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This comes from the statement of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam): Beware of newly invented matters. [1] This refers to every innovation people do in the religion of Islam, whether that innovation is in belief or worship etc. All of which is neither from the Book (of Allaah) nor an established Sunnah from the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam). Yet they take these things as religious practice and beliefs, worshipping Allaah with them, claiming that they are lawful when they are not. On the contrary, such acts are prohibited innovations. Examples include calling upon the righteous, be they the dead or the living who are not present. This includes taking graves as places of worship, making Tawaf [2] around them, and seeking help from their inhabitants, or the belief that they can intercede for them with Allaah, or lobby Him on their behalf in order to have their requests granted or to relieve them of their troubles. Honouring the birthdays of Prophets and righteous people as holidays and celebrating on them. They perform deeds they claim will bring them closer to Allaah - especially in the day or the night of the birthday or even in that month. There are many other such things, too numerous to mention, be they innovations or superstitions for which Allaah has revealed no sanction and which have not been confirmed by the Sunnah of Allaahs Messenger (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam). Thus, it is clear from what we have said that some of the newly invented matters are Shirk, like seeking help from the dead and swearing oaths to them. Others are simply innovations and do not reach the level of Shirk, such as building over graves and making places of worship over them, so long as excess therein does not lead to actions which would be considered Shirk.

[1] Ahmad 4:125 [2] Tawaf: Circumambulation

Permanent Committee for Research and Verdicts
Fatawa Islamiyah Vol. 1 Page 110
wa `alaykum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh

No, sister. there is no such thing as ‘bid`ah hasanah’. To make it somewhat short, suffice to address what those people tend to refer to in forwarding this false concept - the narration from `Umar, may Allah be pleased with him.

Firstly, when we talk of bid`ah in this context, we mean bid`ah in Islaam - that is, innovating in the Religion. What is not meant is innovation in worldy matters - such as airplanes, etc.. Based on this, the saying of `Umar does not condone innovating in the Religion, as the matter he was referring to was FROM THE SUNNAH. Notice the capitalized words - not intending for shouting, rather for heavy emphasis. The matter of taraweeh was something from the Sunnah, and hence `Umar did not intend to legitimize that which is known to be evil. So there is no room for anyone to try forwarding an interpretation that twists the intended words of `Umar,thereby seeking to legitimize that which has been clarified as evil
Furthermore, the Sahabah, may Allah be pleased with them all, did not come with anything new. It is not correct for a person to believe that whatever any person says may be followed blindly - other than the following of the Messenger of Allaah, `alayhis salaatu wassalaam. As Imaam Maalik, may Allaah have mercy on him, said: “There is no one among us whose opinion may be rejected except the occupant of this grave” meaning the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).

Bismillah

Dear Asker
Inventing a new religious practice which is not found in the sunnah of our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) whether good or bad amounts to putting a step ahead of Beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
Any addition to Islam & Sunnah after the death of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is invalid.

Posted January 11th, 2010 under Tawaf. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.