Transcription
Imam Anbi Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said that two hadiths are extremely important for every Muslim, and every Muslim should memorize and know these two hadiths perfectly. There should be no confusion regarding these two hadiths; they are like fundamental principles that we must absolutely know.
One of these is the first hadith from Imam Anbi's Forty Hadiths, which we have learned: "Indeed, deeds are only by intentions." This means that every action depends on our intention. We must always remember this: no matter how an action appears from the outside, the first thing we need to consider is our intention. What is our intention? This is what we must consider first.
Then, the second thing we need to consider for any action to be acceptable to Allah is that two conditions must be met. The first is sincerity (ikhlas). This means that there must be sincerity in our intention. The action must be done solely for Allah the Almighty. This is the first thing.
And the second thing is what the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said in the fifth hadith: whether the action is performed in the way that Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) have prescribed. So, first is sincerity (ikhlas), the purity of our intention. And the second thing is whether we are performing these actions in the way the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) performed them.
Therefore, if we think from this perspective, we see that the core principles of Islam are built upon these hadiths. The first hadith and this fifth hadith are our basics, and we must never forget these two hadiths. We must understand and adhere to these two hadiths very well.
Here, we see that in this hadith, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said the exact words: "Man ahdasa fi amrina hadha ma laysa minhu fahuwa radd." Let's break this down. "Man ahdasa" means "whoever innovates." "Ahdasa" comes from "hadith," and although we often say "hadith" means "saying," the word "hadith" actually means "a new piece of news" or "something new." So, the meaning of "ahdasa" is to bring forth something new, to present something new to someone. It is like what we call innovation, where someone brings something new. The word "ahdasa" is related to the word "hadith" in that it is used to convey new news, new words, or new actions.
Then it says "fi amrina." The word "amr" here is very important because "amr" here refers to our religious practices and law. So, "amrina" means "in our religious practices" or "in our matters." If anyone brings something new into our religious matters, then...
Here, when we are talking about this hadith and the context that will come with this hadith, it refers to religious matters. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did not speak about worldly matters here. So, it is about bringing something new into our religion, into our faith.
Then it says "ma laysa minhu," which means "that which is not from it." This means bringing something new that is not from our religion. What is meant by "not from our religion"? It means what is already within our religion, what is in the Quran and Sunnah. Allah the Almighty has already presented everything to us. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) demonstrated the implementation of the Quran through his life and his Sunnah. So, the Quran and Sunnah are already before us.
If someone brings something that is not within these, something from outside, then it is said, "fahuwa radd," which means "it is rejected," "it will become invalid." Any such practice, any habit, any action will be rejected in the sight of Islam; it will not be acceptable.
We also see in a hadith in Sahih Muslim, it is said: "Laysa 'alayhi amruna," meaning "that which is not in accordance with our command." If someone does something that is not according to our actions, then that is also rejected. There, it directly speaks about actions. So, here too, we see that anything new that is introduced into religion beyond what the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did or what he commanded us to do, or what he instructed us to do, will not be accepted and will be rejected. It is prohibited.
Regarding this, we see that in Surah Al-Ma'idah, Allah the Almighty has already told us in verse 3: "This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion." Through this verse, Allah the Almighty made Islam a complete religion for us. With this, Islam, which He gave us as a blessing and a favor, has been perfected, and there is no room for anything new to be introduced into it.
So, through this, we have seen that Islam, which Allah the Almighty taught us through the Quran and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), has been perfected. There is no opportunity for us to do anything outside of this now. In matters of religion, there is no room to think that by doing more than this, we will get more reward, or by omitting something from this, we can do so. This is because Allah the Almighty has prescribed it, and there is no room for us to do anything beyond this prescription.
So, I repeat, this is a matter of religion. It is not said about worldly life. This is said because often when innovation is mentioned, when bid'ah is mentioned, the question arises: then why can we use new things in worldly life? Why do you call this permissible? Why do you use it? Why do you use various technologies in the world? So, we need to understand that "fi amrina" here refers to matters of religion.
In a hadith, as part of the hadith, we see that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "The best speech is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). And the worst of matters are newly introduced things, meaning innovation or bid'ah, and every innovation is an error." Every bid'ah is a mistake and is flawed.
Here, we see that through this hadith, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is informing us that any kind of innovation, any kind of bid'ah, is to be rejected in Islam. Anything new that is introduced into religion with the intention of reward, outside of the Quran and Sunnah, must be abandoned. That which is inconsistent with the Quran and Sunnah is indeed worthless and must be rejected.
Here, we see that regarding this rejection, the first thing we need to understand is what is meant by innovation. What we call bid'ah. What is meant by bid'ah, and we must have a clear understanding of it. Only then can we understand which things are bid'ah and which are not.
Regarding this, we see that there are various definitions of bid'ah, and it has been classified in various ways. I am explaining it in a very simple way because we see that different scholars have interpreted it differently according to different schools of thought. Without going into a complicated explanation, I will only share the basic information here.
As a definition of bid'ah or innovation, we can say that it is something that is considered religious, but this religious consideration is based on a misinterpretation, and it has no basis from a religious perspective. Such a thing is what we call bid'ah. So, if that thing is not clearly present in the Quran and Sunnah, and it is misinterpreted or introduced into Islam in a new way through a wrong perspective, then it is called bid'ah.
So, we can consider three conditions or three criteria for bid'ah here. The first is that the person who does this action believes it to be a religious act and considers it part of the religion. So, it must be done believing it to be a religious act and considering it part of the religion, believing that it is derived from the Quran and Sunnah. From this, it is understood that this is done due to a lack of complete knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah. Because only if it is outside the Quran and Sunnah can we call it bid'ah.
The second thing is that it happens due to misunderstanding, due to a lack of correct knowledge. The person does this action due to a mistake in understanding or knowing some aspect of religion. And the third thing is that we can call it bid'ah only when we firmly know that it has no basis in our Islam or religion. So, we do not have the opportunity to nullify any action without definite evidence.
So, we must be careful not to broadly label something as bid'ah, nor should we broadly introduce something into our religion. So, here we see that in a hadith in Sahih Muslim, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said that when someone introduces a good practice in Islam, they receive a reward for it, and those who continue this good deed also receive its reward without diminishing the reward of the doer. So, subhanallah, we see that starting a good practice or a good habit is very rewarding. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said that as long as this good deed continues, the one who does it receives reward, and the one from whom they learned it or who started it also receives this reward. This means that if a good deed is in accordance with the guidelines of religion, or the guidelines of the Quran and Sunnah, then it is certainly good and we should do it. And the same applies to bad deeds: if someone else does it, it will certainly be a cause of harm to them.
In another hadith, we see regarding the Tarawih prayer, in Sahih Bukhari, it is narrated about Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that he saw people praying individually, and in Ramadan, he saw some praying in small groups. Then he commented, "I think it would be better if they prayed together behind one person." Then he arranged for the Tarawih prayer to be performed in congregation, where Ubay ibn Ka'b led the prayer. Seeing this, Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "Ni'ma al-bid'ah hadhihi" (What a good innovation this is).
Here, we see that the Tarawih prayer being performed in congregation was started by Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) later, and it was not during the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). However, he started it based on his teachings, even though it was something new. But he did not do it in a way that contradicted the teachings of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).
So, from this, we see that there are some new actions that may not have existed before, but since they do not contradict the Quran and Sunnah, the companions started them, and these actions were accepted by other companions and continued thereafter. Therefore, one must have correct knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah. And after having correct knowledge, when someone starts a good deed, and that good deed does not contradict the Quran and Sunnah, then we can never call it bid'ah.
In another hadith, it is mentioned that what has been called innovation after the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is not necessarily prohibited, as Imam Al-Ghazali stated in his book. What is prohibited or what is forbidden is that which goes against established Sunnah, or against the things that are already known in Sharia, or does something opposite to them, or nullifies them. We call such things innovation when we act according to the Quran and Sunnah and follow them. We do not call it innovation then, and it is acceptable. This is because it does not contradict the Quran and Sunnah. For example, we can say that by using various technologies, we are spreading the message of Islam and the religion through various media. As long as it is done following the rules of the Quran and Sunnah, even though YouTube, social media, or microphones did not exist during the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), we are now using them to spread the religion. So, we will not call it innovation because we are using them technically, but if it is done by trying to follow the Quran and Sunnah, then it will certainly be innovation.
So, from this, we can see that we need to be cautious about innovation and make decisions based on complete knowledge as to whether it falls into the category of bid'ah. Regarding this, scholars have said that we need to pay attention to six things, and we need to follow these six checklists. If we follow these checklists, then we can save ourselves from this bid'ah. So, God willing, we will discuss these six checklists a little.