[duceswild]

The Imam must have defined it somewhere. Otherwise the above will not be clear enough. Two different meanings of bidah can be read into what was quoted. Bidah with the meaning that something which has no basis in the shariah and the other meaning being bidah as something which is simply new.

If you go by the latter meaning, then it would be as what you say. But if you go by the first meaning, then things like mawlid etc won't fall under it, because they have a basis in the shariah and only its form is new which is no different to preaching, which has a basis despite there being innovated forms of preaching. By this meaning then what it would mean is that he is opposed to any bidah which has no basis in the shariah and that he does not consider any bidah w/o a basis in the shariah could be classified as good or bad. Meaning he considers a bidah w/o basis as always bad.

So to know what the Imam meant precisely, we would have to know how that Imam defined bidah.

Jazakallah khairan

[ImmimiFruff]

Wa `alaykum as-Salam

I have a question which has been sitting in the back of my mind for quite some time now and that is do the Hanafis (from classical texts) believe in the concept of bid`ah hasanah? Furthermore, do the Deobandi Hanafis believe in the concept of bid`ah hasanah? From what I've read, the Shafi`is and Malikis accept this categorization of bid`ah but as for the Hanafis, I haven't really grasped a clear picture.

Innovation: What is Bid'a?

[ImmimiFruff]

As-Salamu `alaykum

Another letter of profound insight by the Mujaddid of this millenium:

The former Islamic savants, having seen maybe some beauty in the bid'ats, gave some of them the name of hasana [beautiful]. But this faqir [Imaam-Rabbini means himself] do not follow them in this respect; I do not regard any of the bid'ats as beautiful. I see all of them as dark and cloudy.

This seems to contradict what you are claiming about legal vs. linguistic bid`a and the categorization of bid`a.

It is not fit for us to give our own interpretations of what the scholars have said (the categorization of bid`a) nor is it fit for us to pass judgment on their scholarship (by attributing to them mistakes). What has been offered by way of quotes in this thread makes the issue no clearer nor do the quotes appear to say anything new. They only return the discussion/debate to how "legal" and "linguistic" are defined and distinguished, and to what one deems as essentially being part of the sunna and thus not, in reality, a bid`a.

[ImmimiFruff]

Can someone provide the source for the following hadith cited in the Maktubat posted here:

"He who says 'great' about those who commit bid'ats has helped the demolition of islam".

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As-Salamu `alaykum



This seems to contradict what you are claiming about legal vs. linguistic bid`a and the categorization of bid`a.

It is not fit for us to give our own interpretations of what the scholars have said (the categorization of bid`a) nor is it fit for us to pass judgment on their scholarship (by attributing to them mistakes). What has been offered by way of quotes in this thread makes the issue no clearer nor do the quotes appear to say anything new. They only return the discussion/debate to how "legal" and "linguistic" are defined and distinguished, and to what one deems as essentially being part of the sunna and thus not, in reality, a bid`a.

the Mujaddid's letters are very clear and easy to understand. He clearly follows the vast majority of the early fuqaha who saw no good in any bid'ah in religion, even though he mentions the fact that certain scholars classed some bid'ah as good.

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This letter by the Mujaddid, written in response to a letter from Shaikh Hasan-i Barki, encourages to recover the forgotten sunnats and to abstain from bidats.

I begin to write this letter with the Basmala. May hamd (grateful praise) be to Allahu ta'ala. I send my salams to and prayers for the good people chosen by Allahu ta'ala. I was very much pleased to read the letter from my brother Shaikh Hasan. Valuable pieces of knowledge and marifats were written in it. When I understood them, I became quite pleased. Thanks be to Allahu ta'ala, all the knowledge and kashfs which you wrote are correct. They are all agreeable with the Qur'an and hadiths. So are the right beliefs of the savants of Ahl as-sunnat. May Allahu ta'ala keep you on the right way. May He bless you with attaining high grades! You write that you have been striving to do away with the bidats that are so widespread. At such a time as this, when the darknesses of bidats are so prevalent, it is a very great blessing to bring about the annihilation of one bidat and to recover one of the forgotten sunnats. Our Prophet "sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam' states in a sahih hadith: "He who recovers one of my forgotten sunnats will receive as many thawabs as a hundred martyrs will receive!" The greatness of this deed must be inferred from this hadith. But, when doing this, there is an important subtlety to be observed. That is, while trying to recover one sunnat, we should not cause any fitna; one goodness should not give birth to a variety of problems or evils, for we are in the latest time. We are in a century when Muslims are weak and forlorn.

Do your best to educate and to bring up so as to be well-mannered and well-learned the late Mawlana Ahmad's "rahmatullahi ta'ala 'alaih' children. Teach them spiritual and bodily adabs! Be an example for everybody you know and meet and even all your brothers- in-Islam there by obeying the Shariat and holding fast to the sunnat! Tell everybody about the harms of committing bidat, of disbelief! May Allahu ta'ala bless you with the lot of doing good deeds! May He give success to those who strive for the spreading of the Islamic din and for teaching it to the youngsters! May He protect us and our children against going astray by being deceived by the enemies of the din and virtue, by those who strive to demolish the Islamic din and steal the iman and morals of the pure youth, and by those who try to deceive the youngsters through lies and slanders! Amin.

My son! When fitna is widespread and fasads are abundant, it is time to repent and make istighfar. You must keep aloof and not participate in fitna. Fitna is growing and spreading each day. Our beloved Prophet "sallallahu alaihi wa sallam' said: "As the Doomsday approaches, fitna will increase. It will resemble the increase in darkness as night begins. Many who leave their homes in the morning as Muslim, will return home as kafirs in the evening. While they are Muslim in the evening, they will lose their belief during the night at places of amusement. During such times, to stay at home is better than being involved in fitna. Those who stay aloof are better than those who attack and lead in front. On that day, break your arrows! Leave your weapons and swords! Address everybody with a smiling face and sweet words! Do not leave your house!"”

(Vol 3:105)

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The Mujaddid said:

“You have asked how it is that I forbid dhikr with loud voice and not condemn many other things which had not existed at the time of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) such as the shirt open in front (libas farji) and pyjamas. Please note that the acts of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) were of two kinds: those that were performed as ibadah, an act of worship, and those that were done as urf and adah, habits and customs. The acts which were done as ibadah, we consider deviations from them to be evil innovations, and condemn them strongly, for they are innovations in religion (din) and must be rejected. But the acts which were done as part of habit and custom, we do not regard deviations from them as innovation, and do not proscribe them. For they do not belong to religion (din); their existence or disappearance depends upon the custom of society rather than religion” (Vol 1:231)

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Can someone provide the source for the following hadith cited in the Maktubat posted here:

Hadhrat Ebrahim Bin Maisara (rahmatullahi alaih) reports that Rasulullaah said:

“Whoever grants respect and honour to a Bid`ati, indeed he has aided in the destruction of Islaam.”
[Mishkaat, page 31, vol. 1]

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The Mujaddid said:

"It is a ni'mat of the greatest value that a sincere man is perpetually engaged in reviving some Sunnah of Nabi-e-Kareem (Allah bless him and grant peace) and eliminating a bid'at from evil and reprehensible acts of bid'at. Sunnah and bid'at are two diametric opposites. The existence of the one brings about the destruction of the other. Thus, reviving Sunnah causes this elimination of bid'at and vice versa. Therefore, bid'ah, be it hasanah or sayyiah, necessitates the displacement of Sunnah" (Maktoob 255, Daftar 11)

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Volume 3, Letter 193:

Hadhrat Mujaddid Alf Thaani (rahmatullah alayh) on the fact that the Ahl al-bid'ah use Qur'an and Sunnah to justify their bid'ahs:

“Because every bid`atee (innovator) and deviate substantiates his concocted belief from the Kitaab and Sunnah, in accordance to his concocted desire.”

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Volume 2, Letter 19:

The Mujaddid said:

“It is difficult to understand how these people have found any merit in the things that have been invented after completion of religion as approved and confirmed by Allah? Are they not aware of this basic fact that anything ingrafted after the completion and acceptance of a religion by Allah cannot have any merit whatsoever? “After the Truth what is there save the error?” (Quran 10:33) Had they known that attribution of any merit to a thing inserted in a perfect religion implied imperfection of that religion and amounted to an announcement that Allah had not yet completed His favour, they would dared not deny what had been asserted by Allah”

[ImmimiFruff]

Commentator's note to "SECOND VOLUME, 19th LETTER":


There are three kinds of bid’at:

1 — It is the worst bid’at to use —without any darûrat (compulsion)— those things which the Sharî’at says to be the signs of disbelief. On page 467 of al-Barîqa and 696 of Majmâ’ al-anhur, it is written that the ’ulamâ’ said, “It is permissible to use them to deceive (khud’a) the disbelievers in dâr al-harb.”

2 — Those beliefs which disagree with what is communicated by the savants of the Ahl as-sunnat are also evil bid’ats.

3 — Those reforms made in the name of worship are bid’ats in worship and are grave sins. Some ’ulamâ’ divided the bid’ats in ’ibâdât or ’amal into the hasana and sayyia. Al-Imâm ar-Rabbânî ‘rahmatullâhi ’aleyh’ did not say ‘bid’ats’ about those bid’ats which scholars termed ‘hasana’. He called them ‘sunnat-i-hasana’. He said ‘bid’ats’ about those which they termed ‘bid’at-i-sayyia’, and he condemned such bid’ats. Wahhabis, on the other hand, say ‘sayyia’ about bid’ats termed ‘hasana’ and approved, and they call those who practice such bid’ats ‘disbelievers’, ‘polytheists’. (http://books.hakikatkitabevi.com/cgi...c/%7B@2584%7D?)

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Letter 260:

The Mujaddid repeats his lament regarding the people (he specifically targets the ulama as culprits in other letters) who justify Bidah Hasanah:

“The darkness of Bidah has overwhelmed the lustre of the Sunnat and the splendour of the creed of our beloved Nabi (Allah bless him and grant him peace) has been stained with the muddiness of new innovations. Surprising is (the attitude of) those people who deem and regard as good such bid`ahs and innovations, and they have firm belief in these Bid`ahs being deeds of virtue. They seek the completion of the Deen and the creed in these new accretions. They (even) propagate and encourage towards these innovations. Allaah Ta`ala had placed them on the Straight Path, but they had not reflected that this Deen was complete even before their innovations and that this blessed Deen was finalised and also that the Pleasure of Allaah Ta`ala lay in this (complete Deen minus the innovations). As Allaah Ta`ala had mentioned, ‘On this Day have I perfected for you your Deen.’ Therefore to seek the (further) completion of the Deen in all these innovations, would be tantamount to refutation of the import of this blessed Aayat.”

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Letter 260:

The Mujaddid repeats his lament regarding the people (he specifically targets the ulama as culprits in other letters) who justify Bidah Hasanah:

“The darkness of Bidah has overwhelmed the lustre of the Sunnat and the splendour of the creed of our beloved Nabi (Allah bless him and grant him peace) has been stained with the muddiness of new innovations. Surprising is (the attitude of) those people who deem and regard as good such bid`ahs and innovations, and they have firm belief in these Bid`ahs being deeds of virtue. They seek the completion of the Deen and the creed in these new accretions. They (even) propagate and encourage towards these innovations. Allaah Ta`ala had placed them on the Straight Path, but they had not reflected that this Deen was complete even before their innovations and that this blessed Deen was finalised and also that the Pleasure of Allaah Ta`ala lay in this (complete Deen minus the innovations). As Allaah Ta`ala had mentioned, ‘On this Day have I perfected for you your Deen.’ Therefore to seek the (further) completion of the Deen in all these innovations, would be tantamount to refutation of the import of this blessed Aayat.”

The above echoes Imam Malik's famous statement that calling any innovation 'hasanah', amounts to a slur on the Prophet - which ironically would warrant the title Gustakh-e-Rasul according to those who are practically submerged in a "Bidah Hasanah" laden Deen.

Imam Malik (rahmatullahi alayhi) said:

" Anyone who commits an innovation in Islam and say that it is a good innovation then truly he is stating that the Prophet has betrayed the Message (of Islam). The reason is God has said "Today I have perfected your religion". Whatever was not part of the religion then, will not be a part of it today.”

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Volume 2, Maktoob 54:

Hadhrat Mujaddid states:

"Attainment to this degree of obedient following is conditioned upon tranquillity of the nafs and arrival to the reality of obedient following of the source of the Sacred Law, upon him be peace and blessings; yet, sometimes it occurs without the means of fana and baqa and without the means of spiritual journeying and attraction. It is possible for it to occur without anything of states, ecstasies, theophanies or manifestations, but it is something rare in its time. Attainment to this state via the path of the wilaya is more certain via another path. This other path, in the opinion of this needy one, being the path of absolute faithful obedient following of the noble sunna according to its source, peace and blessings be upon him, and avoidance of any type of bid’ah, one who does not avoid the ‘bid’ah hasanah’ just as he would avoid the blameworthy will not get even a scent of this high degree. This is something difficult in this time for the world is immersed in a profound sea of innovation and content with the darkness of it, who has the ability to speak in this time of the removal of innovation and the raising of the Sunna?

The majority of scholars prefer innovations and assist in effacing the sunna when they give religious rulings allowing wide scope for innovations. They go so far as applying the rule of legal analogical discretion (istihsan) with the reason that any social benefit accrued [from such innovations justifies it] and consequently direct the common people to such practices. What a horrible thing they are doing! Misguidance has become endemic to such an extent and error common place that it has become the ‘common good’! Do they not know that every perceived social benefit is not a reason for which to apply the rule of istihsan? The social benefit/custom envisioned by the Sacred Law is that which existed in the earlier generations (generations relatively safe from the detrimental effects of innovations) and which have occurred by the consensus of people as has been mentioned in the Fatawa Ghiyathiyya.

The Shaykh of Islam al-Shaheed, may Allah have mercy upon him, said that every social benefit/custom understood by the scholars of Balkh is not used in making a determination via istihsan but instead those set as precedent by the earlier generations. This is because they are indications of the Sunnah of the Prophet (Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him), so they take it because he establishes it, upon him be peace. If it is not so then it is not taken as legal evidence unless it is as a consensus of the people of all lands, for such a consensus is a legally binding proof. Do you not see that if a people accept as social custom the buying and selling of alcohol and dealing in interest nevertheless its legal permissibility cannot be sanctioned?

There is no doubt that knowledge of the common practice of all people and cognizance of the practice of all villages and towns is beyond the means of a person’s ability, but still the social practice of the earlier generations, which was in reality established by the Prophet’s precedent, is available. So what concern is there then of the blameworthy and good innovations? Association with the Prophet (Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) was sufficient to attain to perfections for his companions; every scholar from the pious predecessors attained to what he attained of rusukh (penetrative knowledge) because of his obedience to the Sunna and avoidance of disliked innovations not via choosing the path of the Sufis nor by spiritual journeying and attraction. O Allah make firm our feet upon obedient following of the Sunna and keep us far from committing any type of innovation, [accept this supplication by] means of the source of the Sunna!"

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The Mujaddid's letters clarify beyond any doubt that his view on Bid'ah Hasanah is in stark contrast to that of the extreme sufis of today.

I will now quote some of the Mujaddid's views on a number of other issues, which will demonstrate further how different his views are to many of the deviated brands of sufism in vogue nowadays.

[Zenthachall]

The above echoes Imam Malik's famous statement that calling any innovation 'hasanah', amounts to a slur on the Prophet - which ironically would warrant the title Gustakh-e-Rasul according to those who are practically submerged in a "Bidah Hasanah" laden Deen.

Imam Malik (rahmatullahi alayhi) said:

" Anyone who commits an innovation in Islam and say that it is a good innovation then truly he is stating that the Prophet has betrayed the Message (of Islam). The reason is God has said "Today I have perfected your religion". Whatever was not part of the religion then, will not be a part of it today.”

for all your informative posts. Could you please provide a refernece for the above quote?

May I also ask where are you getting all the translated quotes from - are they from the hakikat kitabevi website?

Also can you clarify whether the Imam is referring to the 'linguistic' usage of the term bida' that you highlighted in the earlier posts, when he uses the term 'bida' hasana'?

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for all your informative posts. Could you please provide a refernece for the above quote?

May I also ask where are you getting all the translated quotes from - are they from the hakikat kitabevi website?

Also can you clarify whether the Imam is referring to the 'linguistic' usage of the term bida' that you highlighted in the earlier posts, when he uses the term 'bida' hasana'?

The only reference I have for Imam Malik's saying is Al-I'tisam by Imam Shatibi The quotes from Mujaddid are from a number of sources including the one you mentioned.

There is no-one that can deny the linguistic usage of the word bi'dah hasanah. Even the Salaf used the word bid'ah in its linguistic usage as demonstrated here:

http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/show...l=1#post740227

The Mujaddid refers several times to innovation in the Deen, which is the definition of legal bid'ah.

[Zenthachall]

The only reference I have for Imam Malik's saying is Al-I'tisam by Imam Shatibi The quotes from Mujaddid are from a number of sources including the one you mentioned.

There is no-one that can deny the linguistic usage of the word bi'dah hasanah. Even the Salaf used the word bid'ah in its linguistic usage as demonstrated here:

http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/show...l=1#post740227

The Mujaddid refers several times to innovation in the Deen, which is the definition of legal bid'ah.

I’m still slightly confused regarding what you are trying to ‘prove’ or demonstrate. I don’t think anyone denies the reprehensibility of ‘legal bida’. It boils down to what actions you categorize under this heading.

What type of ‘bida hasana’ as classified by some ulema is the Mujaddid speaking against? It would help if you gave examples of what you understand from the Imams words i.e. give examples of action that fall within the categories mentioned by him.

[brorialsibers]

Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi's opinion seems to rest emotionally on his attachment to the sunnah, and against bid'as that abolish or lead to (further) neglect of the sunnah. That is what I can discern and perhaps he is citing a wisdom that is aware of the sunnah in much more detail than others are and feels they are hiding the sunnah thereby. This is understandable and noteworthy to differentiate from those who oppose bid'a for the fact of hating bid'a for itself, rather than hating it because of what it distracts from.

This is a matter of Usul.

Bid'a exists right from the get-go in Islam. In fact, the polemic refuting Sunniforum members regularly and excessively engage in, is in fact, itself a bid'a that Imam al-Bayhaqi spoke about and said is a good bid'a for the sake of establishing the truth (although its clear how it can be a bad bid'a too)! There are other bid'as as well, like shaking hands with people which I believe the Muslims got from the Ashari tribe of Yemen.

The following diagram is a survey of the topic I have put together.



Source: http://muslimology.wordpress.com/201...standing-bida/