Seadet-i Ebediyye - Endless Bliss Third Fascicle

[The term sunnat has three different meanings in our religion.
When Book and Sunnat are said together, the Book means the
Qur’ân and the Sunnat means hadîths. When Fard and Sunnat are
said together, fard means Allah’s commandments and sunnat
means our Prophet’s ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ sunnats, that is,
his commands. When the word Sunnat is used alone, it means
Islam, that is, the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya in the aggregate. Books of
Fiqh teach this fact. For example, it is written in Mukhtasar-i
Qudûrî: “He who knows the Sunnat best will become the imâm.”
When explaining this statement, the book Jawhara writes: “In this
context Sunnat means the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya, (i.e. Islam’s
commandments and prohibitions.).” See the final seven
paragraphs of the seventy-third chapter of the fourth fascicle of
Endless Bliss!
It has now been understood that for purifying the heart it is
necessary to obey Islam, which in turn means to do its
commandments and to avoid its prohibitions and bid’ats.
Bid’at means something which has been invented in the
aftermath of a period. They are things which did not exist during
the time of our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ and his four
Khalîfas ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhum’ and which have been invented
later in Islam and which people have been performing as if they
were acts of worship. For example, since it is necessary to recite
the Âyat-al-kursî immediately after each namâz, it is bid’at to
recite the Salâtan tunjînâ or other prayers before that. They
should be recited after the Âyat-al-kursî and tesbîhs. It is bid’at to
prostrate oneself and then stand up after finishing a namâz. It is
bid’at to call the adhân through loudspeakers.
Any change or reform made in Islam is a bid’at. But it is not a
bid’at to use such things as forks, spoons, ties, to drink coffee, tea,
or to smoke, for they are not acts of worship; they are customs,
habits, and are mubâh. They are not harâm. To do them does not
cause one to disobey what Islam commands or to commit what it
prohibits. It is written in Hadîqa-tun-nadiyya: “If a bid’at is
something not pertaining to the religion or worship, and if it
involves customs, our religion does not reject it. If we do not
intend to do worship, i.e., to attain closeness to Allâhu ta’âlâ and
if we only think of doing something worldly in eating, drinking,
wearing something, getting vehicles, building, dwelling and home
care, unless these do not prevent us from doing any worship or
cause us to commit any prohibited act, these acts are not bid’at.
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