The religion of  Islam was perfected and completed by Allah through Prophet Muhammad sallalahu alayhe wasallam around fourteen hundered years ago. Every aspect of our religion was explained in the Quran and by the actions and sayings of Prophet Muhammad sallahu alayhe wasallam. All forms of worship were explained and all masnoon acts and deeds were explained and exemplified by Prophet Muhammad (s)

Allah All Mighty says in the Quran:

“Today I Have completed for you your religion and perfected my favor upon you and have chosen Islam as your Religion”(Quran: 5:3)

After this is if anyone adds anything new to religion considering it to be a GOOD DEED and thinking that it will be a source of reward and coming closer to Allah then that good deed is a bidah – Innovation, in Islam which is forbidden and not accepted.

“The term ‘innovation’ means to invent or make something up. To understand the concept of innovation in Islam, one can imagine a glass of crystal clear water that is meant to quench thirst. Someone adds some colour to it with the intention of making it appear more appealing to the thirsty. Then, another person further adds some sugar to make it tastier. Would you still consider it to be a glass of pure water? Not quite. Now, what you have is an adulterated version of what was formerly water. This is the saga of Islam today. ”  (Boulder of Biddats-Hiba Magazine)

DEFINITION OF BIDAH-INNOVATION

“According to sharee’ah, the definition is ‘Worshipping Allaah in ways that Allaah has not prescribed.’ Or  ‘Worshipping Allaah in ways that are not those of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) or his rightly guided successors (al-khulafaa’ al-raashidoon).’

CHARACTERISTICS OF BIDAH

So to make it clear, a Bidah is something which  :

1. is An act of worship / a ritual / a religious deed which is not proven from the Quran or Authentic Sunnah

2. Is considered to be a good deed which is a part of Islam

3. Is considered to be source of reward (Ajr o sawab)

4. Apparently there appears to be no harm in doing it as it is a good deed.

5. Is turned into a ritual or general celebration and is considered to be an integral part of Islam.

6. Is sometimes based on weak or fabricated Hadiths which cannot be used as evidence.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

• Obligatory Prayers are prescribed five times a day. If someone adds another time to it, e.g. 11:00 in the morning and calls is Midday prayer and says I pray six times a day as I want to get more reward- then that sixth prayer is a biddah as this was not done by Rasool Allah.
• Obligatory and sunnah fajr prayer has two rakats. If someone says we should  pray 6 farz and 6 sunnah  to get more reward as praying as much is  a good deed then this ‘good deed’ is an innovation as Rasool Allah informed us to pray two units only. Two fard and two sunnahs.
• If someone says, this is the day of Pact of Hudaibiyah, so we should celebrate it, fast on this day and do extra worship as this was such an important day for Rasool Allah and it was so important that it was mentioned in the Quran (Surah Fath) and Allah called it a Clear Victory However  this will be an innovation as Rasool Allah did not do any such thing or celebrate the anniversary of hudaibiyah even though it was mentioned in the Quran and was such an important day.
• If someone says, this is the day of conquest of Makkah so we should thank Allah as this was such a great day for Rasool Allah and his companions so we should celebrate this day by praying and fasting and making and distributing sweet dishes… then this is an innovation. Why ? because neither our Prophet or his companions ever celebrated the anniversary of the conquest of Makkah- despite the fact it was such a great day for the Muslims!
• If someone says this is the day of the victory of the battle of Badr, so we should all sit down and recite Quran and do a Quran Khwani to thank Allah for this victory as this was such an important day in the life of Rasool Allah… So clearly this will be an innovation….

• The Jews said to ‘Umar, “You (i.e. Muslims) recite a Verse, and had it been revealed to us, we would have taken the day of its revelation as a day of celebration.(Al Maidah:3) ” ‘Umar said, “I know very well when and where it was revealed, and where Allah’s Apostle was when it was revealed. (It was revealed on) the day of Arafat (Hajj Day), and by Allah, I was at Arafat”(Bukhari) However as well all know, neither did our Prophet nor his companions took this day of the revelation of this verse as a celebration! If we take it as a celebration, it will be innovation!
• Reading quran is considered a good deed but reading Quran in sajdah is forbidden . So if anyone says. No no reading Quran is a good deed so i can read it anywhere any time in any mannar i want. But this will be innovation .
• Hijra of prophet(s.a.w) was a great event. The people of Madina rejoiced and welcomed him warmly and even sang talal badru alayne. So on each anniversary of Hijrah we should do the same! But no never did our Prophet nor his companions ever celebrated the anniversary of Hijrah in their life. If we do so, thinking it will be a good deed – it will be an innovation which will lead to fire.

So similarly there are many practices prevalent in the Muslim world, which are Innovations- Biddats. Some of them are mentioned below.( This list is not exhaustive)

• Eid Milad un Nabi-Birthday of Prophet Muhammad s
• Shab e Mairaj -The Night of Ascension and acts of worship associated to this day
• Shab e Baraat and acts of worship associated to this day
• Quran Khwani at death
• Reading Kalimah on beads at death
• Reading Surah Yasin a number of times after at the funeral
• Teeja/Soyem -3^rd day of death
• Barsi-Death Anniversary
• Chaleeswan – 40th day of death
• Reading Naats at the body of the dead
• Writing Kalima on the shroud
• Reading innovated Durood and Duas
• Making the Bride go under the Quran
• Reciting Durood before the Adhan
• Making congregational dua after every 5 times salah.
• Speaking out the neah (intention) of salah  by saying e.g. , “I make intention of four rakat fard, for zuhr, for Allah, My face is facing the Qiblah, Allahu Akbar”
• Reading the innovated dua of the neah (intention) at seher time for fasting.

If someone still prefers to indulge in these biddats saying there is no harm in it, then that means that a new Islam has been created as the original Islam was not good enough! And creating new forms of worships and celebrations means that when the wahi was being revealed Allah did not know that there was reward in this ‘innovated good deed’ (Naaozobillah)  or Allah forgot to tell his Prophet about it (Naaozobillah)   or that Rasool Allah did not understand the commandment (Naaozobillah)  or forgot to tell the ummah about this good deed(Naaozobillah)   or special day and it also means that the Sahaba -companions did  not fully understand the religion (Naaozobillah)   and neither did they fully implement it that is why we find no such actions from them.!! Obviously this is not true, therefore all innovated matters of religion must be abandoned.

Narrated Ibn Abbas: When the Prophet arrived at Medina, the Jews were observing the fast on ‘Ashura’ (10th of Muharram) and they said, “This is the day when Moses became victorious over Pharaoh,” On that, the Prophet said to his companions, “You (Muslims) have more right to Celebrate Moses’ victory than they have, so observe the fast on this day.” (Bukhari)

From this hadith it is very clear that Prophet Muhammad sallalahu alayhe wasallam did not leave out ANYTHING in our religion. If some days were special he informed us about it and even suggested the form of worship in it.. like the 10^th of Muharram – the day of Ashoora.

Also there is no such thing as Bidah e Hasana (Good Innovation) as Rasool Allah has clearly labelled every innovation as deviation! “Indeed every new thing is an innovation and every innovation is deviation and every deviation leads to fire” ( Sahih Jama Assabir)

Above statement says EVERY BIDDAH (including so called good and bad). Is there any such thing as good hell and a bad hell? A good fire or a bad fire?

People who quote Umar (r) and say that Taraveeh is a good innovation; they are greatly mistaken because the Taraveeh was performed by Rasool Allah (s) for two days in his last Ramadan. However he abandoned it because he was afraid that it may become obligatory. Taraveeh is a nafil (voluntary ) prayer and it is mansoon. It was not innovated by Umar (r) rather he only revived a forgotten Sunnah.

Narrated ‘Aisha, the mother of the faithful believers: One night Allah’s Apostle offered the prayer in the Mosque and the people followed him. The next night he also offered the prayer and too many people gathered. On the third and the fourth nights more people gathered, but Allah’s Apostle did not come out to them. In the morning he said, “I saw what you were doing and nothing but the fear that it (i.e. the prayer) might be made obligatory on you, stopped me from coming to you.” And that happened in the month of Ramadan. (Bukhari)

So taking any other day to be important and special like shab e mairaj , shab e baraat etc or making up new forms of worship Duas and acts and rituals about which Rasool Allah did not inform us or did himself  is clearly innovation –bidah which leads to fire.

BIDAH ANNIHIALATES TRUE SUNNAH

A famous taabiee (the generation after the companions) Hasan bin Atiyyah said : “No people introduced an innovation into  religion except that an equivalent sunnah is taken away from them” [Ad-Daarimee with saheh isnaad]

This is so true! People have given so much importance to certain innovated practices that the true sunnah has been pushed behind and forgotten.

People celebrate the innovated Shab-e-Baraat with great fervour and pray all night long but sadly the greatest night of all Shab e Qadr which can fall in any odd nights of Ramadan and which also includes chand raat is spent in traffic jams and malls for last minute shopping for Eid. People also neglect the true sunnah of Shabaan by focusing only on the 15^th of Shabaan whereas the Prophet used to fast the most in the first fifteen days of Shabaan and forbade his Ummah from fasting from 15^th onwards. And

BIDDAH IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN SINS

Sufyan ath-Thawree said: “Innovation is more pleasing to iblees than sin, since a person makes repentance from but does not repent from innovations!”

This is because he regards the innovation as being something good for which he receives reward from Allah and therefore will not repent from it, whereas he who commits a sin knows that it is wrong and Inshallah will repent from it.

So taking any other day to be important and special like shab e mairaj , shab e baraat etc or making up new forms of worship Duas and acts and rituals about which Rasool Allah did not inform us or did himself  is clearly innovation –bidah which leads to fire.

WARNINGS OF ALLAH

We should be aware of Allah’s warning that, “

O you who have believed, do not go beyond Allah and His Messenger but fear Allah . Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Knowing.(Quran 49:1)

So is it other than the religion of Allah they desire??(Quran 3:83)

And whoever desires other than Islam as religion – never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers.(Quran 3:85)

It is not for a believing man or a believing woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter, that they should [thereafter] have any choice about their affair. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly strayed into clear error. (Quran 33:36)

WARNINGS OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD sallalahu Alayhe Wasallam AGAINST INNOVATIONS

“I urge you to adhere to my way (Sunnah) and the way of the rightly-guided successors (al-khulafa’ al-raashidoon) who come after me. Hold fast to it and bite onto it with your eyeteeth [i.e., cling firmly to it], and beware of newly-invented matters.”

“Whoever introduces anything into this matter of ours (Islam) that is not part of it will have it rejected.” (Bukhaari, Muslim)

“Indeed every new thing is an innovation and every innovation is deviation and every deviation leads to fire” ( Sahih Jama Assabir)

“Allah Tala does not accept the repentance of an innovator until he quits doing the innovated things.” (Sahih At Targhib wa Tarhib)

“I will be at my pond from before and some of you will be brought in front of me and then they will be removed from in front of me. So I will ask  Oh My Lord, these are my people! But I will be told; you don’t know about the new things they innovated after you” (Bukhari)

“The person who innovated something new in our religion which is not a part of our religion ,will be shunned and rejected .” (Bukhari)

CELEBRATING NON-MUSLIM FESTIVALS

Celebrating Non-Muslim Festivals is also not allowed in Islam as it comes under following the Kuffar as Prophet Muhammad s has said:

Narrated By Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri : The Prophet said, “You will follow the ways of those nations who were before you, span by span and cubit by cubit ( i.e., inch by inch) so much so that even if they entered a hole of a mastigure(a kind of lizard), you would follow them.” We said, “O Allah’s Apostle! (Do you mean) the Jews and the Christians ?” He said, “Whom else?” (Bukhari: Vol 009, Book 092, Hadith 422.)

Narrated By Abu Huraira : The Prophet said, “The Hour will not be established till my followers copy the deeds of the previous nations and follow them very closely, span by span, and cubit by cubit ( i.e., inch by inch).” It was said, “O Allah’s Apostle! Do you mean by those (nations) the Persians and the Romans?” The Prophet said, “Who can it be other than they?”

Some of them are:

• Birthdays
• Anniversaries
• Mother’s day, father’s day
• Valentine’s Day
• Engagement
• Mehendi
• Christmas
• Easter
• Halloween
• Dewali
• Basant