Honourable Muslims!

Allah (SWT) sent down our Holy Book Qur’an for the salvation and happiness of mankind and showed how to live it through our prophet (SAW).  As our Prophet ﷺ said “Definitely for those of you amongst you who hope for Allah’s mercy and Day of Judgment there is a good example in Allah’s Messenger.”[1] In other words, the sunnah is the living example of the Qur’an by Our Prophet (SAW). The sunnah has been researched and written through very systematic and diligent efforts of our scholars. The fact that our Book Qur’an commands us to obey our Prophet, to follow Him, to take Him as a model, to accept his judgment is very important and shows that His task is to explain and propagate Qur’an and the Sunnah has been recorded without the loss of any data and protected. Otherwise, these commandments of Our Lord Allah (SWT) would not have any practical sense. The fact that Qur’an has been preserved as it came from Allah and the ahadith have been written is a privilege given to us, the ummah of Muhammad (SAW).

Respected Believers!

Qur’an and Our Propet (SAW) have determined the confinements of this Religion. We cannot add to it and we cannot remove from it. As any addition is bid’ah and bid’ah has been prohibited by our Prophet (SAW). As explained in the Hadith “Everything that is added to the Religion that was not in the essence of the Religion is bid’ah.”[2], “The worst of all affairs is this.”[3] And “Bid’ah is deviation.” That is to say it is heresy.[4]

However, our scholars categorized the topic of bid’ah as good and bad bid’ah. What our Prophet (SAW) defined is bad bid’ah. That is to say, if we add something to the Religion and it becomes part of the religion and we feel as if we are neglecting a religious duty as a result of when we don’t do it, then it is a bad bid’ah.
Putting candles in them, tying pieces of cloth in them can be given as bad bid’ah.

Dear Congregation!

Our Prophet (SAW) said anyone who started a good practice in Islam rewards would be given to him as long as people do that practice.[5] When Omar (r.a) saw people constantly  praying tarawih prayers in one congregation he said “What a beautiful bid’ah this is.”[6] Good bid’ah that is OK to do include compiling Qur’an into a book, praying teravih prayers in mosques regularly and building minarets and madrasahs.

Dear Brothers and sisters!

We shouldn’t confuse bid’ah and cultural practice either. The religion shows itself in daily practice through cultural practice and is spread amongst large audiences this way. In our culture kandil celebrations, the tradition of celebrating the birth of the Prophet, regional marriage celebrations, cultural dresses, the tradition of muezzin when we pray in congregation, in some areas saying selawat on Thursday as a harbinger of the coming of Friday, saying of salawat before the time of Cuma prayer can be given as examples of cultural practice in our community.

These cannot be considered as bid’ah. We need to have discernment and we need to show an effort to continue these good examples in our culture. Our future generations need good examples of how religion and life are intertwined together. However, we also need to be able to differentiate the bid’ahs that will destroy the essence of the religion and have the foresight to be able to distinguish between the two. We shouldn’t adopt the approach to reject everything altogether. That is why we need to know our Prophet and His sunnah and Qur’an really well.

May Allah make us steadfast in the footsteps of the Prophet (SAW). May He protect us from the evil of the bad bid’ah. Âmin

[1] Surah Ahzâb , 29:21

[2] Nesaî, Îdeyn, 22; İbn Majah, Mukaddime, 7

[3] Müslim, Cum‘a, 43

[4] Müslim, Cumu‘a, 43; Ebû Dâvûd, Sunnah, 6

[5] Bkz. Müslim, İlim, 6

[6] Buhârî, Terâvîh, 1

 

Khutba-Following the Sunnah and Avoiding Bid’ah