Towards a definition of bid'a

People tend to use the argument of bid'a to say lots of things are haram. Yet when pressed to define bid'a most people are not able to come up with a suitable definition that can be applied consistently.

If, for example, we define bid'a as any innovation after the Prophet (saw) then we would have to argue that everything from teaching the Islamic religious sciences to computers to sports to travelling is bid'a.

If we define bid'a as everything that is not in accordance with the Sunna then it essentially means that things are forbidden unless they can be proven to be in accordance with the Sunna. But this goes against another established principle which is that things are permissible until there's evidence that proves that they are haram.

So, caught in this maze I've tried to see if I can find a definition of bid'a which can be a starting point. In order to do this I started by going through the commentaries of the hadith: "Whoever innovates in this affair of ours which does not belong to will have it rejected."


In his explanation of the hadith Ibn Rajab doesn't define bid'a as such but he does seem to set one of it's conditions. He says: "Whoever tries to come closer to Allah by an action which neither Allah and His Messenger made a way of coming closer to Allah, his action is batil (void) and rejected. Then he goes to give examples of forms of prayer, using music to come closer to Allah or uncovering the head outside of ihram.

al-Tufi doesn't even talk about bid'a in his explanation of the hadith. He just says that those things which go against the shari'a are rejected.

al-Maziri in his commentary of this hadith doesn't talk about bid'a. He talks about the principle that what is prohibited is invalid.

Qadi Iyad quotes al-Maziri then adds that most of the fuqaha consider that a prohibition invalidates an action, whereas most of the theologians say that a prohibition by itself does not invalidate an action.

Al-Nawawi in his commentary of this hadith likewise doesn't define bid'a. He says this hadith forbids bid'a and also mentions the aforementioned principle.

Ibn Hajar quotes al-Tufi and al-Nawawi on the subject.

I didn't find anything very useful there so I decided to look at dictionaries written by shari'a scholars rather than just linguists.

Qadi 'Iyad in Mashariq al-Anwar (I/108) says: Everything that was innovated after the Prophet (saW) is bid'a. Bid'a is an act which has no precedent so that which agrees with a principle of the sunna can be justified by analogy and is praiseworthy, and that which goes against the principles of the sunna is deviation.

al-Jurjani in al-Ta'rifat (p.33) says: bid'a is an act which goes against the sunna. It is called bid'a because the person who says by it invented it without a verdict from an imam. It is an innovated matter which the Companions and Tabi'un were not upon, nor is it necessitated by a shar'i evidence.

Ibn al-Athir says in al-Nihaya fi gharib al-hadith wa'l-athar (p.67): There are two types of bid'as: a bid'a of guidance and a bid'a of error. That which goes against what Allah and His Messenger (saw) commanded is to be censured and rejected. That which comes under general things which Allah recommended and which Allah and His Messenger encouraged is to be praised. And that which has no precedent such as some type of goodness or generosity or good action, then it is a praised action, although it cannot be directly against the shar', because the Prophet (saw) indicated that he is rewarded for it. (he then quotes the hadith about whoever starts a good sunna and then discusses examples all relating to 'ibadat)

So, after this what do we have?
1. Bid'a is forbidden (everyone says that, nothing new).
2. Bid'a refers to innovations in worship (Ibn Rajab).
3. Bid'a is that which goes against established sunnas or cannot be deduced as permissible from the principles of Islam (Qadi 'Iyad, Jurjani, Ibn al-Athir).
4. That which is good but has no precedent cannot be considered bid'a (Ibn al-Athir).

Using all this I would define bid'a as:
Any action by which a person intends to earn reward from Allah that is not sanctioned by the shari'a either through textual evidence or through general principles is bid'a.

أي عمل يرجى به الثواب من الله لا يشهد له الشرع بمنطوقه أو بقواعده العامة فهو بدعة

Does this make sense?