The Linguistic Meaning of Bid‘ah and an Important Principle Regarding Bid‘ah
This excerpt is taken from the book Eid Milad al-Nabi ﷺ ki Shar‘i Hasiyat by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amini.
❀ Hafiz Ibn Hajar رحمه الله (d. 852 AH) said:
ليس له أصل فى الشرع، ويسمى فى عرف الشرع بدعة، وما كان له أصل يدل عليه الشرع، فليس ببدعة، فالبدعة فى عرف الشرع مذمومة بخلاف اللغة.
"That which has no basis in Shari‘ah is called Bid‘ah in the terminology of Shari‘ah. That which has a basis and evidence in Shari‘ah is not Bid‘ah. Hence, in Shari‘ah, what is called Bid‘ah is blameworthy, whereas in the linguistic sense Bid‘ah is not blameworthy."
(
Fath al-Bari: 13/253)❀ Hafiz Ibn Rajab رحمه الله (d. 795 AH) said:
كل بدعة ضلالة من جوامع الكلم، لا يخرج عنه شيء، وهو أصل عظيم من أصول الدين، وهو شبيه بقوله: من أحدث فى أمرنا ما ليس منه فهو رد، فكل من أحدث شيئا ونسبه إلى الدين، ولم يكن له أصل من الدين يرجع إليه، فهو ضلالة، والدين بريء منه، وسواء فى ذلك مسائل الاعتقادات أو الأعمال أو الأقوال الظاهرة والباطنة، وأما ما وقع فى كلام السلف من استحسان بعض البدع، فإنما ذلك فى البدع اللغوية، لا الشرعية.
"The saying of the Prophet ﷺ, ‘Every Bid‘ah is misguidance,’ is among the concise yet comprehensive words; nothing is excluded from it. This Hadith is a great principle of religion. It is similar to his saying ﷺ: ‘Whoever introduces into our matter (religion) that which is not from it, it is rejected.’ Thus, whoever introduces something and attributes it to the religion, while it has no foundation in religion to which it can be traced, then it is misguidance, and the religion is free from it. This applies equally to matters of belief, outward and inward speech, or actions. As for some statements of the Salaf wherein they regarded certain innovations as good, that refers only to linguistic innovations, not to Shar‘i innovations."
(
Jami‘ al-‘Ulum wal-Hikam: p.193)From this, it is clear that every Bid‘ah is blameworthy, whether it relates to belief or to actions. Therefore, the statement:
"It has been proven that Bid‘ah was only referred to in matters of belief,"
(Jaa’ al-Haqq: p.205)
is entirely false, because all the texts condemning Bid‘ah are general, and they admit neither specification nor categorization.
No Bid‘ah Ḥasanah After the Era of the Companions
❀ ‘Allamah Ibn Abi al-‘Izz al-Hanafi رحمه الله (d. 792 AH) said:
إن ما أحدث بعد عهد الصحابة لا يكون حسنا.
"Whatever is introduced after the era of the Companions can never be Hasan (good)."
(
al-Tanbih ‘ala Mushkilat al-Hidayah: 1/493)It is thus established that the actions of the Companions were never Bid‘ah. If anyone labeled them as Bid‘ah, they only meant it in the linguistic sense, not in the Shar‘i sense.
