Seadet-i Ebediyye - Endless Bliss Sixth Fascicle

The following passage has been translated from the hundred
and forty-third (143) page of the hijrî 1290–Istanbul edition of the
book entitled Hadîqa: “Things like flour sieves and spoons did not
exist during the ’Asr-i-se’âdat. They appeared afterwards.
Inventions of this sort, which have been intended not for
worshipping Allâhu ta’âlâ or earning thawâb, are called bid’ats in
customs. These bid’ats are not among those bid’ats that are
defined as heresy and deviation from the right path in the hadîthi-sherîf.
People who do bid’ats of this sort will not be punished for
them (in the Hereafter). People of wara’ had better not do them.
An example of them is men’s eating too much and putting on fat.
Imâm Munâwî, (924 [1518 A.D.] – 1031 [1621], Cairo,) states as
follows in his commentary to Jâmi’-us-saghîr: “Men’s putting on
fat is one of the harbingers presaging the approaching Doomsday.
Two other bid’ats in customs are smoking tobacco and drinking
coffee. Each of these things has become the indispensable wont of
modern people, good and bad ones alike. Various comments are
being made about them, but the truth of the matter is that there
are no grounds to say that either is harâm or makrûh. Both of them
are bid’ats in customs. A person who calls them ‘harâm’ by
adducing any reason will have called a bid’at in customs ‘harâm’.
That a bid’at in customs cannot be said to be ‘harâm’ has been
stated unanimously by Islamic scholars. As for the Sultân’s
commandments and prohibitions; it is wâjib to obey them as long
as they are agreeable with the commandments and prohibitions of
Allâhu ta’âlâ. It is not wâjib to obey them if they have been
intended to put his personal thoughts and views into practice. All
the commandments and prohibitions of Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu
’alaihi wa sallam’ were agreeable with the commandments and
prohibitions of Allâhu ta’âlâ. He would never command or
prohibit something on his own. Had it not been the case, it would
not have been wâjib to obey all his injunctions. Then, afortiori, it
will not be wâjib to obey the Sultân’s arbitrary and discretionary
commandments. However, if the person who has given the
commandment is a cruel one and oppresses and persecutes the
people, it will be wâjib for a person in fear of death to obey the ban
imposed on such mubâhs by that cruel president, especially if he is
an out-and-out bloody villain. For, it is not permissible for a
Muslim to expose himself to danger. So, it will be wâjib not to
consume coffee and not to smoke when they are banned. Yet the
purpose intended for the obedience should be of protecting one’s
life and chastity, rather than avoiding an act of harâm or makrûh.
– 64 –