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عن عبد الرحمن بن مهدي أنه ذكر عنده قوم من أهل البدع واجتهادهم في العبادة فقال: لا يقبل الله إلا ما كان على الأمر و السنة ثم قرأ: و رهبانيّةً ابتدعوها ما كتبناها عليهم فلم يقبل ذلك منهم ووبخهم عليه

The striving of a group of the innovators in worship was mentioned to Abdu’l-Rahman ibn Mahdi who remarked, ‘Allah only accepts what conforms to (His) command and the Sunnah. He then recited, “As for monasticism, they invented it seeking Allah’s good pleasure. We did not prescribe it for them,” 57:27 He did not accept it from them, rather He rebuked them for it.’ (May Allah reward the one who translated the above)

Quote taken from من أخبار السلف

And the below is from Taqi Uthmani’s translation of the quran:

Monasticim is the translation rahbaniyyah. It means a particular way of life based on the philosophy that Allah’s pleasure cannot be achieved unless one abandons worldly pleasures. Adherents to monasticism, termed as monks, do not marry, do not eat delicious foods and prefer to live in seclusion from other people. In the beginning, it was some pious followers of the noble prophet Isa who, disappointed from the majority of the wicked people, secluded themselves, so that they might observe the requirements of their faith without any influence of those wicked people. Their objective was to seek Allah’s pleasure, but gradually many undue restrictions were imposed by later generations upon themselves, and the institutions like marriage, having children etc. were tottaly abolished. Being against human nature, these restrictions not only created many immoral activities among them, but also hindered their way to accept the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as a messenger, because he could not endorse the inventions they had made in religion. However, some of them whom realized their error, embraced Islam whole heartedly.

http://mogreen88.wordpress.com/2012/...nd-the-sunnah/