Good Bidah???? From Bidah - The Unique Nature of the Perfection found in Islam and the Grave Danger of Innovating in to it, pp: 11-20 THE SAYING OF ALLAAHS MESSENGER sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, EVERY BIDAH LEADS ASTRAY And you should be amazed at a people who recognise the words of Allahs Messenger sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, Beware of the newly- invented matters, for every such matter is a bidah and every bidah leads astray, and everything that leads astray is in the Fire, [Reported by Aboo Daawood, Tirmidhee and others, no. 2549 in Saheehul-Jaami without, ... every thing that leads astray is in the Fire ..., and hadith no.28 in an-Nawawees Forty Hadith] and they know that his words, ...every bidah... are complete, comprehensive and universal, being encompassed by the strongest grammatical particle used to make a noun universal and all- encompassing, i.e., kullu (which means everything), and (they know that) the one who used this word, may Allahs salawaat and salaam be upon him, knew what this word indicated and he was the most eloquent of all (in the Arabic language) and he was the sincerest of the creation towards the creation. Hence he would not use a word unless its meaning was that which he intended. Hence (they know that) when the Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam said, ... every Bidah leads astray ... he knew what he was saying and he knew its meaning and this saying of his eminated as a result of complete sincerity and concern for the Ummah. (They know that) when these three characteristics were all present in his words, i.e., complete sincerity and good wishes, complete clarity and eloquence and complete knowledge and understanding -then it is clear that what he said was what he wanted to say in order to convey his desired meaning. So (you should be amazed, that such a people, after recognising all this) think that bidah can be of three or five categories? Can this be correct? Never! And what some scholars do claim is that there exists the good innovation. But if this is so, then they can only be referring to two cases: (i) that it is not an innovation but they do consider it to be one, or (ii) it is an innovation, and hence it is something evil, but they do not know of its evil. (And these are the only two possibilities, bearing in mind that the Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam said, ... every bidah leads astray ...) THE SHARP SWORD AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF INNOVATION So for everything that is used to claim that there exists a good bidah, then the answer for it is all the above. Thus there can be no room for the People of Innovation to claim that their innovations are good while we have in our hand the sharp sword that Allahs Messenger sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam gave us - i.e., his saying that ... every innovation leads astray. Indeed, this sharp sword was forged in the steel- works of Prophethood and Messengership. It was not forged in some second rate iron-mill, rather in the steelworks of the Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam and he sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam forged it so eloquently, that anyone who has the likes of this sharp sword in his hand would never be dumb-founded by someone claiming that bidah is good, for the Messenger of Allahs sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam said that, ...every bidah leads astray. WHAT ABOUT THE SAYING OF UMAR radiallaahu anhu I AM PLEASED WITH THAT BIDAH? Now I can sense that there is in your hearts a creeping doubt saying, But what about the words of the Chief of the Believers Umar bin al- Khattab radiallaahu anhu who succeeded in achieving something good when he ordered Ubayy ibn Kab and Tameem ad-Daaree to lead the people in prayer during Ramadan. Hence he left having united the people behind a (single) Imaam, and so said, I am happy with this innovation, but the part of the night they used to sleep through is better than the part they use to pray in. [Reported by al- Bukhaaree, (Eng. trans. volt. 3, HP. 126, no.227).] The reply to this is from two angles. Firstly, it is not permitted for anyone to oppose the saying of the Messenger sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam by preferring the opinion of any other -be it the opinion of Abu Bakr who is better than anyone else in this ummah after its Prophet, or that of Umar who is the second best after its Prophet, or Uthmaan who is the third best after its Prophet, or Alee who is the fourth best after its Prophet or that of anyone else. As Allah, the Most High, says: So let those who oppose his (Muhammads sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) command beware that they will be afflicted with a trial or a painful punishment. (24: 63) Imaam Ahmad rahimahullaah said, Do you know what the trial mentioned here is? The trial is shirk - perhaps when someone opposes the Prophets saying, some deviation may affect his heart such that he will be destroyed. And Ibn Abbaas radiallaahu anhu said, Stones are about to be sent down from the sky! I say that, Allahs Messenger sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam said so and so ... while you reply with what Aboo Bakr and Umar said! Secondly, we know for certain that Umar ibn al- Khattab radiallaahu anhu was one of the strongest in glorifying the Words of Allahs and His Messenger sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam and he was famous for halting short of the limits laid down by Allahs, the Most High. To the extent that he was attributed with being a warden and safe-guard of the Speech of Allahs, the Most High. And what about the story of that woman who opposed him, (assuming it is authentic), when he wanted to limit the dowries, by an unknown amount? Then a woman opposed him using the Saying of Allahs, the Most High: And (even if) you gave one of them a huge amount (of gold). [4:20] Hence Umar abandoned his wish to limit the dowries. However, the authenticity of this story needs to be looked into. But the point is clear - that Umar would safeguard the limits laid down by Allahs, the Most High, and would not transgress them. So it would not be befitting for Umar radiallaahu anhu being who he was, to oppose the words of the best of mankind, Muhammad sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam by saying What a pleasing innovation about any bidah. So can this innovation be that which Allahs Messenger was referring to when he said that ... every innovation leads astray ...? No. Rather it can be said with certainty that this innovation about which Umar said, I am pleased with this innovation ... falls outside what was intended by Allahs Messenger sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam when he said, ... every bidah leads astray. Thus when Umar said, I am pleased with this innovation ... he was referring to the effect - that the people had gathered together behind one Imaam while before that, they were (praying) in separate groups. And this praying (behind a single Imaam) during Ramadan had its origin from the Messenger sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, as is proven from that which is reported by al-Bukhaaree and Muslim from Aaishah, may Allahs be pleased with her, that the Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam led the people in prayer for three nights and then hesitated doing so on the fourth night, saying, Indeed I feared that it would become obligatory upon you, but you would not be able to cope with that. [Reported by Bukhari (Eng. trans. vol.1, no.696) and Muslim (Eng. trans. vol.1, no.1666]. Thus performing the night prayer in Ramadan. as a single Jamaaah is from the Sunnah of the Messenger sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, and Umar radiallaahu anhu referred to it as a bidah considering the fact that after the Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam had left leading the prayer, the people became separated such that one person would he praying alone, and elsewhere two would be praying together, and somewhere else three would be praying in Jamaaah. So throughout the mosque there were people praying alone and in groups, so Umar, the chief of the Believers, had the idea - and this idea was perfectly correct - to gather the people to pray behind a single Imaam. So this action was an innovation in the sense that it was new and different to how the people were before, i.e., praying in separate groups. Hence this bidah was relative and subjective - not original and absolute, being set up by Umar radiallaahu anhu, as this sunnah was there during the time of the Messenger sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam So it indeed was a Sunnah (not a bidah), which had been abandoned since the time of the Messenger sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, until Umar radiallaahu anhu revived it.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 08:27:32 +0000
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