What is Bid'ah?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Bismi Allah AlRahman AlRaheem
(In the name of Allah the Most Gracious the Most Merciful)

---

Bid'ah means to innovate/invent something into Islam, or to introduce something believing it will draw us closer to Allah and increase us in reward.

Allah (Subhana wa Ta'Ala) says in Surat Al Ma'ida - verse 3

"ٱلۡيَوۡمَ أَكۡمَلۡتُ لَكُمۡ دِينَكُمۡ وَأَتۡمَمۡتُ عَلَيۡكُمۡ  نِعۡمَتِى وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ ٱلۡإِسۡلَـٰمَ دِينً۬ا‌ۚ "
(This day have I perfected for you your religion and have completed My favour unto you, and have chosen Islam as your religion)

From the above verse we can take away one thing for certain, and that is that Islam had been completed at the time of Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him).

The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to say, when beginning a khutbah (sermon): "… The best of speech is the Book of Allah and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. The worst of things are those which are newly-invented, and every innovation is a going astray…"
(reported by Muslim, no. 867)

The Prophet (peace be upon him) stated that "whoever innovates something new in the deen (religion) will have his deed rejected, and Allah will not accept it" as is stated in the hadeeth narrated by 'Aa'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), who said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: 'Whoever innovates something in this matter of ours that is not a part of it will have it rejected.'"
(Reported by al-Bukhaari, Fath al-Baari, no. 2697).

As for thoise who say Bid'ah Hasanah (A good Innovation) the question is, What makes it good? and are you saying that Allah or Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) kept something from us that may have given us benefit? AstaghfuruAllah

If we accept Innovations then we are saying the the Deen (Islam) is incomplete, and as we know Allah says it's complete? So who's right> Allah of course.

The Shaytan Loves Bid'ah because we are unlikly to repent beleiving it to be good

Some may argue what is the harm is so and so? Well the harm comes to us all as inviduals as we are not following the Quran and Sunnah.  But also and importantly future generations brought up believing that such innovations are from Islam/Islamic.

Allah (Subhana wa Ta'Ala) tells us in Surat Al Imran verse 103

"...وَٱعۡتَصِمُواْ بِحَبۡلِ ٱللَّهِ جَمِيعً۬ا  وَلَا تَفَرَّقُواْ‌ۚ "
(And hold firm, all together to the rope of Allah, and be not divided/Seperated...)

The rope of Allah is The Quran and the Sunnah and further to this Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) said in his farewell sermon "I leave two things, hold on to them and you will not go astray. They are the Quran and my Sunnah"

We can see from the above examples that we have been given clear direction as to what to hold on to and what we should leave. Therefore it is fardh (An obligation) to seek islamic knowledge so that we are able to understand what is from Islam i.e. the Quran and the Sunnah and what is Bid'ah

Note: Real life bears witness that whenever a bid'ah is followed, a sunnah practice 
dies out; the reverse is also true. 

Finally, to clarify Bid'ah with a simple example:-

The Mushaf was compiled after the passing of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) is this a Bid'ah? 

No, because having a mushaf is not an act of worship, We have been told by the Prophet to Recite the quran as there is reward in it and therefore nothing has changed only the format.

If I was to say that you can only read the Quran in the form of a Mushaf (book) then this would be an innovation.

We ask Allah to save us from the misguidance of personal whims and from following any form of Bid'ah whether they are open or secret. And Allah knows best

Other common questions-