Au'du billahi min'ashshaitanir rajeem Bismillahi ar-Rahman ar-Raheem
Inna walhamdulillah wa-Salaatu wa-Salaam 'ala Rasulillah wa 'ala alihi wa sahbihi ajmaeen
Indeed Allah is praised whether we praise Him or not. Yet humbly we praise Him. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil within our selves (our arrogance, lowly desires, weaknesses, in general, our nafs) and from the evil consequences of our actions. Whomever Allah guides, none can misguide. And whomever stubbornly rejects faith, thinks they've figured it out on their own, refusing guidance, Allah leaves to their own path and none can guide.
I bare witness that there is NO DIETY WORTHY OF WORSHIP, of our veneration, our supplication, our sacrifice, our repentence except Allah. And I bare witness that Muhammad 'alayhi salaatu wa salaam is His final Messenger and servant.
As-salaamu 'alaikum wa Rahmatullah,
Brothers and sisters in Islam, in the coming days, especially for those considerably young in iman, I believe it is of vital importance we raise the awareness of bid'ah, that is, newly invented matters or traditions incorporated into the Deen long after it has been established, perfected and completed by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as underway appears to be a pathological spread of this evil. As Allah stated among the last ayat He revealed to Muhammad salallahu 'alayhi wa salaam.
"...This day have I perfected for you your religion, completed my favor upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion." -Surah al-Madi'ah ayah 3
Our beloved Rasul salallahu 'alayhi wa salaam has warned us in the du'a he taught to be recited before every khutbah that the worst of affairs are bid'ah (innovations in the Deen), for every bid'ah is a misguidance and every misguidance is in the Fire! We have now many practices ascribed to Islam radically differing from one another. Every alliance to these different practices claim adherence to al-Qur'an wa as-Sunnah, so how is it we determine which of these groups are truthful in this claim? Is the ibadah performed entirely for the sake of Allah and is it made exclusively and directly to Allah azza wa jall without any intercessor (aside from our own deeds) as according to the Qur'an and Sunnah? Does it acknowledge that all of mankind is flawed, forgetful and heavily mistake-prone as Muhammad salallahu 'alayhi wa salaam told us: "EVERY descendant of Adam makes mistakes" or do they propose exceptions?
So it is without specifying any labels (which in and of themselves are innovations being that no Muslim during the time of Muhammad 'alayhi salaatu wa salaam or any among the preceding three generations ever used them to describe themselves or the deen of al-Islam) I will, in'sha'Allah, keep the formula by which to distinguish pure, unadulterated Islam from an invented, cursed religion masquerading as Islam quite simple.
It certainly does not take one of any high knowledge or a student of knowledge or a student of a student of knowledge, etc. to administer the 'acid test.' Don't allow yourself to be moved or worse, deceived, by the scholarship of an individual who calls to evil and misguidance in the name of our beautiful Deen. Ya Muslimeen, it is key we bare in mind that ANY tradition, ritual, practice, theology or act that is ascribed to Islam yet is NOT found in the Qur'an or Sunnah is indubitably an innovation, a form of misguidance and as Rasul salallahu 'alayhi wa salaam warned... is in the Fire.
Further proof of innovation in one's way are exhibited in its side-effects such as having to either deny, muddle or reject certain ayat or authentic hadith to justify their practice or theology. Despite Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Promised to guard it from corruption. They may also insist certain ayat contain hidden meanings apparent only to those endowed with great wisdom, though Allah explicitly states what means:
"He is The One Who has revealed to you the Book. Some of its verses are decisive -they are the foundation of the Book -while others are allegorical. Those whose hearts are infected with disbelief follow the allegorical part to mislead others and to give it their own interpretation, seeking for its hidden meanings, but none knows its hidden meanings except Allah. Those who are well grounded in knowledge say: 'We believe in it; it is all from our Rabb.' None will take heed except the people of understanding." -Surah al-i 'Imran ayah 3
Avoid then newly invented matters and distance and disassociate with those who obscure, mystify and ultimately taint this already perfect, most beautiful, complete and in every human aspect-fulfilling way of life; Islam. Daw'ah, naseeah, a simple and kind invitation to tawheed offered to those we personally know involved or allured to that direction is certainly in order, but do so and leave the rest between them and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ("no compulsion in religion...") . What should be realized is when we invent or incorporate any act of worship foreign to the Qur'an or Sunnah that indirectly we are superciliously claiming that Allah and His Messenger left out something, hid something and/or that we know better than Allah and His Messenger. Au'du billah!
Bid'ah, no matter how good or sweet Shaitan will have you feel it is, it does not bring you closer to Allah, on the contrary, it takes you further away from your Rabb and nearer Jahanam, away from His Grace and closer to His Anger, except that you redeem yourself. There is no love for Allah in disobedience to Allah. I close with the noteworthy advice of Ubayy ibn K'ab radiallahu anhu and two sayings from our beloved Rasul salallahu 'alayhi wa salaam:
"A minimal course in the path of Allah and the Sunnah is better than striving hard in a path contrary to the path of Allah and the Sunnah and consenting to innovation. See that your actions - whether they are striving or minimal - are on the path of the anbiya (Prophets) and their Sunnah." -Ubayy ibn K'ab radiallahu anhu
"There is not anything that will bring your closer to Jannah except that I ordered you to do it, and there is nothing that will bring you into Hellfire except that I prohibited that action." -Muhammad salallahu 'alayhi wa salaam (Muslim and Bukhari)
"My Sunnah is the best Sunnah. Whoever leaves my Sunnah has nothing to do with me." -Muhammad salallahu 'alayhi wa salaam (Muslim and Bukhari)
May Allah ta'ala protect us from all misguidance that we might turn and submit to Him wholeheartedly and purely as He has decreed and firmly upon the Sunnah as taught in word and action by His final Messenger and mercy to all creation, Muhammad salallahu 'alayhi wa salaam. Any good and truth is solely from Allah and all mistakes are my own. May Allah forgive me for them and protect you and I from them. Ameen.
"Guide us to the straight path. The path of those whom Thou hast favored; not the path of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who went astray." -Surah al-Fatiha ayat 6-7
Related Topics:
Tawheed 101
You Alone Do We Worship
2 comments:
As Salaamu Alaikum Brother:
When some Muslims discover that their cultural practices are actually bid'ah and not from Islam, it creates a type of cognitive dissonance for them. Some cultural bid'ahs are so deeply ingrained that some Muslims will not stop doing them even when you point out the error.
Hayyak'Allah, Sister.
Sadly, you're right. Very shamefully so will they hold fast to their desires after knowledge has reached them. I think in such a circumstance, the best we can do is kindly ask if it were made clear to them their tradition(s) has absolutely no basis in Islam, would they leave it for the sake of Allah azza wa jall? If they simply reply "yes", ask for their dalil and pick up from there, if instead they get defensive, recite the hawqala and leave them alone.
Wallah 'Alam
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