The position of Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama’ah with regards to innovators and heretics

The position of Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama’ah has been to disassociate themselves also from innovators and heretics. This is called in Arabic, Bid’ah. It is defined as a contrivance; something fashioned without precedence or antecedents; something new.

Thus it is said, “Allah fashioned creation”, that is He initiated it out of nothing. And likewise, Allah says,

The Originator of the heavens and the earth [Al-Baqara 2:117]

and He says,

Say, I am no new thing among the messengers [Al-Ahqaf 46:9]

or rather, ‘I was not the first messenger to the people of the earth’. The term is applied to the inventions of the heart, inventions uttered by the tongue, inventions committed by the hand [Tartushi, Kitab al-Hawadith wal Bida', 38-39, revised by, Muhammad Talibi]

Ibn al-Jawzi said: “The term Bid’ah applies to something which was not done before, thus an invention. The problem with it is that it comes up against the Shari’ah by differing with it, it therefore obliges one to either add something to it or remove something from it” [Talbees Iblees, p. 26.]

Some may object that this is nothing to do with the subject of alliance and disassociation, which rests essentially upon the distinction between Muslims and non- Muslims. In response to this I can only say:

First, innovation in religion represents an urgent and pressing peril to Islam. This is because it is divided into varying degrees ranging from clear disbelief, to hypocrisy, to disobedience or rebellion. Imaam Shaatibi said: “Bid’ah is divided into varying degrees ranging from clear disbelief, such as the Bid’ah of Jaahiliyah which the Qur’an warns against in Allah’s verse:

And they consecrate to Allah a portion of the crops and the cattle which He created saying, ‘This is for Allah’, or so they claim, ‘and this is for our partners’ [Al-An'am 6:136]

and again in,

They say, ‘That which is in the bellies of these cattle is for our males alone, and forbidden to our females, but if it is born dead, then all have shares therein.’[Al-An'am 6:139]

and finally,

Allah has not instituted things like Bahi’ra or a Sa’iba, or a Wasi’la or a Haam [Al-Ma'idah 5:103. Bahi'ra was a she-camel whose milk was spared for the idols alone. Sa'iba was a she-camel let loose for free grazing for their false gods and nothing was allowed to be carried on it. Wasi'la was a she-camel set free for idols because it has given birth to a she-camel both on its first delivery and second delivery. Haam was a stallion-camel freed from labour, after it had finished the siring assigned for it. All these animals were liberated in honour of idols, as a practise of the pagan Arabs in Pre-Islamic period.]

Then there is the invention of the hypocrites who clothe themselves in the cloak of religion as an expedient, to secure for themselves some social or pecuniary advantage, the likes of which can leave no doubt but that they are clearly disbelievers” [Shaatibi al-l'tisaam, 2/37.]

Thus the matter of what is to be permitted and what is to be forbidden is a matter for Allah alone and whoever impinges upon this has assumed a divine quality. Likewise, Allah is the creator and his is all authority over creation. Did He not say,

His verily is all creation and commandment [Al-A'raf 7:54]

and also,

And do not utter that which your tongues falsely declare, ‘this is lawful and this is forbidden’, inventing a lie against Allah [An-Nahl 16:116]

These represent an invention which is itself disbelief. Their author and partisan is the object of hatred and scorn. After he is warned and cautioned we are to struggle against him with all our might. We disassociate ourselves from him as we do from any self-declared disbeliever. The Prophet said, “Whoever introduces anything new in this business of mine, he is rejected” [Bukhari, Kitab as-Sulh, 5/301, Hadith 2697, and Muslim, Kitab al-Aqdiyya, 3/1343, Hadith 1718.] (This could also be rendered in English, ‘it is rejected’, since Arabic does not possess any neuter pronoun like the English ‘it’. The reference is ambiguous because of this grammatical feature, though the ambiguity cannot be easily conveyed into English. This interpretation follows the argument of the author who maintains that the Hadith provides proof of disbelief. For a detailed discussion of it see Fath al-Bari, Sharh al-Qastalani li-Sahih al-Bukhari, or Imam an-Nawawi’s Sharh of Sahih Muslim)

Al-Baghawi said: “Scholars of Sunnah have agreed that religious innovators and their cronies should be shown animosity and be deserted” [Sharh as-Sunnah, 1/227.] Shaatibi proceeded in his classification of Bid’ah saying: “Some kinds of innovation are essentially disobedience rather than disbelief though there is disagreement about it. Thus some are unsure about the status of the Khawarij and the Qadariyyah and others, among the quasi-heretical sects.

Then there is the kind of innovation which, all are agreed, is disobedience but not disbelief; such as asceticism, self-mortification by standing all day in the sun and fasting, and castrating oneself in renunciation of sexual desire. There is innovation which is reprehensible (makruh), such as making a communal du’a at Arafat during the Hajj; blessing the names of rulers during the Friday prayer as Ibn Abd as-Salam Sha’fii said and so on” [Shaatibi, al-l'tisaam, 2/37] Thus, Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama’ah free themselves from all these heretics and innovators.

Secondly, the Salaf scholars have all warned about the dangers of Bid’ah and that posed by those who love it. Ibn Mas’ud said, for example, “Everyone who wants to follow someone must follow those who came before, who have died. These are the Companions of the Prophet, who were the best of this Ummah. They were the purest of heart, the most profound in knowledge, and the simplest in living. They were His religion. So emulate their manners and their customs for theirs was the Straight Path” people whom Allah chose to be the Companions of His Prophet, and the purveyors of [al-Baghawi, Sharh Sunnah, 1/214]

Sufyan at-Thawri said that “Innovation is dearer to Satan than disobedience since it is possible to repent from disobedience but innovation knows no repentance” [Ibid. 1/216]

Imam Malik said, “Whoever introduces into this Ummah something which was unknown before him has accused the Prophet of betraying the faith. For Allah has said, “Today I have completed for you your religion” [al-Ma'idah 5:3] What was not a part of religion on that day, is no part of it today” [al-I'tisaam 2/53]

Shaatibi, may Allah have mercy upon him, divides the pernicious effects of innovation into two categories:

(1) It opposes and challenges Allah’s law. Thus the innovator considers himself to be in a position to rectify Allah’s Shari’ah, he is not satisfied with it as it is.

(2) All innovation, large or small, tries to legitimize itself; whether it adds something to the Shari’ah, takes something away from it, or perverts something formerly correct; it could be something totally unknown, or it could attach itself parasitically onto some valid act of worship. In any event, whoever deliberately introduces such a thing into religion has disbelieved, whether it is to add to the Shari’ah or to take something away, large or small, he is a disbeliever. [al-I'tisaam, 2/61]

This view is supported generally by the evidence which indicated the sinfulness of innovation. The Prophet said, “All innovation is a going astray” [Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Jumua, 2/592 (867)] and he said, “Who calls others to error, his sins are as weighty as all of the sins of his followers and this does not lighten their burden in the slightest” [Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Ilm, 4/2060 (2674)]

One of our early scholars remarked, “Don’t sit with the heretics or (he said) contentious people, I fear that you may become immersed in their foolishness which they will try to foist upon you” [Sharh Sunnah, 1/227]

This should make the position clear. The belief of Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama’ah is that disassociation should include all innovators (Mubtadi’ah), particularly those with disbelieving innovations. We will return to this topic again later, Insha’ Allah.

From Muhammad Saeed al-Qahtani’s book ‘al-Walaa wal Baraa” Vol 2