“1) The hadîth sherîf reported by al-Bukhârî and Muslim declares, ‘If something that does not exist in this religion which I have revealed, is invented with the hope of thawâb, this thing must be refused.’ This hadîth points out that it is not a bid’a to bring forth something that does not concern the religion or worship. The improvements, changes made in eating, drinking, dressing, building houses and in transportation are not bid’a.
“2) A hadîth reported by at-Tabarânî says, ‘If Muslims, after their Prophet (’alaihi ’s-salâm), make a bid’a, an innovation in the religion which he revealed, a sunna which is similar to it dissappears from among them.’ This hadîth points out that it is not bid’a to make an improvement or a change in worldly affairs and customs, which is done without expecting thawâb.
“3) It is declared in a hadîth reported by at-Tabarânî, ‘Until a man of bid’a gives up his bid’a, Allâhu ta’âlâ does not accept his repentance.’ It is necessary to repent after every sin committed. There are three conditions for the repentance to be correct: to put an end to sinning, to repent what one has done and to resolve upon never to do it again. If one has any debt or duty to other people, one has to pay it back and have oneself forgiven. By ‘man of bid’a’ is meant one who brings forth a bid’a or who commits a bid’a that has already been brought forth. ‘Bid’a’ means ‘inventing a belief, a deed, a word or a moral habit that does not exist in the religion, or spreading such an innovation, and expecting reward for it in the next world’. If a person who commits a sin continuously repents for another kind of sin, his repentance will be accepted. A man of bid’a expects thawâb from his bid’a and thinks that he is doing something good. Therefore, he does not think of repenting.
“4) It is declared in a hadîth recorded by Ibn Mâja, ‘Unless the
man of bid’a gives up his bid’a, Allâhu ta’âlâ does not accept any of his acts of worship.’ Even the correct worship of an innovator in the religion, who changes a belief, worship, word or a habit in the religion, will not be accepted. That is, he will be deprived of reward for worship in the next world. He has to give up his bid’a.
“5) It is declared in a hadîth reported by Ibn Mâja, ‘Even if a bid’a does not cause unbelief, its inventor’s fast, hajj, ’umra, jihâd, repentance or any goodness will not be accepted. It is as easy for this person to go out of the religion as pulling out hairs from the butter.’[1] Though the kinds of fard and supererogatory worship which he does suitably with the rules will be valid (sahîh) and he will be absolved from the debt of worship, his worshipping will not be accepted (maqbûl), that is, he will not be rewarded in the next world. If his bid’a gives way to unbelief, that is, if he utters a word, uses something or does something which causes unbelief, his îmân will disappear and his warshipping will not be valid. A mand of bid’a considers his bid’a good and thawâb-deserving. Therefore, he gets out of the religion easily. The person who commits a bid’a supposes that it is an act of worship and expects reward for it in the next world. As for the person who commits a sin, he knows that his sin is a guilt, and he feels ashamed towards his Allâhu ta’âlâ and fears His
punishment. Bid’as are grave sins, but not every sin is a bid’a.
“Bid’a is an Arabic word. It means something that did not exist formerly and which has been invented later. In this respect, the changes, reformations done both in customs and in worshipping are bid’a. ’Âdat (custom) is an action which is done for its worldly benefits alone without expecting any reward as a recompense in the next world. In contrast, ’ibâda (worship) is the action as a recompense of which reward is expected in the next world. Since everything which had not existed in the times of the Sahâbat al-kirâm and the Tâbi’ûn and appeared later is a bid’a, scholars have divided bida’ into such groups as mubâh, wâjib, mustahab and harâm. They have called that which is mustahab or wâjib a bid’at hasana.
“In view of the religion, however, bid’a means an addition or
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[1] For the originals and explanations of these five hadîths, see an-Nablûsî’s Arabic book al-Hadîqat an-nadiyya published by Hakîkat Kitabevi.
reduction that has been made in the religion and against the Prophet’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) consent after as-Sahâbat al-kirâm and the Tâbi’ûn; in other words, it is a change made in the name of worship and presumed to be thawâb-deserving. And reform in the religion means bid’a in the religion. Changes that are made in customs are outside of this kind of bid’a. The ones that are declared to be evil in the Hadîth ash-sherîf are the bida’ in the religion. These reforms do not help worship. They all spoil worship.
“The reforms in the religion part into two groups: the bida’ in belief and those in ’ibâda. The reforms in belief are either made with ijtihâd, that is, they are derived from the Qur’ân and the Hadîth, or they are the fruits of predilection, reasoning or deducing. Ijtihâd requires to be done by a profound scholar, that is, a mujtahid. If a mujtahid makes a mistake in doing ijtihâd in belief, he will not be pardoned. He will be guilty. If the thing concerning belief, which he has misunderstood, is declared clearly in the religion and is so widespread that even the ignorant have heard about it and know it, this
mujtahid and those who believe him will become unbelievers. A person who is understood to be an unbeliever cannot escape unbelief unless he repents this misbelief of his, even if he says he is a Muslim and spends all his life worshipping. If the thing concerning belief was declared openly but is not the kind everybody has heard of, or if it was not declared openly, he will become not an unbeliever but a man of bid’a or a heretic. This wrong belief of his is a sin which is worse even than the grave felonies such as murder and fornication. It was declared in hadîths that there would be seventy-two groups of bid’a and that they would all go to Hell.
“If something related to belief is put forth in a wrong form by non-mujtahid men who think of themselves as mujtahids and attempt to interpret âyats and hadîths or speak according to their own points of view, those who believe it will become unbelievers even if it is not a clearly declared or widespread teaching. For example, a mujtahid who disbelieves, as a result of his ijtihâd, in Rasûlullah’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) Ascension (Mi’râj) or in the questioning in grave becomes a man of bid’a, i.e. a heretic, while a non-mujtahid man of religious post who, as a result of his own reasoning or opinion, disbelieves in them becomes a non-Muslim because of having slighted Islam’s teachings.
“Islamic scholars who have not gone wrong in their ijtihâd in the belief and the Muslims who believe the truth like them are called Ahl as-Sunna or Sunnî.
“The worship of the seventy-two groups of bid’a is not acceptable even if they worship correctly. Their bid’a in their worshipping is an additional guilt, even if they call it ijtihâd.
“The ijtihâds deduced by the Ahl as-Sunna scholars in the knowledge concerning ’ibâdât are not bida’. Their mistakes in finding out this knowledge will not cause them to be guilty. Leaders of the four madhhabs derived this knowledge, with the permission of the Prophet (’alaihi ’s-salâm) who announced Islam, from the sources which Islam prescribed. This knowledge has not changed Islam, but it has helped Islam. Ijtihâd cannot be employed on the things that are declared clearly in the Qur’ân and the Hadîth. They should be admitted as they are. It is not a guilt to go wrong in searching for the proof of something that has not been declared openly. But, if the proof stating the right way is clear and if the mujtahid goes wrong in finding out the proof, or by following
his own mind without deriving from a proof, an ’ibâda based on this deduction is a bid’a and heresy. If such a reform causes a sunnat muakkada to disappear, it will be a worse sin.
“The action Rasûlullah (’alaihi ’s-salâm) used to perform as an ’ibâda and omitted from time to time is called sunnat hudâ or sunnat muakkada. It has not been declared that those who sometimes omit them will be punished. An action which he never neglected and he said that those who would neglect it would be punished is called wâjib. That which he performed at times is called mustahab. An action which he used to do not as an ’ibâda but as a custom is called sunnat zawâid or adab. It is adab to begin with good things on the right and with bad things on the left and to use the right and left hands, respectively.
“It is not a bid’a to make changes in customs. It is better for men of wara’ not to do it. It is declared in a hadîth, ‘Hold fast to my sunna and, after me, to the sunnas of al-Khulafâ’ ar-Râshidîn.’ The word sunna, when used alone, means everything that Islam declares. Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm), who taught Islam, did not declare anything on customs, for he came in order to preach the religion, not to teach people how to do the things they needed in the world. It is declared in a hadîth, ‘You know better how to do
your worldly affairs,’ meaning that there was no need to tell them how to find and do the things that were useful for their world and that they should learn from him the religion and worship which they could not know. For this reason, customs remain outside of Islam. Changes that are done in the things outside of Islam are not bida’.
“Minarets, schools, books and the like which have been invented later are not bida’ or reforms in the religion. These are things which help the religion. Islam has permitted and even commanded them. Things of this sort are called sunnat hasana. It is called sunnat sayyia to invent things which Islam has prohibited. Bida’ are sunnat sayyia. The reason why the sunnat hasana were not done in the time of as-Sahâba and Tâbi’ûn was because they did not need these useful things. They were performing the jihâd against unbelievers, conquering lands and spreading Islam over the world. In their time, men of bid’a had not appeared or increased. It is permissible and thawâb to invent sunnat hasana until the end of the world.
“In ’ibâdât it is worse to commit a bid’a than to neglect a sunna. It is harâm to commit a bid’a while it is makrûh to neglect a sunna without an ’udhr.[1] If one supposes that it is thawâb to neglect a sunna without any ’udhr, it will be bid’a for him to neglect a sunna. When it is unknown if a belief, a deed or a word is a sunna or bid’a, it is necessary not to perform it, for it is necessary not to do the bid’a, and it is not obligatory to perform the sunna. If something not obligatory is omitted, it will not be performed afterwards. Therefore, the omitted sunnas of salât will not be performed afterwards. It is more blessed than all the worship of human beings and genies not to commit the most venial of the acts which Allâhu ta’âlâ has prohibited. For this reason, a wâjib also can be omitted where there is difficulty. But it has been said by scholars that harâm cannot be committed. For example, one cannot clean, in the presence of others, the
parts of his body that have to be covered.
“Unanimity of the mujtahids who lived in the same century is called ijmâ’. Ijmâ’ has to be based on a proof, a document. This proof is an âyat or a hadîth even if only one person has reported
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[1] ’Udhr means an excuse, a hindrance which Islam recognizes as a good reason for not doing a religious duty.
it, or it is a qiyâs based upon them. Qiyâs is the explanation of something that has been declared indistinctly in the âyat and in the Hadîth. Hadrat al-Imâm al-a’zam Abû Hanîfa performed ijtihâd by way of qiyâs.
“A person may become an ’ârif or a Walî without reading any books. He might interpret âyats but cannot be a guide. One cannot attach his heart to him. A perfect guide has to have reached the grade of ijtihâd in knowledge and the grade of Wilâyat khâssa al-Muhammadiyya in ma’rifa. A perfect guide’s every behaviour, every manner, every word is compatible with Islam. This means to say that he follows Rasûlullah (’alaihi ’s-salâm) in every respect. For this reason, Allâhu ta’âlâ loves him. Muslims, since they love Allâhu ta’âlâ, love also the person whom Allâhu ta’âlâ loves. Loving the perfect guide arises from loving Allâhu ta’âlâ and Rasûlullah (’alaihi ’s-salâm). This love is called
al-hubbu fi’llâh. It has been declared in a hadîth that the most valuable worship is al-hubbu fi’llâh. To perform the commands of a perfect guide means to obey Islam, for a perfect guide’s every word and every deed communicates Islam. The real person who presents knowledge on the earth is the perfect guide. Hence it can be understood that the words of the enemies of religion, ‘Instead of Allâhu ta’âlâ, they love a human being. Abandoning Islam, they worship a human being,’ about Muslims, are ignorant and base slanders.
“Following as-Sahâbat al-kirâm is wajib. It is not permissible to make qiyâs on something which they already explained. Yet, it is not permissible for us the muqallids, that is, the persons who have not reached the grade of ijtihâd, to (directly) follow their words. Their words and action indicate the Nass (the Qur’ân and the Hadîth) and their own ijtihâds. Only the profound scholars who have attained the grade of ijtihâd can understand them. Our madhhab leaders have understood them and communicated them to us in a manner that we can comprehend. This means to say that those who want to adapt themselves to the Sahâbat al-kirâm have to follow the Ahl as-Sunna scholars.
“It is declared in a hadîth reported by al-Bukhârî, ’Allâhu ta’âlâ declared, “My human creature cannot approach Me with anything else as close as he approaches by performing the fard actions. I love My human creature who approaches Me through supererogatory worship.” This hadîth indicates that the kind of
worship which Allâhu ta’âlâ likes best consists of the fard actions. The supererogatory worship mentioned in the hadîth is the worship done in addition to the fard. It means that Allâhu ta’âlâ loves those who perform the fard and also the supererogatory worship.
“Allâhu ta’âlâ says in sûrat al-Mâ’ida as ma’âl, ‘Look for a wasîla (cause) to approach Me.’ ‘Ma’âl’ means ‘according to what the scholars of Islam understood’. The Wahhâbîs say, ‘ ’Ibâdât are the causes. In order to attain Allâhu ta’âlâ’s approval and love, the ’ibâdât that are fard and nâfila should be performed. Entering a tarîqa, following a shaikh or entreating dead or living persons does not make one approach Allâhu ta’âlâ; on the contrary, one gets far away.’ The scholars of Ahl as-Sunna, however, say, ‘It is true that ’ibâdât are the causes. Yet, the ’ibâdât that are sahîh, correct and khâlis can be causes. ’Ibâdât
are sahîh if one has correct îmân and pure morals and performs them in accordance to their conditions. For the salât to be sahîh, for example, ablution, using clean water, performing it in due time and towards the qibla, reciting the âyats, tasbîhs and prayers in salât correctly and knowing many other conditions and causes are necessary. Every ’ibâda has such conditions and causes. These are learnt by working for years, not by thinking or dreaming of them. They are learnt by hearing them from the ’ulamâ’ who believe, know and practise them or by reading their books, as scientific knowledge is learnt through professors in a long time. Such real scholars of Islam with pure îmân and heart are called ‘mudarris’ (professor), ‘mu’allim’ (trainer) or ‘murshid’ (guide). ‘Murshid’ does not mean ‘one who walks on the water surface,
flies in the air, knows where a lost thing is and cures sick people by praying and blowing’, but it means ‘the scholar of Ahl as-Sunna who knows, practises and teaches to others the Sharî’a, that is, the ’ibâdât performed with the heart, soul and body’. To carry out the order in sûrat al-Mâ’ida, every Muslim should look for such a murshid or for his books and should learn all fard and nâfila ’ibâdât from him.’
“We should not fall for the wrong words of the ignorant men of religion, who do not know Islam, or for the fallacies of the evil-minded people, who have not read the books of the Ahl as-Sunna scholars, or for the deceitful, false articles of those who follow the unsound minds of the deviated people who have gone astray and who lead everybody astray. Scholars of Islam have derived their
konwledge from the Qur’ân and the Hadîth. As for those deviated people, they write and speak following their own short sight. Shame on these reformers and those who fall for their words and books supposing them to be scholars! They are the thieves of faith and belief. They change the halâl and the harâm. They spoil Islam.”[1]
In the section on the things that invalidate salât, Ibn ’Âbidîn wrote: “It is makrûh tahrîmî to accept the blameworthy, loathsome ones of the bid’as in customs, such as eating, drinking, dressing, from the disbelievers, and to accept and to use, in order to resemble them, the ones that are not bad. It is not makrûh to do and to use the ones that are not bad or harmful without trying to be like them. Rasûlullah (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) had his shoemakers make a pair of shoes, which priests wore, and he wore them.”
Is it bid’a or not to recite the sûrat al-Fâtiha after salât and praying? Hadrat Hâdimî writes its answer detailedly on the hundred and thirty-seventh page of the book Berîqa. Let’s explain briefly: there have been those who considered it bid’a and those who said the opposite. According to many of them, it is better to recite the Fâtiha at places where it was declared to recite prayers. Moreover, it has been declared in a hadîth to recite prayers after salât. ‘Bid’a’ means ‘the ’ibâda that is performed without Muhammad’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) permitting it.’ The sûrat al-Fâtiha descended in order to reveal the
best of prayers. No one has said it would be a bid’a to recite it after salât or prayers. It is forbidden for the entire congregation to recite it loud altogether. When the imâm says “Fâtiha”, it is good that everybody recite it silently. For it is mustahab to do hamd after prayers. And the best hamd[2] is to recite the Fâtiha. It is makrûh to recite it between fard and sunnat and in order to attain what one desires.
It is bid’a to read (or recite) the Qur’ân al-kerîm or to call the azân (adhân) through a loud-speaker. For, lifeless objects used for producing sounds are called mizmâr, musical instruments. Thunder, cannons, rifles, owls and parrots are not musical instruments although they produce sounds. Merry-making instruments that produce sounds, bass-drums, side-drums,
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[1] An-Nablûsî, al-Hadîqa.
[2] Thanking and lauding Allâhu ta’âlâ.
cymbals, flutes, pipes and loud-speakers are all musical instruments. Musical instruments do not produce sounds by themselves. In order for them to produce sounds, or, in other words, in order to use them, you have to strike the tightly stretched leather with the stick of the drum, blow into the reed, and say into the pipe or the loud-speaker. The sound coming out of these instruments is the sound they produce. It is not the voice of the person blowing or saying into them. The sounds of Qur’ân al-kerîm or adhân heard from the loud-speaker are all sounds produced by the loud-speaker. They are not the voices of the muadhdhins or imâms. The muadhdhin’s voice is the adhân. From scientific, technical, religious and canonical points of view, the sound coming out of the instrument is not the muadhdhin’s voice; in other words, it is not the adhân. Because it is homophonic with the adhân, it is taken for the adhân. What is called the adhân has to be the muadhdhin’s own voice, with the additional proviso that he be a sâlih (true and pious) male Muslim. Regardless of any degree of similitude, a woman’s or a child’s voice homophonic with his or the sound produced by a loud-speaker is not the adhân. It is some other sound. Different musical instruments produce different sounds. The sound produced by a loud-speaker, despite its close resemblance to human voice, is not human voice. It is like an imâm’s photograph in a book or his image on a television screen. These appearances are not the imâm himself, although they are his exact images. You cannot perform the namâz conducted by him, even if you see his actions on the screen and hear his voice.