All praises are due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May prayers and peace be upon the noblest of messengers. With that being said:
Here are important principles for understanding, grasping innovation, and responding to it, all while understanding the essence of the Sounnah. If the student of knowledge masters them, then they will have acquired abundant blessings, and Allah will have opened for them a great door in understanding what innovation and the Sounnah truly are. They will be able to respond to the greatest innovators on this earth with these principles, providing compelling and irrefutable arguments.
The First Foundation
The first foundation in the prohibition of innovation lies in the words of the Most High (in approximate translation):
“Today I have perfected for you your religion, completed My favor upon you, and have approved for you Islam as religion.” [Surah 5,v. 3]
First: To any innovator, ask them: “Is what you do an act of worship or a lack of behavior?” They cannot say it’s a lack of behavior; they will definitely say it’s worship. This is the first point: asking them this question.
Second: Ask them: “Is your religion complete, or is it still deficient?” They cannot say it’s deficient; they will rather say it’s complete. This is the second point. Then, bring them to the third subject.
Third: Ask them: “This innovation you have made, either you affirm that the religion was deficient and you completed it with this innovation, or this religion is already perfected, so beware of novelties.”
“All good is in following those who preceded, While all evil is in the innovation of those who succeeded.”
Our Cheikh, Cheikh Mohammed Aman Ibn ‘Ali Al Jami, may Allah have mercy on him, repeated this verse and said: “It is the most truthful verse in (the poem) Jawahir Al Tawhid, which is about the Ash’arite belief.” He also said: “If only he had applied this verse to his belief, as it attested to the belief of those who succeeded.”
This is the first foundation, which you argue by this verse.
The Second Foundation
The second foundation by which you refute innovation and silence the greatest innovators is the saying of the Prophet: “Whoever introduces into our matter (religion) something that is not part of it, it will be rejected.”
You say: “Is this thing part of our matter (religion)? Bring the proof. If you say it’s a novelty, then I say it’s rejected, as clearly stated in the hadith.”
The Third Foundation
The Prophet used to repeat in every Friday sermon: “Beware of new things, for every novelty (in religion) is innovation, and every innovation is misguidance.” He reiterated this statement to the extent that the young companions memorized it.
I consciously used to add “good”, saying: “and every innovation is good.” People would correct me, even in Africa, which proves that people know the hadith. They say: “No, brother Ibrahim, every innovation is misguidance.” So, praises are due to Allah. Okay, then why, when you are informed that this innovation is misguidance, do you respond: “No, our Cheikh, he says it’s a good innovation”? By Allah, people laughed, for we confronted them with the pure nature (Fitrah). We say your prophet says every innovation is misguidance, while you say: “No, by Allah, he said it’s a good innovation.”
The Fourth Foundation
We say: “The acts of worship with which the Prophet came, did they come from himself, or were they the fruit of revelation from heaven?” He will respond that it is a revelation from heaven. Then, you say to him: “Give me evidence.” He will say: “He does not speak out of desire, it is only a revelation” [Surah 53,v. 3]. Okay, your worship that you have innovated, was it descended upon you by a revelation from the heavens? Whereas revelation has ended (after the death of the Prophet).
The Fifth Foundation
This is a response to an ambiguity. They say: “Why do you criticize when we do good things like celebrating the Prophet’s birth (Mawlid)? We remember his biography, study it, and our faith increases in our hearts.”
The response to this is that: “Not every good-looking thing can be used to worship Allah.” The proof of this is the hadith of the three individuals, where the first said: “As for me, I will pray the entire night.” The other said: “I will fast continuously.” The last said: “For my part, I will avoid women and never marry.” The Messenger of Allah then came to them and said: “Is it indeed you who said this and that? By Allah, I fear Allah more than you, but I fast at times and break it at others. I pray part of the night and sleep another, and I marry women. Whoever turns away from my Sounnah is not of me.”
Note, when the matter was serious and concerned a novelty in religion, he ascended the pulpit. So, the rule is that “just because something seems good on the surface does not mean it can be used to worship Allah.”
The Sixth Foundation
Worship, if it lacks the condition of conformity (to the model of the Prophet), then it is never called worship, even if you worship Allah a hundred times with this worship, and the proof of this is the hadith of the one who performed prayer incorrectly.
From where did we extract the argumentative witness (from the hadith)? The man prayed with certainty, and the Prophet spoke the truth in saying: “You did not pray.” How then can you reconcile two things that oppose and contradict each other in appearance?
The answer: since he did not pray in accordance with the Sounnah, following the prayer of the Prophet, then it was not considered worship, it was as if he had not prayed.
So, we say: “Your innovation by which you wanted to worship Allah is not considered worship, even if you call it so.”
The Seventh Foundation
This foundation, in itself, holds great importance, allowing us to refute innovation. It affirms: “The Prophet showed the community the good he knew and warned against the evil he knew. The greatest evils he warned against are shirk and innovation.” The proof is in the authentic hadith of Mouslim, where the Prophet said: “It was the duty of every prophet to show his community the good he knew and to warn them against the evil he knew.” So, we worship Allah on this basis and attest that our Prophet guided the community to all good and warned it against all evil.
So, we say to the innovator: “Is your innovation a good thing (known to the Prophet)?”
If he answers yes, then we say: “Bring evidence (of the revelation) that this is indeed the case. Initially, you qualified it as innovation simply because it is new.”
If he answers no, then we tell him that two possibilities are open to you:
You assert that the Prophet was unaware of this good and that you were the first to reveal it, along with the other impostors.
You assert that the Prophet concealed this (so-called) good, so the saying of Imam Malik applies to you: “Whoever innovates in Islam and sees that his innovation is good, has indeed claimed that Mohammed betrayed the message of prophethood.”
An Athar that supports and testifies to this foundation is the saying of Ibn Mas’oud, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: “By Him in Whose hand is my soul, you are on a path whose guidance is better than Mohammed’s religion, or you are opening a door of misguidance.”
Our Prophet guided the community to all good and warned it against all evil. So either your path is on better guidance than that of the Prophet, or you are opening a door of misguidance.
The Eighth Foundation
This is a response to an ambiguity that seeks to justify their innovations, like the Mawlid, by the hadith: “Whoever introduces into Islam a good tradition will have its reward and the reward of those who act according to it, without that detracting from their rewards in the slightest.”
We do not say: “So woe to those who pray” [Surah 107,v. 4], and then stop here. The meaning of the Prophet’s saying: “Whoever introduces into Islam a good tradition” becomes clear if you come with the complete hadith. But to quote the hadith to take what you like and leave what testifies against you, this is not permissible.
This hadith is related to a story. A group of people, poor, wearing tattered clothes, and hungry came to the Prophet. When he saw their state of need, he changed his expression. And he is the most compassionate and generous of creatures towards creation. Then the call to group prayer was made, when the people gathered, he commanded and encouraged them to give charity. A man brought a bag of food that he could not carry with his hand; he put it in front of the Prophet. Seeing this, the companions followed him in this gate of good that he had opened, some came with a bushel of wheat, barley, dates… until two large quantities of food and clothing were gathered near the Prophet. It was then that he said: “Whoever introduces into Islam a good tradition.” By this, he aimed at the first who had brought a bag filled with food that he could not carry. It is not intended by this text that you invent a Tijani, Naqshbandi, etc., way, and then say: “Whoever introduces into Islam a good tradition.”
The Ninth Foundation
This foundation is a response to the innovation of specification, which consists of introducing a specific worship, at a defined time, and in a particular form. This worship is rejected and not accepted. For example: specifying Friday night for night prayer and fasting on this day. The Prophet prohibited such practice. The proof is that he said: “Do not specify Friday night among other nights by staying up in prayer, and do not specify Friday by fasting, except if it is included in continuous fasting.” Reported by Mouslim.
Source: Telegram Channel of Cheikh Ibrahim Al Mouhaymid, may Allah preserve him.