Avoid Newly-Introduced Matters

On the authority of Abu Najeeh al-Irbaad ibn Saariyah (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: The Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) delivered an admonition that made our hearts fearful and our eyes tearful. We said, “O Messenger of Allah, it is as if it were a farewell admonition, so advise us.” He said, “I advise you to have taqwa of Allah and to listen and obey even if a slave is a leader over you. Certainly, the one who will live among you will see lots of differences. So stick to my sunnah and the sunnah of the right-principled and rightly-guided successors. Bite onto that with your molar teeth. And avoid newly-introduced matters. Verily, ever heresy is a going astray.” (Recorded in Abu Daawood and al-Tirmidhi) 

 “And avoid newly-introduced matters.”

Allah, praised and glorified be He, says in the Qur’an:
“This day I have perfected for you your religion and have completed my blessings upon you and have chosen for you Islam as a religion” (Surah al-Maaidah:3) 

This means that the guidance provided to us is complete. Islam as it was lived and taught by the Prophet, peace be upon him, contains everything we need for happiness and fulfillment in this life and in the hereafter. It is therefore in no need of additions, alternations or deletions. The Prophet, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, said:
“I have not left anything that Allah has ordered of you except that I have ordered you to do it. And I have not left anything which He has prohibited except that I have prohibited it for you.” (Recorded in al-Baihaqi)

When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, advised us to avoid ’newly-introduced matters’, he meant things that would be introduced into the religion after his time. These acts are also called bidah or heresies..

A bidah is any act that falls into the following categories:
(1) any ritual act that is not based in the Qur’an or sunnah that is done as an act of worship of Allah

(2) any worldly act that a person performs claiming it in itself is pleasing to Allah while there is nothing in the Quran or sunnah to support that claim.

There are many ahadith that prove that it is forbidden to follow innovations in the religion, including:
“Whoever introduced anything into this matter of ours that is not from it shall have it rejected.” (Recorded in al-Bukhari and Muslim)

The path of Allah is only one path, and those that follow innovations are clearly not following this path. There is only one way to guidance and that is found in the Qur’an and sunnah. This was the path of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his rightly-guided successors, and this should be our path too.

Let’s ask ourselves if we are sure that the acts of worhsip we are performing are supported by evidence from the Qur’an and sunnah. Have we used our reading ability to find out? Straying from the path may be a subtle action as this profound hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn Masood illustrates:

” The Prophet, peace be upon him, drew a line for us and then said, ‘This is the path of Allah’. Then he drew some lines on the right and on the left of the first one and said, ‘These are paths upon each of which is a devil calling to it.’ The he recited the verse, ‘This is My Straight Path, so follow it. Follow not other ways, as you will then stray from His way.’” (Recorded in ibn Majah)