Islam's Reformers .pdf

he feels ashamed towards his Allâhu ta’âlâ and fears Hispunishment. Bid’as are grave sins, but not every sin is a bid’a.“Bid’a is an Arabic word. It means something that did notexist formerly and which has been invented later. In thisrespect, the changes, reformations done both in customs and inworshipping are bid’a. ’Âdat (custom) is an action which is donefor its worldly benefits alone without expecting any reward as arecompense in the next world. In contrast, ’ibâda (worship) isthe action as a recompense of which reward is expected in thenext world. Since everything which had not existed in the timesof the Sahâbat al-kirâm and the Tâbi’ûn and appeared later is abid’a, scholars have divided bida’ into such groups as mubâh,wâjib, mustahab and harâm. They have called that which ismustahab or wâjib a bid’at hasana.“In view of the religion, however, bid’a means an addition orreduction that has been made in the religion and against theProphet’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) consent after as-Sahâbat al-kirâmand the Tâbi’ûn; in other words, it is a change made in thename of worship and presumed to be thawâb-deserving. Andreform in the religion means bid’a in the religion. Changes thatare made in customs are outside of this kind of bid’a. The onesthat are declared to be evil in the Hadîth ash-sherîf are the bida’in the religion. These reforms do not help worship. They all spoilworship.“The reforms in the religion part into two groups: the bida’ inbelief and those in ’ibâda. The reforms in belief are either madewith ijtihâd, that is, they are derived from the Qur’ân and theHadîth, or they are the fruits of predilection, reasoning ordeducing. Ijtihâd requires to be done by a profound scholar, thatis, a mujtahid. If a mujtahid makes a mistake in doing ijtihâd inbelief, he will not be pardoned. He will be guilty. If the thingconcerning belief, which he has misunderstood, is declaredclearly in the religion and is so widespread that even theignorant have heard about it and know it, this mujtahid andthose who believe him will become unbelievers. A person whois understood to be an unbeliever cannot escape unbeliefunless he repents this misbelief of his, even if he says he is aMuslim and spends all his life worshipping. If the thingconcerning belief was declared openly but is not the kindeverybody has heard of, or if it was not declared openly, he willbecome not an unbeliever but a man of bid’a or a heretic. This- 283 -