Suhaib Webb – The Way Of The Worshippers (Part Four) What is Bida
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AI: Transcript ©
We praise Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. We send
peace and blessings upon our beloved messenger, Muhammad
Sallallahu alaihi wasalam
upon his family his companions of those who
follow them until the end of time.
Brothers and sisters, Assalamu Alaikum
Warahmatullahi
wabarakatuh.
Welcome back to our weekly gathering here at
the ICNYU
for those of you who are currently
on Instagram, you can visit on Instagram, ICNYU,
Islamic Center
of New York University, and you can join
us here,
as well,
with some incredible people
on our Zoom,
gathering that happens every week,
at the ICU in NYU. We've been reading
through.
And we're going through the first obstacle
and the 7 obstacles that he talks about
in
trying to achieve of life of, life of
faith
and devotion.
And we stopped
at this part where he begins to
answer a very important important question.
And he says,
Excuse me.
He says, you have to know
You have to know that the the knowledges
that are obligatory upon you to seek. So
no matter who you are, he's not talking
now to scholars.
Right? He's not talking
to ulama.
He's just talking to regular people. Right? Which
are the masses of the Muslims. One of
the greatest challenges
that faces Muslims is they believe that the
majority of Islam is restricted
solely to scholars.
But this actually is a mistake. The majority
of Islam is speaking to just
regular folks. That's why Sayedna Imam Arazi
in, his tafsir Kabir, he talks about this
how the verses of the Quran
that the majority
of the verses of the Quran can be
understood by anybody.
Be understood by anybody.
So the sheikh he says
That you have to know that the religious
fields of study,
which are obligatory upon you,
are generally 3.
He says number 1,
and
the obligatory
understanding of studying theology
means first and foremost, what do I have
to study
to make sure that my faith is correct.
Right. What are those foundational things that you
and I have to know
that will Insha'Allah
grant us
Jannah
and will allow us to experience
the red one of Allah That's
the first component of studying theology.
The second
is mentioned by scholars like Imam al Bayjouri,
Ibrahim al Bayjouri, Sheikh Al Azhar around 200
years ago, and others before him, of course,
is that within our lives, we're going to
come across doubts.
It happens to people. Now Allah protect us,
but it happens. From time to time, People
may come across issues maybe not even doubtful
but they're just a little bit confused about
what's the answer or how do I understand
this.
So at that moment,
that particular issue
for that particular person,
it becomes an obligation for him or her
to ask.
Masha'Allah.
Not to be quiet.
You know, I remember growing up in the
church
and I asked a few questions. I asked
this question. I said, if
Jesus is the key to heaven, if worshiping
and believing in Jesus
is the key to heaven,
the key to salvation,
then what about the prophets who came before
him?
They didn't believe in Jesus.
They didn't worship Jesus.
They didn't pray to Jesus. And I was
told
by my my Sunday school teacher,
this question is from from the devil.
Like, this is a question which has been
inspired by by Satan himself. Imagine I was,
like,
pretty young how I felt. I felt horrible.
Like, man,
like Satan is already, you know, up in
me, and I'm such a young age
and unfortunately
sometimes
we run into Muslims and once is enough
who have met
religious teachers or educators who also
discourage them
from asking questions.
SubhanAllah. And I tell the same story but
I'm gonna mention it again for new students
That we actually have a rule in my
halakah
that you're not allowed to say you're sorry
for asking a question.
Why? Why should someone be sorry
for asking a question which may be extremely
important to his or her growth
Hamdulillah,
and development
as a person.
So Alhamdulillah,
the
the first
knowledge that we have to know is the
knowledge of Allah,
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And then
whatever we need to know to be safe
in the hereafter,
generally, that Allah has no partners, the prophet
is the final prophet,
so on and so forth, belief in the
hereafter.
That's incumbent upon every single one of us
to learn.
The second is throughout my life, if I
come across questions whether from people around me
who I am responsible,
Right? Who I am responsible for teaching.
Or maybe as a new Muslim, I have
non Muslims around me.
Or maybe I have co workers or friends,
subhanAllah,
who
want
to know about Islam,
at that moment it becomes an obligation upon
me
to learn.
To be able to ask,
answer my own questions
and quest and answer the questions of others.
We know in the authentic hadith
related by imam Muslim
that a man came to the blessed blessed
messenger peace be upon him.
He said, oh, messenger of Allah, I have
a question which is so
so bad.
You stuck by an youth guardian.
It's too bad to even mention.
And he meant he had some some issues
in his heart that were bothering him
related to faith.
And the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he
said, really? Like, really? You have these kind
of, like, thoughts?
He said, yeah. He
said,
He said, that's pure faith.
That's that's pure the fact that you're battling,
trying to ask questions,
trying to engage and trying to grow,
This is
the the the sign of a believer.
Alhamdulillah.
So
we should also
remind people that doubts are often the sign
of an internal tug of war
between
faith
and life.
Faith
and surroundings.
Faith
and doubt. So the fact that you're struggling,
right, the fact that you're asking these questions
is indicative
that you are a Mu'min,
that you are struggling to keep your head
above water in the deep seas of the
dunya.
Masha'Allah.
Masha'Allah.
So therefore it's incumbent when we hire Islamic
studies teachers,
when we
allow people to teach, we give them the
trust of teaching us and teaching our kids.
We should ask them in the job interview
how do you feel about
questions?
Like how do you feel about being even
challenged?
And they should be honest and that should
be something that's evaluated
in their performance.
That are you welcoming questions?
Are you creating a space where people feel
they can ask those questions?
Then the sheikh, he says
He said the second knowledge that you have
to learn is the knowledge of the path,
the knowledge of the heart.
Everything has a means of transportation
and the means of transportation to having a
relationship with Allah
is the heart.
The Quran says that the heart hearts are
blind.
Ask Allah to bless and protect
our brothers and sisters
in India, in Gaza,
and all over the world.
Why is the heart called the heart?
Because the word means to change.
That's why in Farall Steen,
the famous dish is
because you turn it upside down. So the
heart is always, you know, in a state
of flux.
So what are the
things I need to learn, Alhamdulillah,
to keep my heart strong.
To keep my heart firm, in
the face of the brittle rushing waters of
the dunya.
The science of the heart gives us anchorage,
makes us
whole.
Then he says
means
knowing the commands of Allah and the prohibitions
of Allah.
Knowing the commands of the prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam
and being aware of what the prophet salallahu
alaihi wa sallam prohibited.
Knowing what the ulema
have recognized
as sources of guidance and acts of guidance
and being aware of what the olema have
recognized as source of misguidance
and evil.
This is El Mas Sharia.
Then he says,
Then how much of these do you need
to learn
from each of these?
He
says that what you need to know
with regards to
are those things which allow you to understand
the foundations
of. What are the foundations of?
Fifty
obligations.
Khamsin,
50 things we have to know about Allah
and his prophets.
Most of you already know them, Alhamdulillah.
Most people Allah is 1. Most people know
that Allah exists. Most people know that.
Allah
is not like creation. Creation is not like
Allah.
We believe about the angels.
As Sayidna Imam Al Marzuki says
that we believe about the prophets.
These four things that the prophets were honest,
that they they they taught everything,
mashallah,
That Allah commanded them to teach,
that they were trustworthy and that they were
intelligent.
These are 4 beliefs we have about the
prophets. The opposites are forbidden to believe about
them, that they were liars,
that they were untrustworthy,
that they hid something
for which Allah sent,
and that they weren't honest. So the total
number of obligations to the prophets are 8.
4 we affirm
and 4 we deny.
And then you add that one more, al
isma,
that we believe the prophets were protected from
sin.
The opposite will be that they fell into
sin. So 10.
10 obligations.
Then we have 20 obligations due to Allah.
He exists. He has no beginning. He has
no ending. He's in opposition to creation.
He's free, completely independent, and he's 1. This
is Saba.
So now 17.
The opposites of those are also forbidden for
us to believe
that he doesn't exist, that he was born,
that he will die, that he's like creation,
that he's not independent, and that he has
partners. So now 14.
So halas, 10 plus 14, 24. This is
how you can see it's very easy.
This takes us all the way up to
20
and those 20, the opposites, those 20 will
be 40. Twenty things about god, the opposite
is 40. Ten things about prophets,
the opposite of that is gonna be another.
So there you see 10. So in reality,
how many? Masha'Allah,
Khamsin,
50 things. That's it. 50 things, all you
have to know. Let me explain it one
more time. We believe 20 things about God.
I mentioned 7 of them just to teach
you.
The op and then those opposites we deny.
So that's gonna be 40.
Alhamdulillah.
And then we affirm
5 things about the prophets
and we deny
5 things about the prophets so that's gonna
be 10. So the total is 40 plus
10 is what? 50. Khalas.
The aqidah of the Muslimen is easy. Alhamdulillah.
And we should keep it that way.
So when the sheikh says you have to
know the obligations of Usuluddin,
what he means are those 50 things.
Inshallah, we taught this before at the ICNYU
about 3 years ago.
Those 50 things. You find some people said
40, so imam al Razi, he has a
book, al Arbayin fi Usuluddin. Mashallah, 40 things
you have to know about theology. Sayyidna Imam
al Ghazari has Arbayin fiyos Suruddeen. Forty things
you have to know about Us Suruddeen. Now
you can understand
pedagogically,
like, why they wrote these books.
Then he continues
because we have a lot to cover today.
And he explains
some of these foundations
of
Aqidah. Aqidah to Muslim Sahala,
that our Aqidah is a beautiful simple Aqidah,
Alhamdulillah.
He
says,
He says, you know what you have to
believe about God basically is that Allah exists,
that he's one, that he knows all, that
he's all powerful, that he's all willing, that
he's alive, that he speaks, that he sees,
that he hears.
He's one who has no partners and he
has described
with complete
transcendence and perfection
free of any shortcomings or ever
like an end of death.
And that he has no beginning and end
as we talked about last week.
That's why Imam Ahmed Adder dear he says
Right? That Huduth means something is born and
dies, something
is created and it passes.
Mullfaridan
Bilqidam, Allah is the only one who truly
is beyond time.
And from any, as we said earlier, influences
time, space, and so on.
And that you have to believe that Muhammad
is the messenger of Allah. Sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
Who is truthful in everything he brought
from Allah
And that whatever was
related truthfully,
a hadith narrations
about the hereafter the prophet Khan Sadakfi Maqal,
that he was truthful. Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
That he was truthful.
The next thing he says you need to
know after you learn about Tawhid and about
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is about
the sunnah.
The word sunnah is from a word this
is very important.
The word sunnah is from a word which
means something is
to allow something to flow.
If I pour the water on my face
sunnantu
alma'a.
I've allowed the water to flow on my
face.
This means, like, it it flowed so much
like it was smooth.
There's a a poem
of.
He says
You know, don't be amazed by this way
that you took this smooth way.
But the point is the usage of the
word sunnah is something smooth.
That's why Allah
says that we created human beings from this
thing which is
is
smooth.
On something smooth.
Khalas, that's the language.
I I have that poem actually here also
in front of me, I think.
Then later on, it expanded its definition. We
say,
when someone has like really small skin, we
say
Right. His face is smooth. Her face is
smooth.
And then it was also applied to a
path
that people took which is
smooth. And then
and then it began to be used to
a way that someone took,
whether
theoretically or whether physically.
And then, of course, now sunnah is most
known as the way of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam because the way of the
prophet
alaihi salatu salam is going to bring about
a smoothness to our soul and calm our
intellect.
Sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
We're gonna talk about that in a minute.
The Sayedna Imam Al Khazari Radiallahu Anhu, he
says,
You have to know these
things, and,
about the sunnah.
And here, Imam Al Akhazari, what he means
by the sunnah are the commands of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Those things that the prophet commanded us to
do,
and those things that the prophet encouraged
us to do.
Sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
And he says, Be careful of innovating
in the anything, in the religion of Allah
For which there's no support from
the book
and the sunnah
and the way of the early Muslims.
Because then you're gonna find yourself in big
trouble with Allah.
What we wanna talk about, Alhamdulillah,
today
is the issue of bidah
and sunnah.
Because
one of the things that we have to
be aware of
is that, and I've said this many times
before,
that because of salafism,
you have found a reorientation of
Sunni epistemological
frameworks
as well as general knowledge of Sunni Islam
amongst
Sunni masses.
And this is not to attack
the Salafi
group
or people who follow the Salafi way of
thinking,
but to put it in its right place.
That the ideas
held by salafism
related to
related to fiqh,
related to tasawwuf,
and related to also have
traditionally and historically been on the margins of
Sunni thought.
They were always considered
outliers.
And then over the last 200 or so
years, there's been an exchange
for whatever reason
that now mainstream Sunni thought
at a public level
is largely carrying ideas that were considered on
the periphery
of Sunni thought.
And what was historically mainstream
Sunni thought
has now been pushed to the margins.
You need to be aware of that. You
don't need to make it into you against
somebody
or becoming an enemy or we don't need
to get into conspiracy theories.
But we should be aware of these things.
We already have enough divisions.
But these are honest academic discussions
and today may be a little deeper
than what we normally do but Alhamdulillah
I have to support what I've said.
And one of the periphery ideas
that we see
the Salafi school pushing
is that every single thing
introduced into religion is a bidah.
And that whatever the prophet salallahu alaihi wa
sallam did not do
equates to a bidah. So there are 2
issues that we're going to address in the
next 2 weeks.
Today Insha'Allah we're going to talk about the
mainstream position on bidah
being divided into bidah,
which is commendable
and bidah, which is reprehensible.
This is the opinion of the mainstream
Sunni community
especially since the time
of the companions of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam,
like Abdullah ibn Omar and others,
as well as Masha'Allah,
the 4 Imams,
except Imam Malik
radiAllahu
anhu.
And that is that religious innovation
is divided into 2,
Mahmuda
and Madmuma.
What is
considered commendable
and what are is considered
reprehensible.
The minority
of Sunni scholars and jurists throughout history
on the periphery
were those who considered
every single thing
is bidah.
Based on the hadith,
this hadith is authentic. They have an evidence
so we don't need to fight and argue
again with people. They have supporting evidence for
that position.
We can disagree without being disagreeable.
But we have to appreciate
that for whatever reason and I'll leave that
to, you know,
sociologists and anthropologists
and
people involved in history.
Mainstream Sunni Islam
is currently
pushed to the margins
and what was for over a 1000 years
marginalized and in fact sometimes considered reprehensible,
forms of Sunni Islam have now taken over
the mainstream.
It's your job to know that and people
should teach you that.
When people know that there's more than one
Methheb on an issue,
they don't have to teach you all of
those meth habs but they should tell you
that this issue is something which is, for
example, debated or this is
something,
you know,
for which there's a number of opinions.
These are not issues which will take you
to heaven and *. These are secondary issues.
This is a responsibility
of teachers.
But when I see somebody
telling people there's only one way on an
issue,
that's a problem.
Because now you're creating,
a lack of flexibility
in something for which the Sharia, mashallah,
made flexible. Alhamdulillah.
So first of all, what we're going to
talk about is the word sunnah,
and we're going to talk about how the
word sunnah actually has 3 to 4 contexts.
And then after that Insha'Allah we're
going to talk about Bida,
the definitions of bidah
as provided by the majority of scholars,
and then we're going to talk about the
position of the majority of Sunnis.
The bidah is divided into 2 parts,
and each one of those parts, alhamdulillahihorabilalamin,
falls under one of the 5 rulings of
Islam.
Like there's a bidah that's wajib.
There's a bidah which is haram.
There's a bidah which is makru.
There is a bidah which is recommended.
And of course, there is also
a bidah,
which
is permissible.
We're gonna talk about that inshallah.
So now we see for example someone
typing that most of the Muslims in my
country are going to *. That's impossible to
believe,
you know. And and these kind of abstractions
are not not really the place for any
type of real
religious discussion. Right? You know, we should avoid
abstractions
and focus on the beef.
So the first is the word sunnah. As
I mentioned earlier, Imam Ibnoferis
wrote one of the earlier dictionaries of Islam.
He defines
Volume 3, page 100 page 44.
Imam Ibnu
Faris.
He says,
that the word seen and known are from
the foundations of the word sunnah.
Alas?
That the original meaning of the word sunnah
means allow something to be run or flowed
or poured in an easy way.
You say, and you pour the water, you
let it flow on your face.
This is the word sunnah.
If you were to allow it as he
says, of course, he's embellishing, it's a dictionary.
If you're if you're if you're letting it
flow.
Then he says,
Because as the water flows, when someone travels,
they flow, they move.
And over a path smoothly.
Then there's a great definition of imam,
as Huri.
He says,
Right? That word sunnah means a smooth path
A smooth path.
That takes us into the definition of sunnah
as found in scholarship. The in in theology.
I have this translated,
I can get it to
Akshat maybe before next week inshallah so we
can share it here with people.
For Imam Ibnu Al Athir. Imam Ibnu Al
Athir al Shafi'i
actually is,
incredible scholar
who wrote
some text which,
like they should be written in gold.
For example, al Usud Al Uhaba, fee ma'rifati
Sahaba.
He wrote a book that, masha'Allah,
is a
small
encyclopedia
of the Sahaba.
Who they were, what they did, so on
and so forth.
He called it lions in the jungle. These
are like lions in the dunya.
He wrote another book,
Jainmiri Al Osul.
Allah subhanallah, this this book is almost 20
something volumes just of Hadith from Osul Adi.
And I used to teach actually a summary
of this every Friday night on Instagram live
and Facebook live.
Al Muhtar minas sunnah.
The 3rd book that he wrote out of
others is a book called An Nihaya,
This we're talking about one human being here.
This actually is a dictionary
of the most important words used by the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in hadith,
starting from alif
ba'tathajee.
So if you wanted to look up the
word sunnah,
you go to Masha'allah
under seen and noon.
And then Allahu Akbar, you find this definition.
He says,
Here, Imam Ibn Athir
is gonna give kind of like a
more specific definition. He said
in the epistemology
of Sharia,
the word sunnah is anything that the prophet
salallahu alaihi wa sallam commanded
or prohibited
or encouraged
related to his statements, his actions, and, of
course, we know silence approvals,
which is not found in the Quran. So
understand this is one context of the definition
of sunnah.
Those things which the prophet commanded which are
not found in the Quran.
Those things which he prohibited which are not
found in the Quran.
Of the sunnah, but I believe it's worth
it for our discussion here.
He says,
And here we see, he
does something.
He says that the word sunnah
is anything which has been narrated from the
prophet, salallahu alaihi wa sallam, and that is
the specific definition. What what what imam ibn
Athir gave earlier,
anything outside of what's in the Quran.
So that's one
component of the definition.
In essence since you're taking notes, this
is the
second
context of the word sunnah is that it
is the anonym of innovation.
So the first application of Sunnah
or the first understanding of Sunnah is anything
not found in the Quran which the prophet
has commanded
or encouraged
or prohibited
or,
you know, discouraged?
The second
are those things that the Sunnah as in
opposition to Bida,
religious innovation.
And that's why we say
means orthodoxy,
that this person is on the sunnah.
Whether that is mentioned,
mentioned,
in the Quran or not. So
this this second application of bidah means it
could be
in contradiction to the Quran. For example, people
who say that the sunnah is not revelation,
this is bidah.
They are not now considered from ahlul sunnah.
They're ahlulhowa.
They follow their own desires.
Number 2, if it runs counter to something
established as authentic and its application is authentic
in hadith.
So the word bida could mean bida in
relationship to the Quran or bida in relationship
to the sunnah.
Kalas.
So the first application of the Sunnah are
those things the prophet commanded or prohibited or
encouraged or discouraged
outside of the Quran.
What Imam al Shafi'i
calls an Arisada
Bayanal Quran that the sunnah now is explaining
the Quran. You fast hear all Quran.
Say, no, Muhammad, you first hear the
Quran. Number 2.
That which is an opposition to religious heterodoxy.
Whether
the Quran
or in Hadith.
Then he says,
for example, you say, fulan alabida.
Right? This person is following innovation.
The third, he says,
This is a very important action.
And he says that the second
or the third usage of the word sunnah
or bida, excuse me,
sunnahafwan
are the actions of the Sahaba.
So the word sunnah also applies to the
actions of the companions of the prophet salallahu
alaihi wasalam, whether that act is found in
the Quran
or whether it's found in the sunnah or
not.
What does he mean by or not?
Because it's impossible for us to believe
that they would act on something
that would contradict the teachings of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
as a group. Like
as a group of them to
coalesce on misguidance.
Or it's related to an itjtihad
that they made
in order to achieve what is most beneficial
for the hereafter
and for the Ummah. Or
it came from the opinions of the 4
hulafa
because the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
So what I'm presenting to you now
is Sunni Orthodoxy.
Whether you accept it or not
is your business.
Right. I'm not here to to force
you but
this is who we are. And the biggest
problem I have sometimes with Muslims
is they wanna say, no, my position,
my understanding
is what Islam is. No, no, that's your
that's Islam or her slam. That's your Islam.
That's between you and God.
But what we wanna do is define
foundations.
And the foundations, Alhamdulillah,
Alhamdulillah,
will
set us on a right course and center
us. We need to know who we are.
It's very difficult to to to argue when
you don't know who you are.
Nah.
In fact, there's a really not there's another
beautiful statement of Sinai Imam Ashaltibi.
He says in Al Muafakat,
he says, where you are Rif as where
you are Rif as Sunnatu
or where you are Rif
He says another definition given by the scholars,
and this is gonna fall under that first
context,
is that the sunnah of the prophet salallahu
alaihi wa sallam is anything which has come
to clarify
what is in the Quran.
Or what
the Sahaba established.
Whether in the Quran or within the sunnah,
but they acted on it and they did
it, we understand that this falls under the
generality
of orthodoxy,
right, which is not innovation.
To summarize and to make it easier,
I'm going to give you the four contexts
of sunnah just because of time.
I don't have time to go through all
of them, but the first is.
So anything found in the Quran and sunnah
is also considered sunnah. Here sunnah is being
used as guidance.
As
guidance, right?
What's correct?
The third is
hadith.
What is found in the hadith literature of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
The third is that the sunnah implies something
which runs contradiction to religious innovation
in heterodoxy.
And the 4th
and this is the point of contention amongst
the minority of Sunnis and the majority. And
this 4th point is used by the majority.
And that is
That the word sunnah is applied to anything
that falls under the generality
of what the sharia
finds
commendable
and acceptable
and encourages people to do
outside of, of course,
religious obligations. Waqara
a sheikh, he says,
Right? This is a massive
massive
area that touches on all of the recommended
issues.
The next word that we want to talk
about is bidah.
And because of time,
going to try to to finish by 8
o'clock Insha Allah our time.
The word bidah
as mentioned,
alhamdulillah,
by,
for example, Imam Aragabal Astahani.
And
he
says Right? So the word
bat the letter bat,
da, bida and ayn, bada'a are from the
the foundations of the word.
As you study,
And we have one brother here, Masha'Allah,
who's
got a lot of time on his hands.
May Allah bless him.
Alhamdulillah.
You know, I like to tell people, if
you wanna know how you should act in
the comments box is how you should act
in a classroom.
How would we conduct ourselves in front of
one another? There should be no contradiction between
that
and how we conduct each other
with each other.
Right? It's basic etiquette. So word bidah is
from bada'ah.
Sometimes as you'll find in the future, if
you study morphology,
like words have additional letters added to them
to increase the meaning, the intensity of the
meaning. So the sheikh, when he says, ba,
daaain
are the original
letters of the word.
And he says,
in just one second,
you know, I have a 2 year old
who now knows how to open the front
door.
So I could actually see,
you know, out front. Let me make sure
she didn't open the front door and make
a make a move. That would be a
dida.
She's with somebody?
Okay. I thought she made I thought she
escaped.
That will be a bidah.
And what we're gonna talk about now is
very important, alhamdulillah.
Very, very important.
And he says the word bidah, ibnoferes,
he says that
bida means.
He said that the word bidah means invention.
To bring something which has no precedent.
To bring something that has no likeness.
That's the the word bidal. So Allah says
in Surat Akaf
verse 9,
Kulmakun
to bida'al
mina'rusul.
Like, say to them, I'm not I'm not
the first messenger. I'm not
Right? This is not the first time this
has happened. There have been other messengers who
came before me. There is a precedent for
this.
One of the great dictionaries of Islam, if
you speak Arabic, you should have this dictionary
is
Misbahal Munir, Masha'Allah,
is is really a a very important dictionary,
in Arabic, especially for people
who want kind of the more
like religious,
you
know, definitions,
of of
texts
and the depth of language.
But the writer of miss Bahl Mounir, he
says about the word bidah,
That a great example of this is that
Allah
created things.
There was nothing there was no precedent.
Nothing came. That's why Allah always say he
is Badi or Samawati
wal ard, the originator
of creation.
Subhanahu wa ta'ala. If you say,
means that you have istaghrajatu,
wa'hadatatu,
that you've brought something that has no previous
example or likeness
or
cause.
And again,
Sahib, he
says the verse
And then, of course, in Surah Baqarah, verse
number 117,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says.
Then that takes us to the definition of
bidah
as found
in scholarship,
religious terminology.
The first definition is the minority of Sunnis,
as we mentioned earlier, that were always on
the periphery
until the birth of the Saudi state.
And that is
their definition
Islam.
Anything
which is in opposition to Islam
or anything new
introduced into religion,
which is not
explicitly
mentioned in the text.
That that part of the definition I'm giving
you.
Anything
introduced
through religious actions,
only in the area of religion, not life.
All the scholars agree, bidah in the dunya
is okay. We're talking about now bidah in
religion.
Anything
which is introduced
with regards to religious practices,
which is not explicitly
sanctioned by the text,
is bidah.
This is the definition
of the Neo Salafi School
as well as the minority
of Sunni scholars from amongst him was Imam
Malik.
His madhhab differs with him by the way.
Radhi Allahu Anhu
and others like,
and others.
The second definition of bidah
was provided by Imam al Shafi'i.
As mentioned by Imam Abbayhaki
in Sunan Al Kubra.
Bishnad and Sahih.
Saiday Imam al Shafi'i on numerous occasions,
he defined bidah
as the
following.
He says, and this is mentioned by
Harmala Ibnu Yahya, who was the student of
Imam
al Shafi'i.
Sayna Imam al Shafi'i said
Al Bida'atoo Bida'atan.
Imam Shafi'i said that Bida
falls under 2 types.
So now he differs with the first definition.
We say, baynahumomunwarhusosun.
They agree on one thing and they diverge
on one thing. They intersect on one idea,
umum,
hosos,
and they diverge on another. They agree
they agree,
right,
on part of the definition
but not the other part.
The other part is going to be used
by Imam Sha'afi and the majority of Sunnis.
So listen very carefully.
He says,
Imam Shafi says that bidah falls under 2
types.
What is commendable
and what is
reprehensible. There is a bida which is good
and a bida which is bad.
The point here is when people attack people
who say
there is 2 types of bidah,
would they attack Imam Shafi'i like that?
Would would they be so rude and harsh?
Would they attack the majority of sunnier ulama
throughout history in the way that they would
attack say an auntie or an uncle in
the masjid or a simple person?
My my position of course is I take
the position of Imam Shafi'i
as we'll talk about in a minute there's
more than 14 daleah for this.
But I'm not going to attack and destroy
the other side. I just say, I don't
agree with you.
I don't agree with you.
So
we need to be very clear now that
Imam Shafi is giving a general definition. He
says, al bidatoo bidaturni
bidatun
madmooma
wa bidatun
Mahmuda.
This is a general
understanding of bidah and under this are going
to come 5 categories. We'll talk about in
a minute.
Then he says,
What aligns with the sunnah
is commendable.
What
contradicts the Sunnah
is not.
Saidi Imam al Shafi'i in another narration from
Saidna Rabi in the Soleiman mentioned
again
by Saidna Imam
Al Bayhaki
in Asunan Al Kubra.
Also in Imam Adha Habi mentions it in
Sierra Al Aminobala
The saying that Imam Sheffi says, Al Muhtathat.
He says, Al Muhtisa to.
Imam Shafi says that religious innovation falls under
2 types.
That thing
which is a religious innovation that contradicts the
the book, the sunnah,
the way of the early Muslims, or a
consensus.
He said this is a bidah which is
leading people astray.
He said then those type of things which
do not contradict the Quran, the sunnah,
the early Muslims, whatever they they agreed upon.
And finally,
Ijma, a consensus.
He said, this is not a blame those
are not blameworthy innovations.
He gave the example, we're gonna talk about
it maybe in the future where Sayna Amar
got the people together in Ramadan to pray
behind 1 imam.
And when they prayed behind 1 imam, he
said,
This is a good bidah.
Imam Sheffi uses this to show that religious
bidah
falls into 2
categories,
good and bad.
The minority of Sunnis said all religious bidah
is bad.
The majority of Sunnis who followed the path
of Sayna Shafi'i, they said, no.
Bida is defined by bad or good. We're
gonna talk about that in a second.
Commenting on this narration
of imam Al Bayhaki,
Imam even Tamia who follow,
that is
kind of their imam,
but Rahimullah
for the most part.
Although the Majumah Afatawi is, not really based
on what he wrote, it's sort of a
disaster,
which is another discussion.
Because how it was rendered into
Arabic, the person who made
the majma al fatawi in Egypt and other
places who came together for that work, they
were not skilled
in
reading the handwriting of Ibn Taymiyyah.
I can give you a great example of
this in Majmoo al Fatawi.
If you go to the print as pushed
by the the Saudi Alqaaf years ago and
given free. I think every masjid in America
you can find a copy of Al Majma'al
Fatawi.
You find a section on
Alkanais
Walqasis,
I believe.
The the chapter on
churches and priests.
And then as you read
it, you begin to realize like, man, this
is tough. It's like they should be destroyed,
they should be fought, they should be ruined,
They should be decimated.
And this fatwa, this this actual writing was
used by the jihadist groups to justify their
acts of destroying and killing non Muslims and
slaying priests. And we know in France, a
few years ago, this happened. Right?
I met a Sheikh Zohair Shams from Bangladesh.
Sheikh Zohair Shams
used to live in Mecca.
And Sheikh Zohair Shams, his specialty
is the handwriting of Ibn Taymiyyah.
Subhanallah.
As one of my teachers told me, Ibn
Taymiyyah used to write so fast that there
was no space between the letters. He has
like his own shorthand, man.
His own shorthand.
So, Sheikh Zuweh Shams had the Khasusu.
So he told me what I did. I
went and found the actual handwritten manuscripts of
Ibn Taymiyyah,
and I compared it to the Saudi print
of Al Majumah Al Fataawi,
and I found so many discrepancies
that I realized it was a com it
was a complete fabrication of what the man
actually said.
You can liken it to the Bible.
So, I said, what do you mean? He
said, you know, the chapter on
churches and priests. I say, yeah, that chapter
is famous. It's like hot.
He said in Araby,
in the writing of it
doesn't say
Alkanah is walqisis,
churches and priests. It says,
ringeskhan
walhasakiq.
He's talking about the tartar,
not churches.
The actual chapter says the chapter on Genghis
Khan.
They didn't read it correctly.
They put
churches.
But it actually says, Ringis Khan because they
couldn't read his writing. Does that not change
the entire thing?
The next word,
they translated that is
priests.
Even Tamiyya didn't say that.
So that's why when you hear people say,
Tell them to fear Allah.
They should go and read what he actually
wrote. I'm I'm not I don't agree with
even Tamiyah.
I used to study with people who were
the students of Sheikh Ibn Uthaimin Allahuhamu.
And then I I studied with other teachers
and I changed my ideas, but
this is academic fraud, man.
And then he told me I went to
the Alqaf
of Saudi Arabia, and I said, I'm willing
to do critical editions of all this and
fix this disaster.
And they refused.
So Imam Ibn Taymiyyah
is reported to have said,
and this is a different book than maj
Al Mujma'al Fataawi,
but you need to learn, man. And that's
why when we tell people learn, man, learn,
slow down, slow down, learn, learn. No. No.
No. I read this even to me. How
do you know he said it?
How do you know he actually said this?
You don't know that, especially if you're.
So Ibn Taymiyyah, he says,
Even Taymiyyah says about the narration of Imam
Shafi'i
that it is a sound narration. Imam Ibnu
Baqal Al Mariki, he says,
Imam Imnu Ba'tal, one of the great Maliki
scholars who explained al Bukhari.
He says that bida is 2 types that
that that that contravenes guidance and that which
agrees with guidance. I'm just giving you evidence
to show you
how different scholars are of the opinion of
the majority.
That takes us now
to a brief discussion, Insha'Allah,
on the different types of bidah.
And here we have, of course,
the statement. I believe it's here. I have
saved it here somewhere.
Of Imam
Ibn Hajar.
Radiallahu anhu and we all know Masha'Allah
who Imam Ibn Hajar was, as well as
people like Imam and Nawawi
and others. So when people attack you or
they they try to,
assail
you. And that's one of the things I've
always found interesting about the Salafi school.
That they are so passionate about the truth
except when it comes to Muslims.
Like
if you ask them, is the way of
the Salaf to be kind? Yes. To everybody
but us.
Is it the way of the salaf to
be patient and open minded? Yes. To everyone
except their own Muslim brothers and sisters.
In fact, I saw a lecture a few
weeks ago by a person who follows that
way called the Permissibility
to Backbite Muslims. Like, why would you make
that?
Like, why would you give a lecture on
this?
Again, because the marginalized
idea
became the mainstream,
the mainstream
became marginalized. And the fact that the majority
of your thoughts are based on a book
that has not even been properly critically edited.
In fact, time and time again has shown
that the statements found in Majma'al Fataawi,
Imam Ibn Taymiyyah, he didn't even say it.
So imagine based on bad information
and bad academic research and then using that
to attack
your fellow brothers and sisters.
Listen to Sayna Imam ibn Hajar
who says
of mama. Imam ibn Hajar says something very
important. Very, very important.
He says that the word
sunnah
that the word sunnah is applied to
sorry about that.
My my I lost my Zoom folks.
Okay.
Listen to what Imam Ibn Hajra says.
He says that the word bida, the foundation
of it in meaning is something which is
invented, which had no precedent.
And in Sharia, it means, of course, what
runs in opposition to the sunnah for Takunu
Madh Mumma, so therefore, it's reprehensible. Now listen
to what Imam ibn Hajjar says. He says,
what taqiyuk.
But, like, to think about this critically
and in
reality,
guidelines of the Sharia
that encourages an act, then it is a
good bidah.
So you see here the method of Imam
Ibn Hajar is that bitter is 2 types,
hasanah and motherwama.
Because he said, if that innovation falls under
the in the raj means it falls under
the general
guidance of Sharia,
not the specific,
then it's good.
If it falls under the general guidance of
something evil, then it's bad. And I'm gonna
give you some examples to help clarify that.
Imam al Qarafi, and we don't have a
lot of time and I don't wanna make
this too much. He says that in this
regard,
bidah is given the 5 rulings of Sharia.
The first is wajid.
He says an example of this is when
the Sahaba made tudwin of the Quran.
When the companions of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
salam,
when the Sahaba decided now to compile the
Quran, this is
because if they don't compile the Quran, what
will happen?
The Quran will be lost.
So it became an obligation.
That's why when some of the Sahaba, they
approached him and they told them about it,
what did they say? This was never done
before. This is Bida.
The second,
a Bida which is haram.
And he says, a bidah,
which is haram, is anything would which undermines
the obligatory acts of the Sharia. For example,
Gulam Ahmed is saying he's a prophet. This
is bidah, Haram.
Elijah Mohammed claimed to be a prophet. This
is bidah Haram.
When
when Gaddafi said I have a book that's
equal to the Quran.
Why? Because it undermines the foundations of the
religion.
When Rashid Khalifa said that there's no sunnah
and the only thing we have is the
Quran. This undermines the foundation of Sharia.
Which is the guidance of Sayyidina Nabi. Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam.
A third
is the bidah which is mandubun ilayi,
and these are the things that fall under
the general principles, the
of the sunnah,
the of what's haram, the
of what's obligatory. Those that's the job of
lawyers
of the.
We talked about
in the past.
An example of that is Sayidna Amar'ab Nakhatta
bringing the people together to pray tarawee.
The 4th is a bidah which is makruha.
And to be honest with you, the largest
section
of bidah
is going to be under mandubat.
Right? The permissible. Remember earlier he said, the
recommended.
Right? Those things which are recommended for us
to do, like, for example, starting Islamic relief
in the nineties as a charitable vehicle
for people to give sadaqa. Sadaqa is a
sunnah. To give sadaqa is a sunnah. And
now we've even seen the growth of, for
example, Islamic Relief, Anwar is here, to allow
people as a charitable vehicle to give their
zakah. That never happened before the time of,
you couldn't pay zakah online in the time
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. You couldn't
pay zakatul fitra online.
So this is bidah mahluda. Why? Because it
has facilitated
Ibadah.
And has facilitated
a maslaha, which is to serve the poor.
So now you can see where this goes
and most of this is going to be
based on Maqasir Sharia,
preservation of religion.
Care as an idea, as a group or
any of these organizations,
right, like CAIR which are defending the rights
of Muslims.
Even even when I first became Muslim, no
one can even imagine something like that.
Because defending the Muslims is an obligation.
There you go.
Making sure that people can pay their zakat,
that's an obligation. This is a kawaid.
In the raj, the idea of Islamic relief
now falls under the general principles of accomplishing
an obligation,
under the general principles
of accomplishing
a sunnah.
So those general ideas, what are called the
is how these are approached. And that's a
broader discussion. The same thing applies to the
what's considered
and then the same thing applies
to what is going to be considered permissible.
That takes us now
to a rather interesting discussion and my apologies,
but I feel this issue is very important,
man.
And that's why I'm trying to go into
such detail. And this will be recorded and
posted. I'm recording it now professionally for YouTube
Insha'Allah.
So you can watch over there also. So
don't worry about having to take so many
notes. Just enjoy
also. And I haven't been able to see
the chat box. My my apologies.
Oh, Asen. Masha Allah. Dang, dude.
Asen got that he's writing a book.
What are the evidences for the majority of
Sunnis who say that sunnah is divided into
2 and that those 2 fall under the
5 general rulings of Islam?
What are their evidences? Let's go through them
quickly. The first evidence is in Surat Al
Hadid verse 28.
Surat Al Hadid verse 28. Allah says
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talking about the followers
of Jesus. He said the monk type life,
which they invented.
We did not
prescribe it for them. Pay attention to the
verse.
That this monk lifestyle which they invented,
we did not command it.
But they did it seeking Allah only.
And those who came after them did not
follow that
bidah
like those who did before them. What?
Pay attention to this verse.
They invented
these kind of extra acts of korba to
draw near to Allah from the foundations of
what Jesus left. They begin to do even
more things,
Good things.
We did not that's not what we sent
to them.
But then it says,
but those who came after them did not
shepherd
that bidah like those before them.
And we gave them
the 27th
verses, and we rewarded them. Would Allah
reward people for bad bidah?
Would Allah
reward people who who did bad bidah
or good bidah.
So obviously what they did was good.
Even though it was not explicitly found in
their book.
That's what the verse
says. Then we can look at the tafasir
of our scholars.
In fact, one of the companions of the
prophet, Abu Umama
al Bahiri
Radiallahu Anhu,
who says,
You
Allah.
He
says, meaning that god did not prescribe that
for them
and that they did not do this bidah
except they wanted to draw nearer to Allah.
So Allah,
you know, at the home,
he refuted them for not maintaining the bidah.
That's the
meaning.
So what does it mean then?
It's there in the
One of the great imams, he said,
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reputed it reputed
them for not maintaining that good bidah that
they started.
There it is.
Right there.
It's right in the Quran. There's no need
now. I don't know brother. I heard that.
No, it's there in the Quran. So, we
have a very important principle
that whatever Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentions in
the Quran, if it's wrong, Allah will tell
us it's wrong.
It's very clear.
So you don't have to attack your fellow
Muslim brothers and sisters who follow bid al
Hassanah in a way as though they have
no evidence and no support when this is
the opinion of the majority of Sunnis
and the daleelfort
is found in the Quran and Sunnah which
you claim to passionately cling to.
So the first evidence in sultan hadid,
masha'Allah,
verse number,
20
28.
That's why Imam Al Qutabi, he says in
his tafsir,
Imam Al Qutabi says that this bidah was
done by the righteous people.
He said that, and the the the people
who came after them failed to maintain it.
It.
This is Qutabi. This is not
Suhaib, not some weird Sufi Sheikh, not Lala.
This is Maqala Imam Al Qutabi
radhiallahu ta'ala Anhu. Waqala al imam.
Oh, man. Someone's yelling at me.
Here's another bida.
Oh, man.
You guys are gonna get me in trouble.
I'm about to lose my dad license.
Someone wants to hang up.
Now we're gonna quote Imam Ibnu Juzay Al
Mariki.
Radiallahu Anu. May Allah bless my wife, Masha'Allah.
Incredible, incredible person with incredible patience.
Imam, Imnu Juzay Al Kalbi,
who died
741
after Hijri, we actually teach his test heal
at Swiss, my school.
He says,
He says, what that means is that they
did something which was not
explicitly legislated by God. Meaning
in the it came from the foundations of
the religion, if not explicitly
addressed.
And that's why it says,
he says,
Yeah. It's very clear.
Then Allah
says, you
know, that this was not something prescribed by
him.