IS BID’AH WORSE THAN SIN?

Among the famous quotations on the lips of some of our brothers is that bid’ah (heresy and religious innovation) is worse and more severe than a sin. Which the intended meaning is that bid’ah is even more worse than the Kabaa’ir (major sins). Many of them explicitly cite examples that someone who does adhkar in unison is more worse than a fornicator, someone who attends every sunday asalatu is worse than the one who tell lies. And etc.. They say because a sinner can easily repent from his sin unlike an innovator/heretic who is always staunch justifying his heresy. Invariably, they conclude a sinning Muslim is better and can be associated with than a mubtadee’ (heretic/innovator).

Among their evidences for making such conclusion are:

1: The statement attributed to Imam Sufyaan ath-Thawri by Ibn Taemiyyah, that he said:
“إن البدعة أحب إلى إبليس من المعصية، لأن البدعة لا يُتاب منها، والمعصية يُتاب منها”
“bid’ah is more beloved to the shaytan than sin, this is because heresy cannot be (easily) repented of, but sin can be repented of”.

2: Bid’ah is more of Shirk and it negates the belief in the prophethood of the prophet.
أن البدعة قرينة الشرك فهي تنافي شهادة أن محمدًا رسول الله
Amongst other related points they submit.

I will not mince my word, the set of Muslims who have this ideology and spread this mischievous creed are nothing but ignorants. This kind of belief has nothing to do with Islam and Islam is free from it.

When you want to solve a problem, you have to understand its genesis, else you will create more problem at the long run. The genesis of this erroneous creed is that some set of Muslims have fabricated some principles, in which they base their Islamic understanding upon; unfortunately these principles are only wordings of their revered scholars which were established in fighting fellow Muslims they termed “adversaries”. Unfortunately, these principles lack support from the Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet.

They didn’t look at the objectives of the Quran and Sunnah to understand the statements of the Salaf. They created their own maxims and consider as an adversary anyone who doesn’t subscribe to the maxims.

Isn’t it amazing that those who totally forbid the intellect as a source of legislation are the one who abuse its application by coining unrelated principles to justify their maxims?!

As regard the statement of Imam ath-Thawriy, it is interesting to note that Imam Sufyaan is among the Taabi’ Taabi-oon, and obviously one among the Salaf, but in term of accepting his lone statement as an evidence, his lone statement will not be accepted over the general opinion of all other Taabi’ Taabi-oon in his same rank. His lone statement will never be superior than that of the earliest Muslims before him (the Taabi-oon). Neither will his lone opinion has more weight than a lone report of any of the Sahabah or their consensus. And definitely not over the Ahaadith and the glorious book of Allah.

It is likewise important to understand the context of which Imam Sufyan Thawri was talking then. Ath-Thawri who was talking in Kuufah in the mid of the 2nd century Hijri during the reign of Abu Ja’far al-Mansoor of the Abbasiyyah government, who wanted Sufyaan ath-Thawri dead, in which the Khawarij and many people of Bid’ah were staging coup, revolting against the authority and causing fitnah in the whole territory. Even Imam Sufyaan ath-Thawri had to run away from the Khaleefah and Kuufah till he died hiding in Basrah in year 161AH.

The ignorance of not studying the genesis and context of the statements of the Salaf before taking it as an evidence is not tolerated.

What bid’ah was Sufyan ath-Thawri referring to? Was it the Fiqh differed
upon issues termed bid’ah today? Ask anyone who quotes that wording as an evidence to tell the bid’ah in which Sufyaan was referring to. If he says all bid’ah are the same, then he further exposes his ignorance.

This is even if Imam Sufyaan Ath-Thawri truly uttered the statement; because majority of his jurisprudential opinions and works were been erased and burnt. He himself made a bequest before his death telling Ammar bn Sayf to erase and burn his books.

That is the reason we have to look at the objectives of the Quran and Sunnah to understand any statement from any of the Salaf (either a consensus or lone one).

Dear brethren, there is no doubt that all bid’ah (religious innovated acts) are misguidance. Yes all bid’ah are evil. And no one should find goodness in something the Prophet termed evil. I don’t believe there’s a bid’ah called hasanah. The genesis of this term (bid’ah hasanah) was due to the pressure of scholars over what is considered bid’ah. They accepted for the sake of argument that even if you regard this as bid’ah (in your own term) then it is a good one. Not that they established there’s goodness in bid’ah. The major issue is on what is being termed bid’ah – if truly it is bid’ah or not. Some matters have been termed bid’ah but upon verification, they are established acts in Islam and not BID’AH. The problem isn’t in theorizing bid’ah, rather it’s in its application.

Interestingly, all scholars have explained that even though every innovation is misguidance, it is also a kind of sin, and sins vary in degree, depending on the extent to which they are contrary to Islamic teaching. How then will a bid’ah (sin) be more worse than another sin even when it is of less proportion? Can you see where the ignorance set in now? Even all the Saudi top scholars explained bid’ah is also a sin, and they never say bid’ah is automatically worse than sin.

Both bid’ah and ma’siyah are disobedience to the teachings of Islam which constitutes sin. If we are to go by the cheap incorrect analogy that made them conclude bid’ah is more worse than a sin, we should rather say sin (ma’siyah) is even worse than bid’ah because a sinner negates the belief in the rule of Allah, unlike a mubtadee’ who only negates the belief in the rule of the Prophet, as bid’ah is the contrary of Sunnah; and the rulings of Allah are undoubtedly superior over the wordings of the Prophet. But we won’t say such because it is a wrong pick and choose analogy. Rather, sins (either bid’ah or ma’siyah) vary in degree, depending on the extent to which they are contrary to Islamic teaching.

Among the genesis of this problem is placing the Ahaadith ruling over the Qur’an. Instead of studying the objectives of the Qur’an to understand the Sunnah of the Prophet. As the Qur’an never requires human effort authentication unlike the Ahaadith of the Prophet that are subjected to verification and authentication by humans.

Imam Shaatibi, whose work is famously quoted while discussing the topic of bid’ah, asserted in his book I’tisaam Vol 2 pg 353-355, he explains that:
“It is established in the principles of Islam that Shari’ah rulings fall into five categories. If we take away three of them [namely: waajib (obligatory), mandoob (sunnah) and mubaah (permissible)], what is left is the ruling of makrooh (disliked) and the ruling of haraam (prohibited). Therefore we should think of innovation as falling into two categories: some are prohibited innovations and some are disliked innovations.

That is because innovation comes under the heading of disallowed things, and disallowed things are either makrooh (disliked) or haraam (prohibited). Therefore innovation is likewise. This is from one perspective.

From another perspective, if you think of the content of the innovation, you will find that innovations are of various categories:

Some of them constitute blatant disbelief (Kufr), Some of them constitute sins, but do not come under the heading of disbelief, or there is a difference of opinion as to whether they constitute disbelief or not, such as the innovations of the Khawaarij, Qadaris, and similar misguided groups. Some of them constitute sins, but there is scholarly consensus that they do not constitute disbelief, such as the innovations of celibacy, fasting whilst standing in the sun, and castration for the purpose of stopping sexual desire.

Some of them are disliked but do not constitute any sin, as (Imam) Maalik said about following Ramadhan immediately with six days of Shawwaal, or gathering to offer supplication (du‘aa’) on the afternoon of the day of ‘Arafah, and so on…” end quote.

And in the same I’tisaam, Vol 1 pg 286, Ash-Shaatibi buttresses:

“As it is proven that the innovator is a sinner, then we should note that sins are not all of the same level of seriousness. Rather sin varies in degree, and the reason for it varying depends on many factors, according to the fiqhi point of view. It may vary according to whether the one who does it thinks that he is qualified to engage in ijtihaad, or he is following someone else in his innovation; or according to whether the innovation has to do with the necessities (as defined by Islamic teaching) or needs or good but non-essential matters; and in each of these categories there are subcategories; or according to whether the innovator is concealing it or doing it openly; or according to whether he is promoting it or not; or according to whether, in addition to promoting it, he is also rebelling against authority or not; or according to whether the innovation is introducing an entirely new act of worship or adding something to an already established act of worship (and doing it in a manner other than that which is prescribed); or according to whether it is clear or ambiguous; or according to whether it constitutes disbelief or not; or according to whether he is persisting in it or not…And there are other factors to determine whether the level of sin incurred by innovation is great or small.” end quote…

You can see some of the factors to consider to determine which sin weighs more. If not ignorance, how can you just think a person who castrated himself for the sake of stopping sexual desire (a bid’ah) is more sinful than a fornicator? No! A fornicator constitutes more evil to the society than the former, his own sin weighs more. Fornication is explicitly condemned by the Qur’an and mutawaatirah (undisputed) ahadith of the Prophet and there’s a stipulated legal punishment for its doer unlike the one who castrated himself.

A sin that a direct clear-cut quranic verse established can never be compared to a bid’ah that no clear-cut evidence established.

Anyone who is possessed of reason and religious commitment will know that major sins, such as adultery, theft, murder, backbiting, defamation, apostasy, drinking alcohol, homosexuality, neglecting solaat, telling lies, disobeying the parents, sorcery, oppressing the orphans, and the like, are worse than many innovations that are connected to practices, such as celebrating the night of Israa and Mi’raaj, fasting all day without breaking and the likes. It is extremely unintelligent for anyone to believe that minor innovations such as these are worse before Allah and are more serious by Islamic standards than the sins and shameful deeds that I have mentioned above.

Perhaps another genesis of this problem is lack of understanding of what really constitutes bid’ah. Some think any act that didn’t come from the Prophet should be tagged bid’ah. This is wrong. Rather, bid’ah is any act that negates the teachings of the Prophet. Then what is the teaching of the Prophet? It is the understanding of the objectives of the Qur’an and his sunnah with its entire kinds. We have clear examples of Bid’ah like celebrating the night of Israa and Mi’raaj, considering what isn’t bid’ah as an act of bid’ah, Praying, fasting or doing any ibaadah in a way contrary to how it was Islamically legislated, observing 3 rak’ah of Subh is a bid’ah, Intentionally doing 3 rukuu in a rak’ah is a bid’ah, fasting all day without breaking is a bid’ah, the belief that a sinning salafi is better than an upright non-salafi is a bid’ah, deliberate act of not having sex with one’s wife after a period of 4 months (without any legitimate excuse) is a bid’ah, and etc. Bid’ah is that which negates the teachings of the Prophet solla Allahu alayhi wa sallam.

To the yoruba speakers, I’ve discussed in two volumes a lecture on the concept of bid’ah; you can find the link below or via Halqah Ibn Taofeeq Facebook page:

1: https://m.facebook.com/groups/1219889145143341/permalink/1285446121920976/

2:
https://m.facebook.com/groups/1219889145143341/permalink/1320469051752016/

As widely accepted as Saheeh Bukhari is, Imam Bukhari narrated reports from religious heretic reporters (ruwaat). Ibn Hajar asqalaani counted not less than 69 reporters that Imam Bukhari narrated from in his Saheeh, who are all mubtadi’oon in aqeedah. Not to talk of Imam Muslim and other scholars of hadith who relied upon and narrated reports from the mubtadi’oon, and these books of ahadith are books we all rely on and take the sunnah from. They all narrated from heretic reporters so far they aren’t liars. The Salaf in reality considered a liar worse than a mubtadee’. That is even heresy in aqeedah, yet they considered it less to sins that have been established by the glorious Qur’an.

If you care about the statement of the revered scholar of the modern day Salafiyyah, Sheikh Rabii’u Al-Madkhali. On this same issue, Al-Madkhali said:
“telling lies is more worse than bid’ah O brothers, the scholars of ahlu Sunnah consider a liar worse than a mubtadee’ (heretic), hadith can be reported from a mubtadee’, the scholars of hadith reported ahadith from the Qadariyyah, Murji-ah, and other bid’ah sects of wrong creeds, so far the bid’ah of the reporter (raawiy) is not the one which constitutes disbelief (kufru) and so far he isn’t a liar. They consider a liar as worse, and for this reason, Ibn Adiyy (born 277AH) in his 9 volume hadith book (al-Kaamil fi du’aafai rijaal) wrote about 29 chapters on liars, and only a chapter on the people of Bid’ah. And the scholars of ahlu Sunnah would accept the reports of a mubtadee’ so far he isn’t a liar.” he said this during a Q&A session at the seminar of Imam Abdul Azeez bn Baz in Taa’if, in the King Fahd mosque. On the 22nd of Jumaada l aakhirah 1426 AH.

Arabic text:
وقال الشيخ العلامة المحدث ربيع بن هادي المدخلي – حفظه الله تعالى: (الكذب أخبث من البدع يا إخوان، الكذاب أخبث عند أهل السنة من المبتدع، المبتدع يُروى عنه، رووا عن القدرية، رووا عن المرجئة ورووا عن غيرهم من أصناف أهل البدع ما لم تكن بدعة كفرية، ما لم يكن كذابًا، لو كان ينتمي إلى أهل السنة كذاب فهو عندهم أحط من أهل البدع، ومن هنا عقد ابن عدي – رحمه الله – في كتابه (الكامل) حوالي 29 بابًا للكذابين وبابًا واحدًا لأهل البدع وقَبِل أهل السنة رواية أهل البدع الصادقين غير الدعاة) أ. هـ [من إجابة عن سؤال وجه لفضيلته في المحاضرة التي افتتح بها دورة الإمام عبد العزيز بن باز رحمه الله العلمية في الطائف بمسجد الملك فهد رحمه الله في الطائف بتاريخ 1426/6/22 هـ].

The same Al-Madkhali also said:
“murdering a Muslim is more worse than doing adhkar in unison, because Allah said “whoever intentionally murders a Muslim, his reward will be hell….” and there is no punishment of this kind that has been attributed to congregational adhkar….” How will a sane Muslim even compares murder to seeking prayers at the grave yard? Certainly, murder is more worse!

The Saudi scholar, Sheikh Saalih al-Fawzaan also asserted in his book al-Irshaad ila sahih i’tiqaad pg 323 that:
“and the meaning of that is that bid’ah in worship and belief are under haram, and the being of haram varies as to the weight and kind of the bid’ah.”
(ومعنى ذلك أن البدع في العبادات والاعتقادات محرمة، ولكن التحريم يتفاوت بحسب نوعية البدعة…)

A Muslim can however repent from any kind of sin, with the blessings of Allah, and depending on how the truth is beautifully presented to him. If we can have those who repented from shirk, kabaa’ir; certainly a mubtadee’ can drop his bid’ah and adopt the Sunnah if he’s well convinced.

Scholars many a time differed on affairs to be considered bid’ah, and I can tell you today that 90% of issues our people considered bid’ah are differed upon; and some are even established affairs in Islam. They can prove me wrong by just naming 10 common bid’ah and you will see 9 of the 10 are differed upon issues by revered Salaf and scholars. Anyone can take up the challenge, let’s just do this and establish knowledge.