In the Name of Allah,
All praise is due to Allah, the one who guides.
If anyone introduces an innovation, he will be responsible for it. If anyone introduces an innovation or gives shelter to a man who introduces an innovation (in religion), he is cursed by Allah, by His angels, and by all the people.(Abu Dawood Book 39, Number 4515)
You must then follow my sunnah and that of the rightly-guided caliphs. Hold to it and stick fast to it. Avoid novelties, for every novelty is an innovation, and every innovation is an error. (Abu Dawood Book 40, Number 4590)
Many a times I hear Muslims argue over the word Bid'aa (Innovation). One will say to the other that you are creating this Bid'aa in the worship hence causing our religion to change, and the other will say where is the proof. Proof usually is the principle of Fiqh they quote which says "Everything in worship is haram, except what permitted, and every non-worship thing is halal except what is prohibited."
However, this is a mis-understanding that has remained with the scholar for centuries now, because it is almost impossible to differentiate between worship and non-worship acts. And, anyone who likes the innovation will continue to support and find a way to make it not worship, and the other person will try to label it worship.
Today, I would like to present a better version of this Fiqh principle which can benefit Muslims in centuries to come. First we have to understand the reason for Islam to be sent to us. Moreover, human beings were created with basic guidance mechanism which is present inside our conciousness and it can help us guide to success without Islam. However, we also have a tendancy of desire which overshadows our basic guidance. Also, the human being consider something to be fact using six things. Five are the senses and the sixth is the logic.
Humans will time and time again use these six abilities to evaluate cases and decide what to do next. Now, if Allah did not send Islam, Humans can continue to build societies that succeed, as can be seen in Non-Muslim countries, so there is a power in the six abilities, but humans will fall in the trap of desire and go stray from the success. Islam provides the balance in the human societies by prohibiting the things that seems beneficial using the six abilities, but they are not in long term. This is one half of Islam.
Humans also are being of imagination and they would like to imagine things that can not be preceived by the six abilities, and will try to justify them by claiming to have faith on them. Once it becomes the matter of faith other humans can do very little to disprove these, and hence humans keep increasing these imagination as time goes on and it will become the driving force in their lives and mixed with their desires it will bring them back from success. Islam was send to prohibit all forms of faith accepts the faith from Allah. This puts a lid on the addition to the faith and keep it to the faiths that are beneficial for us.
By now, smarter of you have guessed the new principal of Fiqh that can be more clear and precise in defending the innovation which are not beneficial for us.
Yes, "Every belief is prohibited except what's permitted by Allah and his Messenger (PBUH), and every Tangible/Logical thing is halal except what is prohibited."
Proof for the first part is the testimony every Muslim gives "There is no God, except Allah". What we saying is that we will not have faith in anything unseen except what Allah tell us. Proof for second part is proven many times and it is inherited in the verses of the Quran where Allah tell us that everything he created for us is good, and then he told us certain things that are not benefit for us and he created to test us.
So, now if any Muslim wants to add a good innovation has to pass the above test, and prove it to us that it is not a matter of faith but tangible/logical thing that we can perceive. If the innovation turns out to be only a belief on something that can not be perceived, and it is not taught by Quran and Sunnah, it becomes the innovation that is not allowed.
I hope this will help me and others evaluate the opinions of the scholars throughout centuries and find their true standing against Islam.
JazakAllah Khairin
A tangible and logical person who believes in Allah
AbuArman Jumani
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