What is Biddat-Innovation?

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 shareeah, 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 at death
Teeja/Soyem -3
rd
day of death
Barsi-Death Anniversary
Chaleeswan 40thday of death
Reading Naats at the body of the dead
Writing Kalima on the shroud
Saying la illah ilal lah while walking with the funeral.
Keeping the ahadnama in the grave with the dead body.
Khatam Ayat e Kareema
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 , 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 three 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 (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.

WARNINGS OF ALLAH
We should be aware of Allahs 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 dont
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 Said 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 Allahs 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 Allahs 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
Mothers day, fathers day
Valentines Day
Engagement
Mehendi
Christmas
Easter
Halloween
Dewali
Basant