Class 2
HOW TO KNOW WHAT IS AND WHAT IS NOT BIDAH?
In the last class, we learned something crucial: Not everything done with good intention is accepted by Allah. So today, we ask a very practical and important question:
How do we actually identify bid‘ah in real life?
How do we know whether something is Sunnah—or an innovation?
Because confusion does not usually come from clear falsehood… It comes from things that look religious, sound religious, and feel spiritual.
Why Bid‘ah Often Goes Unnoticed
Not all bid‘ah looks the same. To help us recognize it, scholars explained that innovations usually fall into two recognizable forms:
1. Clear and Obvious Bid‘ah
These are innovations that:
Scholars and laypeople both recognize as bid‘ah
Are clearly forbidden or disliked
Do not usually cause confusion
These are not where most people struggle.
2. Bid‘ah That Appears Like Worship
This is where the real danger lies. These are practices that:
People believe bring them closer to Allah
Are assumed to be Sunnah
Are often defended passionately
Yet… the Prophet ﷺ either forbade them or never practiced them. Not every act that looks like worship is accepted worship.
For example:
Continuous fasting without breaks.
Singling out Friday for fasting.
Praying the entire night of Friday regularly.
Why are these problematic? Because the basis of worship exists, but the manner is forbidden. The Prophet ﷺ said,
“Do not fast continually.” (Bukhari & Muslim)
"None of you should observe fast on Friday except that he should observe fast either one day before it or one day after it" (Sahih Bukhari)
“Do not single out Friday night (i.e. the night preceding Friday) among all the other nights for performing the night prayer.“ (Sahih Muslim)
So as we can see, fasting more should be good, Friday is the best day of the week for us but singling it out for fasting or night prayers is not. This is why we follow the Sunnah and not what we feel.
Another common issue is Imitating Religious Practices of Disbelievers. Some actions are taken as worship but actually originate from non-Muslim religious customs. This is mostly seen in marriages and some even in funerals.
Ask yourself:
Did the Prophet ﷺ celebrate this?
Did the Sahabah do this?
Or did this come later from other traditions?
Remember Good feelings do not make foreign rituals Islamic.
How do we know what is and what is not Bidah?
The First Test: Does It Match the Sunnah?
The primary way we recognize bid‘ah is simple and decisive: Anything that contradicts the Sunnah in belief, speech, or action—is bid‘ah, even if it was done with good intention.
So the first question we always ask is: Did the Prophet ﷺ do this, approve of it, or instruct it? If the answer is no, we proceed with caution.
The Second Test: Was This Way of Worship Allowed?
Some acts are worship in principle but become bid‘ah because of how they are done. These are the examples we discussed above, Continuous fasting without breaks or Singling out Friday for fasting
These acts:
Are worship in their basis
But were forbidden in this specific form
So we learn:
Correct worship must be correct in form, not just intention.
Anything that is not can be Bidah so we check.
The Third Test: Did This Come from Islam or from Other Religions?
Another way we identify bid‘ah is by checking if this imitates any of the celebrations or actions of the disbelievers. We know from the ahadeeth that the Prophet ﷺ forbade us from imitating the kuffaar, he ﷺ said, Whoever imitates a people is one of them.’” (Abu Dawood) and he asked us to take measures to make us differentiate from them, examples:
The Prophet ﷺ expressed a desire to fast on the ninth as well, in order to differentiate the Muslim practice from that of the J e w s.
“Be different from the polytheists; keep the beard, and trim the moustache” (Sahih Bukhari)
So know, that if a practice is imitating the actions/events/celebrations of the disbelievers then it’s a clear red flag and is most probably it is a Bidah in Islam.
The Fourth Test: Is There Clear Evidence for It or is it based on experience?
A lot of times people connect to some part of the Quran more and feel good reciting it. This is ok, but now if one starts recommending the same ayahs to be recited some specific number of times at some specific times or places without any proof from the Sunnah then that is Bidah. There are some of such quotes and recommendations even by scholars, but it does not automatically become Sunnah.
For example:
Claiming that reciting a specific surah during travel protects from all harm
Assigning guaranteed rewards without textual proof
But scholars refuted and clarified: “This is legislating in the religion without evidence.” So the rules remains plain and simple. If there is proof it is Sunnah.
Remember if there is:
No Qur’anic proof
No authentic Sunnah
No practice of the Salaf
Then it cannot be made an act of worship. Scholars themselves warned that legislating without evidence opens the door to changing the religion.
The Fifth Test: Is It Based on Authentic Evidence?
Another major way bid‘ah spreads is through:
Very Weak hadith
Fabricated narrations
If an act of worship is built upon, a fabricated report or a hadith known to be unreliable, then the worship itself becomes an innovation.
Example: Ṣalāt ar-Raghā’ib (first Friday of Rajab)
Scholars unanimously declared:
The narration for this Salah is fabricated
The practice is forbidden
The Sixth Test: Does It Go Beyond What Islam Legislated?
Islam warns us strongly against extremism in worship nor does it show short cuts.
If a practice is recommended to you, ask yourself:
Is this practice adding restrictions, burdens, or exaggeration that Allah never required?
Is this practice promising to be a replacement of Fard. This is a sign of people creating short cuts to be able to excuse themesleves from the obligations Allah has prescribed.
Going beyond limits—even in worship—was the reason previous nations were destroyed. And taking short-cuts has never gotten anyone anywhere.
The Seventh Test: Was Something Specified That Allah Did Not Specify?
This is one of the clearest signs of bid‘ah. Ask:
Was a special time assigned?
A specific number fixed?
A particular place declared virtuous?
Again are these specifics saying that it will act like a replacement for Salah, Zakah etc then that’s a clear sign.
If Allah and His Messenger ﷺ did not specify it: We are not allowed to specify it. Specification belongs only to the Lawgiver.
The Eighth Test: Is This Based on Habit/Superstitions or Proof?
Some practices survive simply because:
“This is how we grew up”
“Our elders did it”
“Everyone does it”
They are scared of not doing it.
They have tied the blessings in their lives to a deed.
A sign that we can look for is that if an action/deed is defended with fear that it can harm them or an action that takes credit for the barakah in their lives (example: Ziyaarah of the dead, Fatiha gatherings, etc).
The Six Conditions of Accepted Worship
To distinguish Sharee‘ah-based worship from bid‘ah, every act of worship must meet all six conditions:
Reason
Type
Amount
Manner
Time
Place
1. Reason
Firstly: the worship must be in accordance with sharee’ah in its reasons. Any person who worships Allaah by doing an act of worship that is not done for a reason proven in sharee’ah is doing an act of worship that will be rejected and is not enjoined by Allaah and His Messenger. An example of that is celebrating the Mawlid or birthday of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), or celebrating the twenty-seventh night of Rajab, claiming that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was taken up into heaven on that night. This is not in accordance with sharee’ah so it is to be rejected. Example:
Celebrating the Prophet’s birthday
Celebrating the 27th of Rajab
Even if the event were historically proven (which it is not), we cannot invent worship or festivals without Allah’s permission.
It is strange but yet very common to see many of those who indulge in these innovations strongly urge people to follow them, but they are negligent about matters which are more beneficial, more sound and more useful.
2. Type (Nature)
The kind of worship must be legislated. You cannot:
Sacrifice an animal not permitted
Replace legislated forms with personal creativity
3. Amount
The number must match the Sunnah. Adding or subtracting intentionally from prescribed numbers is innovation. If someone were to say that he was going to pray Zuhr as six rak'ahs or does the same for the Sunnah prayer before Zuhr, would this act of worship be in accordance with sharee’ah? Not at all, because it is not in accordance with it in terms of the amount or number.
Similarly, if someone were to say Subhaan Allaah, al-Hamdu Lillaah and Allaahu Akbar thirty-five times each following a prescribed prayer, would this be correct? The answer is that if your aim is to worship Allaah by saying it this number of times because you believe this is the proper way, then you are mistaken. If you deliberately add something to what the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) has prescribed, but you believe that the proper way prescribed in Islam is thirty-three, then the extras are fine, because you are not suggesting that the higher number is the proper way that is prescribed.
4. Manner
If a person does an act of worship that is acceptable in its type, amount and reason, but he goes against sharee’ah in the manner in which he does it, then it is not valid. Example: Performing wudū’ out of order.
5. Time
Acts of worship must be done within their legislated time. Like if a person fasts Ramadaan in Sha’baan, or in Shawwaal, or he prays Zuhr before its time started or after it ended. Can we do these? Hence we follow an important principle in this regard which is that in the case of every act of worship that is to be done at a certain time, if a person does it outside of the proper time with no valid excuse, it will not be accepted, rather it will be rejected.
6. Place
Some worship is tied to specific locations.
Examples:
Standing on ‘Arafah must be in ‘Arafah
Umrah in Masjid Al Haram you cannot make a replica and do it anywhere you want.
Correct worship in the wrong place becomes invalid.
May Allah protect us from falling into Bidah and give us the Hidaayah to always follow the Sunnah.
TIPS OF TEST
Do not have to memorise the ayahs or hadeeths word for word and their references, but remember their meanings and the msg being given.
Remember the concepts, simple questions will be asked about the concepts explained.
ASSIGNMENT
There will be an Assignment Question asked in the Test. Marks will be given based on the following: -
Invite atleast 15 people to the course (can invite via WhatsApp, Facebook, Email, telegram or word of mouth) 4 Marks. (check the note below for exceptions)
Note:
Those who have already invited whether on Whatsapp, Email or FB, do not need to invite again.
It does not matter, whether people join or not, our job is to invite.
2..Talk about any 3 topics/bidahs/Sunnahs covered in this week’s classes with atleast 3 people. 5 Marks.
3. Pray for the Ummah, pray for the ease of all the poor & oppressed Muslims and pray that Allah make us all strong in imaan and give us the hidayah to work for the aakhirah and to help each other. - 1 Mark
JOIN FOR FREE VIA
FACEBOOK | EMAIL | WHATSAPP | TELEGRAM
Pls read our FAQs to get the details and to know how we go about things if U have any further Qs pls feel free to ask...
FAQs: - https://learn-islam.org/faqs-short-courses
Happy Learning... JazakAllah Khair...
As Salam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullaahi Wa Barakaatuh :)
SUPPORT LEARN ISLAM
Alhamdulillah we have been providing free courses on LEARN ISLAM for over 15years now. We now have employees working in our organisation and need support to fulfil commitments and accomplish goals/projects.
Support LEARN ISLAM in continuing to provide free courses on
Quran & Tajweed.
Various Islamic Topics.
Parenting.
Worldly Skills (like Designing, Excel Sheets etc).
Free Matrimonial Services.
More Projects coming up InShaAllah.