever performs an action that is not based on Our command, then it is rejected” and “Halal is clear and Haram is clear…”.

So, by following all of “…Our command(s)…” and since there is no doubt that “Halal is clear and Haram is clear…” in it, the Muslim is able to live his life in complete submission and obedience to the Ahkam Shar’ia (Islamic legislation). This is because Hukum Shar’iee is “the address (commands) of the legislator regarding the actions of the slaves, either by a command of obligation, prohibition, or choice whether to do the action or not. Every action of man must be organized based on the principle, “(Every) action that is not based on Our command…is rejected”. Therefore, every action that contradicts the Sharee’a (Islamic legislation) is Bid’ah and is rejected. Hence, the Muslim lives according to the method of Islam for life, which is the Sunnah, and fundamentally is the Wahi (revelation):

“Say: if you love Allah, then follow me, and Allah will love you and forgive your sins, and Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. Say: obey Allah and the Messenger, and if they turn away, Allah does not love the disbelievers” [TMQ Aal-‘Imran: 31-32]

“And this is My Path, leading straight, so follow it, and do not follow (other paths): they will scatter you about from His (great) Path; this is what He has commanded you, so that you may have Taqwa” [TMQ Al-An’aam: 153]

“Indeed, in the Messenger of Allah you have the best example to follow (Uswatann Hasana), for any of you whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, and who engages much in the praise of Allah” [TMQ Al-Ahzaab: 21]

“…and whatever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatever he forbids you from doing, abstain from it. And fear Allah; Allah is severe in punishment” [TMQ Al-Hashr: 7]

It was stated in Al-Lisaan: “Al-Uswa and Al-Iswa mean Al-Qudwa (the leadership)”. And it is said: “I’tasi by him means follow him and be like him”. Al-Layth said: “Someone Ya’tasi in someone else means he is pleased for himself what pleases the other, and he follows him, and is like him”. And “The people are an Uswa in the matter means that they are united/are alike in the matter”.

Every matter than is invented (from one’s own mind) in one’s way of living is at the expense of a legislated matter in Islam.

It was narrated by Ahmed through a good chain of narrators, on the authority of Dha’eef bin Al-Haarith: “Abdul-Malik bin Marwan called for me and said: ‘We have united people on raising their hands on the Minbar (meaning the Khateeb) during Jum’ah (prayers) (in du’a), and on stories after morning prayers and ‘Asr prayers.’ Then he said: ‘These are your most prominent of your Bid’ah in my sight, and I will not approve of any of them, because the Messenger of Allah, sallAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam, said: “No people invent a Bid’ah except that the same amount of the Sunnah will be removed;” So, remaining steadfast on a Sunnah is better than inventing a Bid’ah.’”.

If this was the answer of this Sahabi regarding actions that have a basis in the Sunnah, then what of the actions that have no basis in the Sunnah, or even contradict it?

A man wrote to Umar bin Abdul-Aziz asking him about Al-Qadar, so he replied: “I advise you to fear Allah, and to have discretion in His matter, and to follow the Sunnah of His Prophet, sallAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam, and to leave all the inventions (in the Deen) invented by people, after the Sunnah has come to you and you do not need other than it (Kufoo Mu’natah). So you must hold on to the Sunnah, for it is – by the Will of Allah – a protection for you, and know that there has not been one nation that invents a Bid’ah except that there is an evidence against it, for the Sunnah has been established by one who already knows all that contradicts it” [Sunan Abi Dawood: The Chapter of Luzoom Al-Sunnah].

It was said in ‘Awn Al-Ma’bood: “His saying “Kufoo” comes from the word “sufficient”. And “Mu’natah” is “its weight”. It is said “Kafaa Fulaanann Mu’natah” means he undertook the action without needing it, and thus did not need to do it. Therefore, the meaning of “Kufoo Mu’natah” is that Allah has made them above needing the weight of inventing matters in the Deen and committing Bid’ah, for Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) has completed for His slaves their Deen, and has perfected His blessings upon them, and is pleased with Islam as their Deen; so, the slaves have no need to invent anything in their Deen, meaning to add anything to it or take anything away from it.

The Messenger of Allah (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said: “The most evil of matters are the invented ones”.

[Islamic Revival]

It was stated in Tuhfat Al-AhwaTHi bi-Sharh Jaami’ Al-Tirmithi: “Al-HaafiTH ibn Rajab said in Kitab Jaami’ Al-‘Uloom: ‘And the ruling in (this Hadith) is a warning to the Ummah from following invented matters, and this is reaffirmed in his saying: “Every Bid’ah (invented matter) is misguidance”, and what is meant by Bid’ah here is anything invented in the Deen that has no basis in the Sharee’ah to support it. As for the invented matters that do have a basis in the Sharee’ah to support it, they are not a Bid’ah, in a legislative context, even though it is a Bid’ah linguistically. So the saying of the Prophet (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) “Every Bid’ah is misguidance” is an all-encompassing statement with no exceptions, and it is one of the greatest fundamental principles in Usool Al-Deen. As for what has been narrated from our predecessors (the Salaf) regarding seeing some good in some Bid’ahs, this is only regarding those matters that are Bid’ah linguistically, and not Shar’iee (legislatively). Amongst the examples of this is the saying of Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, regarding Taraweeh prayers: “If this is a Bid’ah, then what a good Bid’ah it is”. Other examples include the first ATHan to Jum’ah prayers, which was added by Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him due to the people’s need for it, and this was confirmed by Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, and the Muslims continued acting upon it. And it was narrated of Ibn Umar that he said it was a Bid’ah, which seems that he meant the same thing as his father meant regarding Taraweeh prayers (the linguistic meaning of the word, not the legislative meaning)”.

Al-HaafiTH Ibn Hajar said in Al-Fat-h: “And ‘Al-Muhdathaat’ is the plural of ‘Muhdatha’, which means ‘that which took place recently’. A ‘Muhdatha’ that has no basis for it in the Shari’ is known in the field of Islamic legislation as ‘Bid’ah’, and a ‘Muhdatha’ that has a basis as indicated by an evidence (from Qur’an and Sunnah) is not a Bid’ah. This is because a Bid’ah, in a legislative context, is condemned, whereas in the linguistic context a Bid’ah is considered every new thing that is unique, regardless whether it is commended or condemned. The same applies to the words “Muhdatha” and “Al-Amr Al-Muhdath” mentioned in the Hadith of A’isha of the Prophet (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam): “Whoever starts a Muhdatha in our matter that is not from it, it is rejected”, which has been explained previously, and deeply analyzed in the book “Kitaab Al-Ahkam”, as well as in the Hadith of Jabir: “…and every Bid’ah is a misguidance”, and the Hadith of Al-‘Arbaadh bin Saariya: “Beware of Muhdathaat Al-Umoor, for every Bid’ah is a misguidance”, and this Hadith is very close in meaning to the one narrated by A’isha, both of which are considered all-encompassing Ahadith (Jaami’ Al-Kalim).

Imam Al-Shafi’i said: “Bid’ah is two types: commended and rejected. That which is in-line with the Sunnah is commended, and that which contradicts the Sunnah is condemned.” [Narrated by Abu Na’eem from Ibrahim bin Al-Junaid of Al-Shafi’i]. It was also narrated of Al-Shafi’i from Al-Bayhaqi that he said: “Al-Muhdathaat are two types: The type that contradicts the Book, or the Sunnah, or narrations of the Sahaba, or consensus of the Sahaba, are Bid’ahs of misguidance. As for the type that is good, and does not contradict any of the above mentioned sources, is a Muhdatha that is not condemned”.

And it was narrated of Ibn Mas’ood that he said: “You have awoken on the Fitrah, and you will invent (Tuhdithoon) and others will invent for you. So, if you see a Muhdatha, then you must remain steadfast to the primary guidance”.

And the core of all this is what was narrated by Muslim, may Allah be pleased with him, of Jareer bin Abdullah, that he said: “Some people from the Arabs came to the Messenger of Allah, sallAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam, with .…. on them, and the Prophet saw that they were in need of help, so he called upon the people to give them charity, but they were slow to do so until you could see the effect of that on the Messenger’s face. Then a man from the Ansar came with a .…. made of paper, then another came, and they kept coming, until you could see the happiness on the Prophet’s face. Then the Prophet, sallAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam, said: ‘Whoever initiates within Islam a good Sunnah, and the people acted upon it after him, written for him will be reward equal to all those who act upon it, without decreasing from their reward in any way. And whoever initiates within Islam a bad Sunnah, and the people acted upon it after him, written for him will be sins equal to the sins of all those who act upon it, without decreasing from their sins in any way.’”.

So, the difference between a Muslim inventing a new way of giving Sadaqa and calling people to it – such as someone setting up a fridge at his front door to give water to thirsty people walking by in the summer, and people following his example in this – for him is the reward for such a good deed, as it is known that this type of action has a basis in Islamic legislation. Whereas, on the other hand, someone giving Zakat money to other than the specified eight types of people is a Bid’ah in the Deen, and is a Bid’ah of misguidance.

From this, it is clear that a Bid’ah is any action that is not from the Shari’ (Islamic legislation); in other words, a Bid’ah is any action that contradicts the Shari’, which is the address of the Legislator regarding that particular action. Exempted from this is actions that the Shari’ has given general evidences (permissions), such as studying chemistry and medicine, for these fall under the general evidences related to learning and knowledge.

So, not every action that is not specifically mentioned by the Shari’ is a Bid’ah, and not every action that did not take place during the time of the Messenger, sallAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam, is a Bid’ah, rather a Bid’ah is actions that contradict what has been revealed in the Shari’, and this does not apply to all actions, rather it only applies to actions that the Shari’ has defined for us how to undertake them. The Muslim is responsible for undertaking an action according to how the Legislator has revealed it must be done, and if someone contradicts this method, then this is a Bid’ah.

This is the meaning of Bid’ah, and from close research and scrutiny we can see that the Legislator has not specified exactly how particular actions are undertaken, except in ‘Ibadaat (acts of worship) not including Jihad. As for other than the ‘Ibadaat, and including Jihad from amongst the Ibadaat, the Legislator did not specify what actions must be taken, rather He established rules for conduct. And contradicting the rules of conduct is not considered Bid’ah, rather it is Haram or Makruh, depending on the evidence. As for contradicting the rule of the action, this is what is called a Bid’ah.

As for the commands that were revealed in a general manner with no restrictions related to the implementation of them, such as Dhikr and Du’a, a person is not accused of Bid’ah if he chooses how to do them. So, for example, if the Imam makes Du’a with a loud voice on the day of Eid in the Masjid or outside of the Masjid, or the Muslims shaking each other’s hands after the Salat saying “Taqabbal Allah” (may Allah accept your Salat), or a man saying to someone who just completed Wudhu, “From ZamZam”, or making the Minbar of the Masjid more than three steps, all of these things are not considered a Bid’ah, since they all fall under the subject of Dhikr and Du’a, and therefore are included with the Ayat and Ahadith that order us to make Dhikr and Du’a, because the method to implement Dhikr and Du’a were not specified in the texts. This also applies to all types of Dhikr, whether during a certain time, or a certain situation, if the texts did not forbid doing it at other times, nor is doing so at times other than the stated times a Bid’ah either. Hence, if we have been commanded to perform Tasbeeh (saying Allahu Akbar, Alhamdulillah, etc.) before sunrise and after Maghrib, this does not mean that doing Tasbeeh in the middle of the night, or mid-day is a Bid’ah.

What is important here is observing the Islamic way of living, which means that Islam has come with a number of concepts about life that form a particular viewpoint on life. These concepts have come in the form of broad guidelines – or general meanings – that solve all of man’s problems in life, by actually deriving the law that solves the problem from the texts of the Qur’an and Sunnah. Islam has based all this on the intellectual basis, from which all thoughts about life stem, and against which all consequent thoughts are compared. Islam has also established the Ahkam (laws), including solutions, thoughts and opinions that emanate from the ‘Aqeeda, to be derived from the broad guidelines.

Islam has defined for man the thoughts, and did not restrict the mind, but rather set it free, restricting only man’s actions in life according to specific thoughts. And we do not mean, in any shape or form, that the meaning of reviving the Sunnah – the Islamic way of life – is that Muslims do not progress in matters that make life easier, or harness science to serve the Ummah in their affairs, or to assist the Ummah in reaching the world with their thoughts, or to use electricity and appliances. Rather, we are specifically speaking of the thoughts that form the Hadhara (civilization) of this Ummah and its identity, making it distinct from other nations, which has been firmly established by the Shari’ (Islamic laws), where deviating from it will fall under “Whoever performs an action that is not based on Our command, then it is rejected”.

So, let us work to revive the Sunnah – the Islamic way of living – oh Muslims, so that you will achieve the good of both this world and the Akhirah.



Source: KCom Journal