Sunnah & Salient features of Ahl al-Bid’ah – Mulla Ali Qari

[Saad]

Assalam o alaykum,

Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari (may Allah have mercy on him) writes,

مرقاة المفاتيح شرح مشكاة المصابيح
وفيه إشارة إلى أن كل سنة تكون شعار أهل البدعة تركها أولى

"It indicates that it is better to forsake every Sunnah which becomes a symbol (salient feature) of the Ahl al-Bid'ah (innovators).” (Mirqaat, 2:479)

If this is the case with Sunnah, then what about things that are just mubah?

Mufti Zar Wali Khan mentioned that one such thing (mubah) that has become an icon of Ahl al-Bid’ah is a green turban. It should not be used by Ahl al-Haq nowadays.

[Sufi_Taliban]

Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazzālī H (d. 505 / 1111; Tūs) wrote an exceedingly insightful and precious exhortation to follow the Sunnah and the way of the salaf and to shun the innovations of the people no matter who they were and how respectable they might be in his Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn, Kitābal-ʿIlm, the sixth chapter called Āfāt al-ʿIlm, where in the course of enumerating the qualities that distinguish the otherworldly ulama from the malefic worldly ones he declaimed:


ومنها أن يكون شديد التوقّي من محدثات الأمور وإن اتفق عليها الجمهور ، فلا يغرنه إطباق الخلق على ما أحدث بعد الصحابة رضي الله عنهم وليكن حريصا على التفتيش عن أحوال الصحابة وسيرتهم وأعمالهم وما كان فيه أكثر همهم .

And among them [that is, the qualities of the otherworldly ulama] is that he should guard assiduously against innovated/introduced matters [in religion] even if the vast majority of people have accepted them and that he should not be deluded by the people’s agreement [about the legitimacy] of something they introduced after the Companions(ra) and that he should be avid in his enquiry about the state of the Companions and their behaviour and their deeds and about what the gave the greatest importance to

Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim in his Sunnah and al-Ṭabarānī in his al-Duʿā’ reported from Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq that the Messenger of Allah(saw) said,


إن إبليس قال أهلكتهم بالذنوب فأهلكوني بالإستغفار فلما رأيت ذلك أهلكتهم بالأهواء فهم يحسبون أنهم مهتدون فلا يستغفرون

Truly Iblīs [Satan] declared, “I destroy them with their sins but then they destroy me by seeking forgiveness. So when I saw that I destroyed them with innovations in beliefs/heresies so that they think that they are rightly guided and so they do not seek forgiveness.

The author of Kanz al-ʿUmmāl mentioned that al-Dāraquṭnī in his hadith compilation al-Afrād narrated that Anas reported,

من غش أمتي فعليه لعنة الله والملائكة والناس أجمعين قالوا يا رسول الله وما الغش قال أن يبتدع لهم بدعة فيعملوا بها .

The Prophet(saw) said, “Whoever cheated my ummah upon him be the curse of Allah and the angels and mankind altogether.” They asked him, “O Messenger of Allah, in what way do they cheat [your ummah]?” He replied, “By introducing some bidʿah which they follow.”

Imām al-Dārimī in his Sunan and al-Ṭabarānī in his al-Kabīr and al-Baihaqī in his Shuʿab al-Īmān all mentioned that the Companion Ibn Masʿūd said, اتَّبِعُوا ولا تَبْتَدِعُوا فَقَدْ كُفِيتُمْ/ “Follow and do not innovate. With this advice I have given you sufficient guidance.”

Abū Shāmah quoted the muḥaddith al-Lalkāʾī (d. 418 / 1027) who mentioned in his book Iʿtiqād Ahl al-Sunnah with a sanad up to ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar that he said,كل بدعة ضلالة وإن رآه الناس حسنة / “Every bidʿah is misguidance even if the people think that it is good.”(Al-Bāʿith ʿala al-Inkār al-Bidaʿ wa al-Ḥawādith, p. 17)

Ibn al-Ḥājj al-Mālikī (d. 737 / 1336; Cairo) reported in his book al-Madkhal, which is one long denunciation of the bidaʿ that had become widespread in his time, that the Prophet k said to Ḥudhaifah, كيف بك يا حذيفة إذا تركت بدعة قالوا ترك سنة / “How will you do O Ḥudhaifah when you give up a bidʿah and the people say you left the Sunnah?
( المدخل لابن الحاجّ المالكي ، 1/39 ، دار الكتب العلمية ، بيروت ، 1415/1995)

[Abu.Aliyah]

Does this include wearing black in Muharram?

[Saad]

Does this include wearing black in Muharram?

Assalam o alaykum,

Mufti Zar Wali Khan has answered this in detail. He said to wear anything black: dress, jacket, coat, turban, topi, is not allowed in the month of Muharram. Same ruling is for women. They should not wear black clothes, veils, chadars, etc. in Muharram.

You can listen to it here.

[Abu.Aliyah]

JazakAllah khair. So what's the recommended alternative for women who normally don the black niqab,hijab,scarf,abaya/burka?

[Saad]

So what's the recommended alternative for women who normally don the black niqab,hijab,scarf,abaya/burka?

Assalam o alaykum,

Brown, blue, purple? I would assume anything they want except white as Mufti Sahib said it is for men. He doesn't recommened white for women.

[Ahmad_shakeel]

what other more things can be listed and shd we avoid them?...

[NeednoName]

Another example of it could be Milad. Even if Milad was considered mubah in beginning, but now it has become salient feature of bidats. They label people Wahabis for not celebrating it.

Assalaam'aaleykum!

[Ahmad_shakeel]

Another example of it could be Milad. Even if Milad was considered mubah in beginning, but now it has become salient feature of bidats. They label people Wahabis for not celebrating it.

Assalaam'aaleykum!

salam,

def. what else?..

[WaliRazi]

Another example of it could be Milad. Even if Milad was considered mubah in beginning, but now it has become salient feature of bidats.

I guess Ahl 'l-Sunnah 'ulama from Arab countries would counter that opposition to Mawlid celebrations in fact has become the salient feature of the people bid'ah (at least in their countries) rather than the other way around.