Bid'ah
In Islam and sharia, refers to innovation in religious matters. The category is further divided into bid'ah al-ibadat and bi'da al-mu'amalat. The first category refers to innovations in sacred matters, such as worship, and are generally forbidden as it violates the textual source of the Quran and the Sunnah. The second refers to innovations in the mundane realm and is often permissible, as long as it does not violate the Sharia.
Linguistically, as an Arabic word, the term can be defined more broadly, as "innovation, novelty, heretical doctrine, heresy". In classical Arabic literature outside of religion, bidah has been used as a form of praise for outstanding compositions of prose and poetry. The alternative positive concept for bidah is maslaha.
History
The genre of bidah literature began to develop in the 9th century CE. Kitab Al-I'tisam by Al-Shatibi is thought to be one of the first books on the subject extant. The literature writing continued in the Islamic world until the 14th century CE, when it underwent a lull before re-emerging in the 20th century CE.According to Malise Ruthven, after the 10th century CE "new attempts at ijtihad" "came to be condemned as bidah", because the doctrine that the "gates of Ijtihad" were closed began to be accepted. Ijtihad began to be replaced with taqlid. By the time of the Islamic Middle Ages, according to Muhammad F. Sayeed, "allegation of 'bidah' became a formidable weapon against progress". The consensus against ijtihad and in favor of taqlid lasted until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when Ijtihad was resurrected.
In the 15th and 16th centuries C.E., according to Mehram Kamrava, Islam's "conservative default" and opposition to innovation and the institutions they depended on, started to became a serious handicap. Economic instruments — "impersonal contracts, financial exchange mechanisms, corporations and record keeping" — that fostered and protected capital and entrepreneurship and led to the flourishing of rival Europe, were not to be found in Islamic world.
Punishment
writes that accusations of apostasy because of bidah were common in early and classical Islam, but practitioners of bidah were usually subject not to execution, but to something like quarantine or admonition. Only when their innovation "was extreme, persistent, and aggressive" were they "ruthlessly extirpated".Definitions and categorizations
Religious and non-religious types
A distinction is sometimes made between the "linguistic" definition of bidah in the Arabic language, whose scope includes new concepts, activities, gadgets, etc. that can involve either worldly or religious matters; and the "shariah" definition of Bid'ah, which includes anything introduced to Islam that was not done in the time of Muhammad or the Rashidun.A number of contemporary Muslim sources distinguish between religious and non-religious innovation, either declaring non-religious innovation outside of bidah, or bidah but of a permissible kind.
In religious matters
Definitions of bidah
- "A newly invented" belief or action "in the religion, in imitation of the Shariah, by which nearness to Allah is sought, not being supported by any authentic proof – neither in its foundations, nor in the manner in which it is performed".
- Any practice or a belief which is "possibly contrary to Islam" because it was not present in Islam when the Quran was revealed and Sunnah established by hadith. Muslims disagree over whether any and all bidah is rejected, or whether there is bidah hasanah that does not contradict "the spirit of Islam" .
- "Any modification of accepted religious belief or practice".
- "Any innovation that has no roots in the traditional practice of the Muslim community".
- "Heterodox" Islamic doctrines,.
- Any newly invented matter that is without precedent and is in opposition to the Qur'an and Sunnah .
- "Any invented way aimed at worshipping or drawing closer to Allah" that is
- *not referred to specifically in Sharia, and
- *for which there is no evidence in the Quran or Sunnah, and
- *which was not known at the time of Muhammad and his Companions..
- Religious innovations in Islam which may be divided into two kinds,,
- *lawful/good also praiseworthy, which have "some basis in the Shari`ah to make it acceptable";
- *unlawful innovations also blameworthy, which do not have a basis in the Shari`ah.
Good and bad bid'ah
Others have divided Bid'ah into the five "decisions" of fiqh of obligatory, recommended, allowed, condemned, forbidden.
Examples of the five decisions on bid'ah are:
One type of innovation that does not fall into the category of forbidden bidah despite involving religion, are acts for which at the time of Muhammad and the Salaf there was no apparent need and so did not exist, but that now are needed to implement some religious objective. Examples being: "building religious institutions, recording the research of Islamic schools of legal thought, writing books on beneficial subjects, establishing sciences in order to understand the Qur’an and Sunnah, using of modern weapons for Jihad, etc…".
Bid'ah as only bad
A more strict view of bidah was taken by Malik ibn Anas who stated:Since God's Messenger cannot be in error on religious matters, innovation cannot be good.
The strict Ḥanbalī school of fiqh and the Wahhābi movement reject bidah "completely, arguing that the duty of a Muslim was to follow the example set by the Prophet and not try to improve on it", according to Britannica..
In comparing bidah to the Christian concept of heresy, Bernard Lewis says, "the gravamen of a charge of against a doctrine was not, primarily, that it was false but that it was new – a breach of custom and tradition, respect for which is reinforced by the belief in the finality and perfection of the Muslim revelation." Bidah differed from heresy in that heresy was a theological offense but bidah more a break with social mores.
Other judgements by scholars on bidah include:
- Bidah is always bad but if a new thing has origins in the Qur'an and Sunnah it is to be called Bid'ah Logaviyya,. His definition was not widely accepted during his own lifetime.
- Introducing and acting upon a bid'ah in religious matters is a sin and considered one of the enormities in Islam that is obligatory to immediately desist and repent from.
Debate between schools of thought
Part of the debate amongst Sunni scholarsover what qualifies a particular action as a bid'ah in the religion is associated with schools within Islam. Scholars affiliated to the Salafi sects argue for an exclusive, literal definition that entails anything not specifically performed or confirmed by Muhammad.
Practitioners of Sufism, in contrast, argue for an inclusive, holistic definition. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah writes:
A contemporary example of what some Muslims believe is overly harsh interpretation of bid'ah is given by Murad Wilfried Hofmann who was accused of bidah at Salah prayers in Riyadh Saudi Arabia after he shook hands with other Muslims in the mosque, and said to them "Taqabbala Allahu ".
Hadith of early Muslims
Against bidah
A large number hadith narrate Companions of Muhammad or offspring of companions condemning religious innovation in some way.Ali ibn Abi Talib, of the Rashidun, said; "He who innovates 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." Abdullah ibn Umar said: "Every innovation is misguidance, even if the people see it as something good."
Abd Allah ibn Abbas, a companion of Muhammad and early Islamic scholar also said: "Indeed the most detestable of things to Allah are the innovations." Sufyan al-Thawri, a tabi'i Islamic scholar, Hafiz and jurist, mentions: "Innovation is more beloved to Iblees than sin, since a sin may be repented for but innovation is not repented for." He also said, "Whoever listens to an innovator has left the protection of Allāh and is entrusted with the innovation."
A person once sent salaam to Abdullah ibn Umar who replied: "I do not accept his salaam, as this person has innovated by becoming Qadariyah
Al-Fudayl ibn 'Iyad is reputed to have said: "I met the best of people, all of them people of the Sunnah, and they used to forbid from accompanying the people of innovation."
Early scholar Hasan al-Basri mentions: "Do not sit with the people of innovation and desires, nor argue with them, nor listen to them".
Ibraaheem ibn Maysarah mentions: "Whoever honours an innovator has aided in the destruction of Islam."
Al-Hasan ibn 'Ali al-Barbahari mentions: "The innovators are like scorpions. They bury their heads and bodies in the sand and leave their tails out. When they get the chance they sting; the same with the innovators who conceal themselves amongst the people, when they are able, they do what they desire."
Abu Haatim said: "A sign of the people of innovation is their battling against the people of Narrations."
Abu Uthman al-Sabuni said: "The signs of the people of innovation are clear and obvious. The most apparent of their signs is their severe enmity for those who carry the reports of the Prophet."
Ahmad Sirhindi has explained about Bid'ah in his letter, that according to his view, Bid'ah are the opposite of Sunnah or Hadith traditions of Muhammad.
Assuming good and bad bidah
Companions and at least one early scholar have also made statements referring to good bidah or which assume a difference between good and bad bidah:Jabir ibn Abd Allah narrated: "The Messenger of Allah... said: 'Whoever starts a good thing and is followed by others, will have his own reward and a reward equal to that of those who follow him, without it detracting from their reward in any way. Whoever starts a bad thing and is followed by others, will bear the burden of his own sin and a burden equal to that of those who follow him, without it detracting from their burden in any way.'"
Jabir ibn Abd Allah said that Muhammad said that those who introduced a good precedent in Islam which others followed would be rewarded as would those who followed it, and someone who introduced a bad precedent which others followed would be punished, as would the followers.
Anas ibn Malik said "I heard the Prophet say: 'My nation will not unite on misguidance, so if you see them differing, follow the great majority.'"
Abu Hurairah said that Muhammad said, "Whoever prayed at night the whole month of Ramadan out of sincere Faith and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven." After Muhammad's death the people continued observing that, and it remained as it was during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr and in the early days of Umar ibn Al-Khattab's Caliphate. During Ramadan upon seeing people praying in different groups, Umar ordered Ubayy ibn Ka'b to lead the people in congregational prayer. On this Umar said: 'What an excellent Bida this is; but the prayer which they do not perform, but sleep at its time is better than the one they are offering.'
Salman al-Farsi said that when Muhammad was asked by some of the companions about the permissibility and prohibition of certain items, he said "Halal is that which Allah has made Halal in His book, Haram is that which Allah has made Haram in His book and about which he has remained silent is all forgiven."
Abu Hurairah said that at the time of the Fajr prayer Muhammad asked Bilal ibn al-Harith, "Tell me of the best deed you did after embracing Islam, for I heard your footsteps in front of me in Paradise." Bilal replied, "I did not do anything worth mentioning except that whenever I performed ablution during the day or night, I prayed after that ablution as much as was written for me." Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani says in Fath al-Bari that "the hadith shows it is permissible to use personal reasoning in choosing times for acts of worship, for Bilal reached the conclusion he mentioned by his own inference and the Prophet confirmed him therein." Similar to this, Khubayb ibn Adiy asked to pray two rak’as before being executed by idolators in Mecca, and was hence the first to establish the sunna of two rak'as for those who are steadfast in going to their death.
Rifaa ibn Rafi narrated: When we were praying behind the Prophet and he raised his head from bowing and said, "Allah hears whoever praises Him," a man behind him said, "Our Lord, Yours is the praise, abundantly, wholesomely, and blessedly."When he rose to leave, the Prophet asked who said it, and when the man replied that it was he, the Prophet said, "I saw thirty-odd angel each striving to be the one to write it." Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani comments in Fath al-Bari that the hadith "indicates the permissibility of initiation new expression of dhikr in the prayer other than the ones related through hadith texts, as long as they do not contradict those conveyed by the hadith. It is clear that this is since the above were a mere enhancement and addendum to the know, sunna dhikr."
Imam Shafi'i gave the following advice, "An innovation which contradicts the Qurʼan, Sunnah, an Athar or Ijma is a heretical bid'a: if however something new is introduced which is not evil in itself and does not contradict the above mentioned authorities of religious life, then it is a praiseworthy, unobjectional bid'a." This can infer worldly bid'a or technology.