كل بدعة ضلالة وكل ضلالة في النار
The world Kullu encompasses all bidah's.
If we really need to have categories of bidah then there are two main categories.
1. Bidah haqeeqiyyah, meaning proper innovation, in every sense of the word. It has absolutely no association to, or basis in the Shariah. It is when a person seeks nearness to Allah through something that the Messenger of Allah PBUH never sought nearness to Allah with at all, in its very foundation. From the examples of this type of innovation is seeking nearness to Allah through celebrating birthdays, or through dancing and music, or through acting. Give me one narration from hadith or from Quran for celebrating birthday of Prophet PBUH.
2. Bidah idaafiyyah (relative), this is when a person seeks nearness to Allah on account of something by which nearness is in fact sought with Allah in its foundation (asl), but to which he adds something which takes it away from the form that it came with in the Shariah and this is done in respect to six matters:
- al-kam (number)
- al-kayf (form)
- al-jins (type, species)
- al-sabab (cause, reason)
- al-makan (place)
- al-zaman (time)
And an illustration of each is as follows:
al-kam (number): This is when a person worships Allah through altering the number as it relates to acts of worship, such as praying four rakahs for maghrib, or stoning the jamarat in Hajj ten times instead of seven, or making dhikr of Allah through adkhaar a certain number of times that is not established in the Sunnah, such as repeating it five times, when the Sunnah says three and so on.
al-kayf (form): This is when a person changes the form and nature of the act of worship, such as performing an act of worship in unison (such as dhikr) when in the Sunnah it is not done like that, or making saee before the tawaaf in Umrah, or performing wudhu by washing his feet first. All of this is a departure from the form of the act of worship as it has come in the Shariah.
al-jins (type, species): This is when a type or species is mentioned in relation to an act of worship is changed. For example, instead of sacrificing a sheep, a person sacrifices a gazelle or some other animal, which is not from the species specified in the Shari'ah.
al-sabab (cause, reason): This is when a person performs an act of worship due to a reason or cause to which it has not been attached in the Shariah. For example, a funeral prayer is not performed when an eclipse occurs and the eclipse prayer is not performed in relation to other events. Likewise specifying the performance of tahajjud prayer on the night it is claimed that the Messenger ascended to the heavens is another example, and likewise making expiation (by fasting) because of breaking one's promise. Associating acts of worship with reasons or causes not established in the Shariah is a common form of innovation.
al-makan (place): This is when a person stops at a place other than Arafat during Hajj (on the day of Arafat), or makes tawaf and saee at other than the respective places, or when a man makes itikaf in other than a mosque.
al-zaman (time): This is when a person performs acts of worship outside of their legislated times such as sacrificing the animal at the very beginning of the days of Hajj, or specifying the sacrifice of an animal within Ramadan when the Shariah has not specified that, or fasting the Ramadan fasts in another month. It can also be when a person specifies an act of worship for a time that the Shariah has not specified such as making a particular remembrance or recitation of a surah of the Qur'an at a particular time of the day or day of the week, such as when a person specifies the recitation of Surah Mulk on a Wednesday, believing it to be righteousness and nearness to Allah to do so.
The majority of innovations are idaafiyyah (relative) and it is why innovation is deceptive and appealing because it does not appear to be inherently evil, rather it appears as goodness, resembling the Shariah in its essence or foundation, but opposing the Shariah in the abovementioned matters. And this is what indicates the great evil of innovation in that it is alluring and hardly appears to be misguidance. It is for this reason that the Messenger of Allah PBUH would make a recurring warning against innovations, their misguidance and evil.
There are Muslims in India and Pakistan ( majority of those are Hanafi) who worship graves and call it bidah al hasana. They even have verses from Quran to support their claims. There are sub groups within Hanafi Muslims who think Prophet Muhammad PBUH is still alive and he was not a human beings, again they claim to have evidence from Quran and hadith. If you want to be one of those, then that's your choice.
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