A Clarification of Doubts Regarding Innovation
Al-ʿAllāmah Ṣāliḥ ibn Fawzān al-Fawzān
A much-needed explanation of the foundations of innovation in Religion. It starts with the linguistic meaning of ‘bidʿah’ and ends with a lengthy warning against the age-old plot of Ahl al-Bidʿah: bidʿah ḥasanah (good innovation). The article also includes elucidative notes from Ibn Rajab, Ibn Ḥajar, and others.
His saying, ‘and beware of the newly invented matters, and every bidʿah is a misguidance’ contains a warning to the ummah from following the newly invented innovations, and he stressed this by saying, ‘and every innovation is a misguidance’. And the meaning of bidʿah is everything that is newly invented that has no basis in the Sharīʿah that would prove it.
