The Concept of Bid'ah in the
Islāmic Sharī’ah
By Nuh Ha Mim Keller
In the name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most
Merciful;
All the praise and Thanks are due to Allāh, the Lord
of the al-‘alameen. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except
Allāh, and that Muhammad, Sallallāhu alayhi wasallam, is His Messenger.
The following is the text of a talk given by Shaikh
Nuh Ha Mim Keller at Nottingham and Trent University on Wednesday 25th
January 1995.
There are few topics that generate as much controversy today
in Islām as what is Sunnah and
what is bid’ah or reprehensible innovation, perhaps
because of the times Muslims live in today and the challenges they face.
Without a doubt, one of the greatest events in impact upon Muslims in the last
thousand years is the end of the Islāmic caliphate at the first of this
century, an event that marked not only the passing of temporal, political
authority, but in many respects the passing of the consensus of orthodox Sunni
Islām as well. No one familiar with the classical literature in any of the
Islāmic legal sciences, whether Qur'anic exegesis (tafsir), hadith, or jurisprudence (fiqh), can fail to be struck by the fact that questions are
asked today about basic fundamentals ofIslāmic Sacred Law (Sharī’ah) and its ancillary
disciplines that would not have been asked in the Islāmic period not because
Islāmic scholars were not brilliant enough to produce the questions, but
because they already knew the answers.
My talk tonight will aim to clarify some possible
misunderstandings of The Concept Of
Innovation (Bid’ah) in Islām, in
light of the prophetic hadith. The Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) said:
”Beware of matters newly begun, for
every matter newly begun is innovation, every innovation is misguidance, and
every misguidance is in hell." [Muslim]
The sources I use are traditional Islāmic sources, and
my discussion will centre on three points:
The first point is that scholars say that the
above hadith does not refer to all new things without restriction,
but only to those which nothing in Sacred Law attests to the validity of.
The use of the word "every" in the hadīth does not
indicate an absolute generalization, for there are many examples of similar
generalizations in the Qur'ān and sunnah that are not applicable without
restriction, but rather are qualified by restrictions found in other primary
textual evidence.
The second point is that the sunnah and way of
the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) was to accept new acts initiated in
Islām that were of the good and did not conflict with established principles of
Sacred Law, and to reject things that were otherwise.
And our third and last point is that new matters in
Islām may not be rejected merely because they did not exist in the first
century, but must be evaluated and judged according to the
comprehensive methodology of Sacred Law, by virtue of which it is and remains
the final and universal moral code for all peoples until the end of time.
Our first point, that the hadith does not refer to all
new things without restriction, but only to those which nothing in Sacred Law
attests to the validity of, may at first seem strange, in view of the wording
of the hadith, which says, "every
matter newly begun is innovation, every innovation is misguidance, and every
misguidance is in hell." Now the word "bid’ah" or "innovation" linguistically
means anything new, so our first question must be about the generalizability of
the word every in the hadīth: does it literally mean that everything new in the
world is harām or
unlawful? The answer is no. Why?
In answer to this question, we may note
that there are many similar generalities in the Qur'ān and Sunnah, all of them admitting of some
qualification, such as the word of Allāh Most High in Surah al-Najm,”. . . A man can have nothing,
except what he strives for" (Qur'ān 53:39), despite there being
an overwhelming amount of evidence that a Muslim benefits from the spiritual
works of others, for example, from his fellow Muslims, the prayers of angels
for him, the funeral prayer over him, charity given by others in his name, and
the supplications of believers for him;
Or consider the words of Allāh to
unbelievers in Surat al-Anbiya, “Verily
you and what you worship apart from Allāh are the fuel of hell” (Qur'an 21:98), “what you worship” being
a general expression, while there is no doubt that Jesus, his mother, and the
angels were all worshipped apart from Allāh, but are not “the fuel of hell”, so are not what is meant by the verse;
Or the word of Allāh Most High in Surah
al-An’am about past nations who paid no heed to the warners who were sent to
them, "But
when they forgot what they had been reminded of, We opened unto them the doors
of everything" (Qur'ān
6:44), though the doors of mercy were not opened unto them;
And the hadith related by Muslim that
the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) said: "No one who prays before sunrise
and before sunset will enter hell", which
is a generalised expression that definitely does not mean what its outward
generality implies, for someone who prays the dawn (fajar) and mid-afternoon (dzuhur) prayers and neglects all other
prayers and obligatory works is certainly not meant. It is rather a
generalization whose intended referent is particular, or a generalization that
is qualified by other texts, for when there are fully authenticated hadiths, it
is obligatory to reach an accord between them, because they are in reality as a
single hadith, the statements that appear without further qualification being
qualified by those that furnish the qualification, that the combined
implications of all of them may be utilized.
Let us look for a moment at bid’ah or
innovation in the light of
the Sunnah of
the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) concerning new matters. Sunnah and
innovation (bid’ah) are
two opposed terms in the language of the Lawgiver, such that neither can be
defined without reference to the other, meaning that they are opposites, and
things are made clear by their opposites.
Many writers have sought to define innovation (bid’ah) without
defining the sunnah, while it is primary, and have thus fallen
into inextricable difficulties and conflicts with the primary textual evidence
that contradicts their definition of innovation, whereas if they had first
defined the sunnah, they would
have produced a criterion free of shortcomings.
Sunnah, in both the language of the Arabs and the
Sacred Law, means
the “ way”, as is illustrated by the words of
the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) :
"He who inaugurates a good Sunnah in Islām [dis: Reliance of the Traveller p
58.1(2)] ...And he who
introduces a bad sunnah in Islām...”, sunnah meaning way or custom. The way of
the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) in giving guidance, accepting, and
rejecting: this is the Sunnah. For
"good sunnah" and
"bad sunnah" mean a
"good way" or "bad way", and cannot possibly mean anything
else.
Thus, the meaning of "sunnah" is not what
most students, let alone ordinary people, understand; namely, that it is the
prophetic hadith (as when sunnah is
contrasted with "Kitab",
i.e. Qur'ān, in distinguishing textual sources), or the opposite of the
obligatory (as when sunnah,
i.e. recommended, is contrasted with obligatory in legal contexts), since the
former is a technical usage coined by hadith scholars, while the latter is a
technical usage coined by legal scholars and specialists in fundamentals of
jurisprudence.
Both of these are usages of later origin that are not
what is meant by Sunnah here.
Rather, the sunnah of
the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) is his way of acting, ordering,
accepting, and rejecting, and the way of his Rightly Guided Caliphs who
followed his way acting, ordering, accepting, and rejecting. So practices that
are newly begun must be examined in light of theSunnah of the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) and his
way and path in acceptance or rejection.
Now, there are a great number of hadiths,
most of them in the rigorously authenticated
(sahih) collections, showing that many of the
prophetic Companions initiated new acts, forms ofinvocation (dzikir), supplications (duā’), and
so on, that the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) had never previously done
or ordered to be done. Rather, the Companions did them because of their
inference and conviction that such acts were of the good that Islām and the
Prophet of Islām came with and in general terms urged the like of to be done,
in accordance with the word of Allāh Most High in Surah al-Hajj: "And do the good, that haply you
may succeed" (Qur'an 22:77), and the hadith of the
Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alaihi wa sallam):
"He who
inaugurates a good sunnah in Islām earns the reward of
it and all who perform it after him without diminishing their own
rewards in the slightest."
Though the original context of the hadith was giving charity,
the interpretative principle established by the scholarly consensus (def: Reliance of the Traveller ) of specialists in fundamentals of Sacred
Law is that the point of primary texts
lies in the generality of their lexical significance, not the specificity of
their historical context, without this implying that just anyone may make
provisions in the Sacred Law, for Islām is defined by principles and criteria,
such that whatever one initiates as a sunnah must be subject to its rules,
strictures, and primary textual evidence.
From this investigative point of
departure, one
may observe that many of the prophetic Companions performed various acts through
their own personal reasoning, (ijtihad),
and that the sunnah and
way of the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) was both to accept those
that were acts of worship and good deeds conformable with what
the Sacred Law had established and not in conflict with it; and
to reject those which were otherwise.
This was his sunnah and way, upon which his caliphal successors and
Companions proceeded, and from which Islāmic scholars (radiyallāhu`anhum) have
established the rule that
any new matter must be judged according
to the principles and primary texts of Sacred Law: whatever is attested to by
the law as being good is acknowledged as good, and whatever is attested to by
the law as being a contravention and bad is rejected as a blameworthy innovation (bid’ah). They sometimes term the former a
good innovation (bid’ah hasanah) in view of it lexically being termed
an innovation, but legally speaking it is not really an innovation but rather
an inferable Sunnahhas
long as the primary texts of the Sacred Law attest to its being
acceptable.
We now turn to the primary textual
evidence previously alluded to concerning the acts of the Companions and how
the Prophet, (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) responded to them:
(1) Al-Al-Bukhāri and Muslim relate
from Abu Hurayrah (radiyallāhu`anhu) that at the fajar solah the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) said
to Bilal bin Rabab (radiallāhu`anhu):
"Bilal,
tell me which of your acts in Islām you are most hopeful about, for I have
heard the footfall of your sandals in paradise", and he replied, "I have done nothing I am more hopeful about than the fact that I do not
perform ablution at any time of the night or day without praying with that
ablution whatever has been destined for me to pray."
Ibn Hajar Asqalani (rahimahullah) says in Fath al-Bari that the hadith
shows it is permissible to use personal reasoning (ijtihad) in choosing times for acts of worship, for Bilal
reached the conclusions he mentioned by his own inference, and the Prophet (Sallallāhu
‘alayhi wasallam) confirmed him therein.
Similar to this is the hadith in Al-Bukhāri
about Khubayb (who asked to pray two rak’at
before being executed by idolaters in Makkah) who was the first to establish
the Sunnah of two rak’at for
those who are steadfast in going to their death. These hadiths are explicit
evidence that Bilal and Khubayb (radiyallāhu`anhum) used their
own personal reasoning (ijtihad) in choosing the times of acts of
worship, without any previous command or precedent from the Prophet (Sallallāhu
‘alayhi wasallam) other than the general demand to perform the
solāt.
(2) Al-Bukhāri and
Muslim relate that Rifa'ah ibn Rafi (radiyallāhu`anhu)
said, "When we were
praying behind the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) and he raised his head
from ruku’ and said, "Allāh hears whoever praises Him", a man behind
him said, "Our Lord, Yours is the
praise, abundantly, wholesomely, and blessedly therein." When he rose to
leave, the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) asked "who said it",
and when the man replied that it was he, the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi
wasallam) said, "I saw thirty-odd angels each striving to be the one to
write it."
Ibn Hajar Asqalani (rahimahullah) says in his book
Fathul-Bari that the hadith indicates the permissibility
of initiating new expressions of dzikir in
the solāt other than the ones related through hadith texts, as long as they do
not contradict those conveyed by the hadith [since the above words were a mere enhancement and
addendum to the known, sunnah dzikir].
(3) Al-Bukhāri related
from Aishah (radiallāhu`anha) that the Prophet (Sallallāhu
‘alayhi wasallam) dispatched a man at the head of a military expedition who recited the Qur'an for his companions at
solat, finishing each recital with al-Ikhlas (Qur'an, 112). When they returned, they mentioned this to
the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam), who told them, "Ask him why he
does this", and when they asked him, the man replied,
"Because it describes the All-Merciful, and I love to recite it." The Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi
wasallam) said to them,
"Tell
him Allāh loves him."
In spite of this, we do not know of any
scholar who holds that doing the above is recommended, for the acts the Prophet
(Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) used to do regularly are superior, though his
confirming the like of this illustrates his sunnah regarding his acceptance of
various forms of obedience and acts of worship, and shows he did not consider the like of this to
be a reprehensible innovation (bid’ah),
as do the bigots who vie with each other to be the first to brand acts as
innovation and misguidance.
Further, it will be noticed that all the
preceding hadiths are about solāt, which is the most important of bodily acts
of worship, and of which the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) said,"Pray as you have seen me pray", despite
which he accepted the above examples of personal reasoning because they did not
depart from the form defined by the Lawgiver, for every limit must be observed,
while there is latitude in everything besides, as long as it is within the
general category of being called for by Sacred Law. This is the sunnah of the
Prophet and his way (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) and is as clear as can be.
Islāmic scholars infer from it that every act for which there is evidence in
Sacred Law that it is called for and which does not oppose an unequivocal
primary text or entail harmful consequences is not included in the category of reprehensible innovation (bid’ah), but rather is of the sunnah,
even if there should exist something whose performance is superior to
it.
(4) Al-Bukhari related
from Abu Said al-Khudri (radiyallāhu`anhu) that a band of the
Companions of the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) departed on one of
their journeys, alighting at the encampment of some desert Arabs whom they
asked to be their hosts, but who refused to have them as guests. The leader of
the encampment was stung by a scorpion, and his followers tried everything to
cure him, and when all had failed, one said, "If you would approach the
group camped near you, one of them might have something". So they came to
them and said, "O band of men, our leader has been stung and we have tried
everything. Do any of you have something for it?" and one of them replied, "Yes, by Allāh, I recite healing
words [ruqyah, def: Reliance
of the Traveller p.17] over
people, but by Allāh, we asked you to be our hosts and you refused, so I will
not recite anything unless you give us a fee". They then agreed upon a herd of sheep, so the man went and began spitting and
reciting the Fatihah over the victim until he got up and walked as if he were a camel released from
its hobble, nothing the matter with him. They paid the agreed upon fee, which
some of the Companions wanted to divide up, but the man who had done the
reciting told them, "Do not do so until we reach the Prophet (Sallallāhu
‘alayhi wasallam) and tell him what has happened, to see what he may order us
to do". They came to the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) and told
him what had occurred, and he said, "How
did you know it was of the words which heal? You were right. Divide up the herd
and give me a share."
The hadith is explicit that the Companion
had no previous knowledge that reciting Al-Fatihah to heal (ruqyah)
was countenanced by Sacred Law, but rather did so because of his own personal reasoning (ijtihad), and since it did not contravene anything
that had been legislated, the
Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) confirmed him therein because it was of
his sunnah and way to accept and confirm what contained good and did not entail
harm, even
if it did not proceed from the acts of the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi
wasallam) himself as a definitive precedent.
(5) Al-Al-Bukhāri related
from Abu Said al-Khudri (radiyallāhu`anhu) that one man heard
another reciting al-Ikhlas (Qur'an 112) over and over again, so when morning came he went to the
Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) and sarcastically mentioned it to him.
The Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) said, "By Him in whose hand is my soul,
it equals one-third of the Qur'ān."Daraqutni recorded
another version of this hadith in which the man said, "I have a neighbor who observe
solāt at night and does not recite anything but al-Ikhlas." The
hadith shows that the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) confirmed the
persons restricting himself to this surah while performing solat at night,
despite its not being what the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) himself
did, for though the Prophet’s practice of reciting from the whole Qur'an was
superior, the man’s act was within the general parameters of the sunnah and there was nothing
blameworthy about it in any case.
(6) Imam
Ahmad and Ibn
Hibban related from Abdullah ibn Buraydah that his
father said, I entered the masjid with the Prophet (Sallallāhu 'alayhi wasallam),
where a man was at prayer, supplicating: “O Allāh , I
ask You by the fact that I testify You are Allāh , there is no god but You, the
One, the Ultimate, who did not beget and was not begotten, and to whom none is
equal”, and
the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) said: "By
Him in whose hand is my soul, he has asked Allāh by His greatest name,
which if He is asked by it He
gives, and if supplicated He answers".It is plain that this supplication came
spontaneously from the Companion, and since it conformed to what the Sacred Law
calls for, the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) confirmed it with the
highest degree of approbation and acceptance, while it is not known that the
Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) had ever taught it to him (Adilla Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamaah,
119-33).
We are now able to return to the hadith
with which I began my talk tonight, in which the Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi
wasallam) said, ". . . Beware
of matters newly begun, for every innovation is misguidance". And understand it as expounded by a
classic scholar of Islām, Sheikh Muhammad Jurdani, who said:
"Beware of matters newly begun", distance yourselves and be wary of
matters newly innovated that did not previously exist, i.e. things invented in
Islām that contravene the Sacred Law, "for
every innovation is misguidance" meaning that every innovation is the opposite of the
truth, i.e. falsehood, a hadith that has been related elsewhere as: "for every newly begun
matter is innovation, every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is
in hell" meaning that everyone who is misguided, whether
through himself or by following another, is in hell, the hadith referring to
matters that are not good innovations with a basis in Sacred Law. It has been stated (by Izz
ibn Abd al-Salam, rahimahullah) that innovations (bid’ah) fall under the five headings of the Sacred Law (n: i.e.
the obligatory, unlawful, recommended, offensive, and permissible):
(1) The first category comprises innovations that are obligatory , such as recording the Qur'an
and the laws of Islām in writing when it was feared that something might be
lost from them; the study of the disciplines of Arabic that are necessary to
understand the Qur'ān and sunnah’ such as grammar, word declension, and
lexicography; hadith classification to distinguish between genuine and spurious
prophetic traditions; and the philosophical refutations of arguments advanced
by the Mu'tazilites and the like.
(2) The second category is that of unlawful innovations such as non-Islāmic
taxes and levies,giving positions of authority in Sacred Law to those unfit
for them, and devoting ones time tolearning the beliefs of heretical
sects that contravene the tenets of faith of Ahl al-Sunnah.
(3) The third category consists of recommended innovations such as
building hostels and schools of Sacred Law, recording the
research of Islāmic schools of legal thought, writing books on beneficial
subjects, extensive research into fundamentals and particular applications of
Sacred Law, in-depth studies of Arabic linguistics, the reciting of wirids (def: Reliance of the Traveller w20)
by those with a Sufi path, and commemorating the birth (mawlid), of the Prophet Muhammad (Sallallāhu
‘alayhi wasallam) and wearing ones best and rejoicing at it.
(4) The fourth category includes innovations
that are offensive, such as embellishing
mosques; decorating the Qur'ān and having a backup man (muballigh) loudly repeat the spoken
Allāhu Akbar of the imām when the
latter's voice is already clearly audible to those who are praying behind
him.
(5) The fifth category is that of innovations that are permissible, such as sifting flour, using spoons and
having more enjoyable food, drink and housing. (Al Jawahir al-luluiyya fi sharh al-Arbain al-nawawiyya,
220-21).
I will conclude my remarks tonight with a
translation of Sheikh Abdullah al-Ghimari, (rahimahullah), who
said: In his “Al-Qawaid Al-Kubra” , Izz ibn Abd al-Salam (rahimahullah), classifies innovations (bid’ah), according to their
benefit, harm, or indifference, into the five categories of rulings: the
obligatory, recommended, unlawful, offensive, and permissible; giving examples
of each and mentioning the principles of Sacred Law that verify his
classification. His words on the subject display his keen insight and
comprehensive knowledge of both the principles of jurisprudence and the human
advantages and disadvantages in view of which the Lawgiver has established the
rulings of Sacred Law.
Because his classification of innovation (bid’ah) was established on a firm basis in
Islāmic jurisprudence and legal principles, it was confirmed by Imam Nawawi, Ibn Hajar Asqalani, and the vast majority of Islāmic
scholars, (rahimahumullah), who received his words with acceptance and viewed
it obligatory to apply them to the new events and contingencies that occur with
the changing times and the peoples who live in them. One may not support the
denial of his classification by clinging to the hadith "Every innovation is misguidance", because
the only form of innovation that is without exception misguidance is that
concerning tenets of faith, like the innovations of the Mutazilites, Qadarites,
Murjiites, and so on, that contradicted the beliefs of the early Muslims. This is the
innovation of misguidance because it is harmful and devoid of benefit.
As for innovation in works, meaning the occurrence of
an act connected with worship or something else that did
not exist in the first century of Islām, it must necessarily be judged
according to the five categories mentioned by Izz ibn Abd al-Salām (rahimahullah),. To claim that such innovation is
misguidance without further qualification is simply not applicable to it, for
new things are among the exigencies brought into being by the passage of time
and generations, and nothing that is new lacks a ruling of Allāh Most High that
is applicable to it, whether explicitly mentioned in primary texts, or
inferable from them in some way.
The only reason that Islāmic law can be valid for
every time and place and be the consummate and most perfect of all divine laws
is because it comprises general methodological principles and universal
criteria, together with the ability its scholars have been endowed with to
understand its primary texts, the knowledge of types of analogy and
parallelism, and the other excellences that characterize it. Were we to rule
that every new act that has come into being after the first century of Islām is
an innovation of misguidance without considering whether it entails benefit or
harm, it would invalidate a large share of the fundamental bases of Sacred Law
as well as those rulings established by analogical reasoning, and would narrow
and limit the Sacred Laws vast and comprehensive scope. (Adilla Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah,
145-47).
Wa Jazakum Allāhu khayran, wal-hamdu lillahi Rabbil
‘Alamin.
[Via www.masud.co.uk: Nuh Ha
Mim Keller on The Re-Formers of Islām Excerpts, The Mas'ud Questions series,
1995]
