Bid'ah

This article is about the Arabic term. For the city see Bida, Nigeria.

In Islam, bid‘ah (Template:ArB "innovation") is an improper religious belief, specifically religious innovation or practices that were not advocated by Muhammad.

The role of bid`ah is a hotly debated by Muslim scholars. Many Sunni Muslims consider it to be a violation of fundamental Islamic principles, and thus those who engage in bid`ah are accused of practicing heresy. They base this in part on a hadith recorded in al-Bukhari and al-Muslim, reported by Aisha, in which Muhammad said, "Whoever innovates into this affair of ours something that we have not commanded it is to be rejected." Another is: "Every innovation is misguidance and every misguidance is in the hellfire."

However, there are also many Sunni Muslims who differentiate between an innovation of misguidance and an innovation of guidance. Such beneficial innovation is known as "Bid`ah hasana" which means "good innovation". The good innovations are those innovations that comply with the Qur'an and the narrations of Hadith, whereas the bad innovations or 'innovations of misguidance' are those innovations that do not comply with the Qur'an and the narrations of Muhammad. Every innovation created by the people of knowledge that complies with the Qur'an and acceptable hadith is a good innovation, as indicated by the following hadith of Muhammad narrated by al-Muslim:

"The one who innovates a good innovation in Islam has its reward and the reward of those who would practice with it until the Day of Judgement ­­without lessening the rewards of those who practice with it. The one who innovates the innovation of misguidance, would take the sin for it and the sin of those who practice with it until the Day of Judgement ­­without lessening the sin of those who practice with it".

External links

• Bid'ah - Innovation in Islam
• The Concept of Bid'a in the Islamic Shari'a
• Innovation in Light of the Perfection of the Shari'ah