THERE IS NO GOOD IN BID'AH

By

Ibn Abdillah As-sudaisiy Al-Iloori

Regarding eve of new year tahajjud, a brother sincerely asked: Why can't we just condemn the condemnable acts and not throw away the baby with the bath water?

I replied: No sir, the baby and the water are not useful in this case. The origin of the act itself is void abinitio, so there is no way it can stand the tests of the Sunnah. The general rule is not to do any ibaadah except there is directive about it from the Qur'an and the Sunnah. On this matter, there is no legislation. So, we stick to our daily routines (daily tahajjud). What makes that tahajjud void is not tahajjud itself, it is the intention behind it.

Bid'ah is not just wrong, it is a path of misguidance as it is very clear in a relevant hadith. Anyone who partake in it would incure sins. And if care is not taken, it may even involved bid'ah mukaffirah (innovations involving disbelief). Some of the People of Bid'ah don't just invite  ignorant Muslims for the tahajjud on those nights, they tell them to bring water, wear white clothes and some other strange things that could lead them to shirk. The best way to correct the anomaly are:

1. To stop doing tahajjud in congregation other than in the nights of Ramadan as documented in the Sunnah and the way of the Salaf.

2. To stop doing tahajjud individually or in congregation to specifically commemorate the eve of January 1st or Muharram 1st.

3. To observe tahajjud on any night we so wish (including eves of January 1st and Muharram 1st) individually without having the intention of attaching it to the new year. One doesn't even need to tell anyone about it for fear of riyaa' (show off).

Then, I have observed that one of the biggest problem many Muslims face today is lack of boldness to leave an act of bid'ah that one is accustomed to for many years. So, instead of leaving that bid'ah after knowing the truth about it, one would try to look for some weak excuses to remain upon it despite its clear derogation from the Sunnah. We have abandoned many acts after knowing their bid'ah status, in sha Allaah, we would keep trying to make sure that all our acts of ibaadah are free from bid'ah and riyaa'.

May Allaah make this easy for us.