Tawassul, Innovation, and Ijtihād

All praise is due to Allāh. May Allāh raise the rank of Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ and protect his nation from that which he feared for them.

Innovation in Islām

Linguistically, innovation (bidʿah) is what was invented without a previous example. Religiously, it is the new thing that was not documented in the Qurʾān or the ḥadīth.

Innovation is divided into two categories, as understood from the ḥadīth of ʿĀʾishah, may Allāh accept her deeds. She said that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:

مَن أَحْدَثَ في أمْرِنا هَذا مَا لَيسَ منْهُ فَهُوَ رَدٌّ

Whoever innovates into this affair of ours that which does not comply with it is rejected. [Al-Bukhārī and Muslim]

The first category is the good innovation. It is called the good sunnah. It is the innovation that complies with the Qurʾān and the Sunnah. The second category is the evil innovation. It is called the evil sunnah. It is the innovation that opposes the Qurʾān and the ḥadīth.

This categorization is understood from the ḥadīth of Jarīr Ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Bajaliyy, may Allāh accept his deeds. He said that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:

مَنْ سَنَّ في الإسلام سُنَّةً حسَنَةً فَلَهُ أجرُها وأجرُ مَن عَمِلَ بها بعدَهُ مِن غير أن يَنْقُصَ مِن أجُورِهم شَىءٌ، ومَن سَنَّ في الإسْلامِ سُنَّةً سَيِّئَةً كانَ عليه وِزْرُها ووِزْرُ مَن عَمِلَ بِها مِنْ بَعْدِه مِن غَيرِ أن يَنْقُصَ مِن أَوزَارِهم شَىءٌ

Whoever starts a good sunnah in Islām has its reward and the reward of whoever practiced it after him, without diminishing any of their rewards. And whoever starts an evil sunnah in Islām, then upon him is its sin and the sin of whoever practiced it after him, without diminishing any of their sins. [Muslim]

Examples of Good Innovation

Among the good innovations is celebrating the birth of the Prophet ﷺ in the month of Rabīʿ al-Awwal. The first to innovate it was King Al-Mudhaffar, the King of Irbil, in the seventh Hijriyy century.

Also among the good innovations is the dotting of the muṣḥaf by Yaḥyā Ibn Yaʿmar, the high-ranking follower of the Companions. He was among the people of knowledge and piety. This was approved by the scholars of ḥadīth and others, and they considered it good. The muṣḥaf was not dotted when the Messenger dictated it to the scribes of the Revelation, nor when ʿUthmān Ibn ʿAffān had the muṣḥafs written. Since that dotting, the Muslims never ceased to be upon that until today.

Imām al-Shāfiʿiyy said: “The innovated matters are of two types. The first is what was innovated and opposes something from the Book, the Sunnah, the consensus, or the Athar. This is the innovation of misguidance. The second is the good thing that was innovated and does not oppose anything from the Book, the Sunnah, or the consensus. This is an innovation that is not blameworthy.” This was narrated by Al-Bayhaqiyy with an authentic chain of narration in his book Manāqib al-Shāfiʿiyy.

Examples of Evil Innovation

Among the evil innovations are the innovations in the Creed, such as the innovations of the Muʿtazilah, Khawārij, and others who abandoned what the Companions were upon in the matters of the Creed.

Also among them is perverting the name of Allāh to “Ah” and the like, as done by many who are ascribed to the ṭarīqahs. Likewise, writing only “ص” or “صلعم” after the name of the Prophet instead of ﷺ is disliked, as documented by the scholars of ḥadīth.

Tawassul by the Prophets and the Waliyys

Know that there is no true evidence proving the lack of permissibility of tawassul by the Prophets and Waliyys in their absence or after their deaths, claiming that this is worship of other than Allāh. Merely calling on one who is alive or dead is not worship of other than Allāh. Nor is mere glorification of someone, nor merely seeking the help of other than Allāh, nor merely seeking the grave of a Waliyy with the purpose of seeking blessings.

None of that is shirk, because it does not meet the definition of worship according to the linguists. Worship, according to them, is obedience with humility. Al-Azhariyy, one of the elite linguists, said in his book Tahdhīb al-Lughah, copying from Al-Zajjāj who is among their most famous: “ʿIbādah in the language of the Arabs is the obedience with the humility.”

Mere humility is not worship of other than Allāh, or else everyone who lowers themselves to kings and high-ranking people would blaspheme. It was confirmed that when Muʿādh Ibn Jabal came from Al-Shām, he prostrated to the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ. The Prophet said: “What is this?” He said: “O Messenger of Allāh, I have seen the people of Al-Shām prostrating to their generals and their priests, and you are more deserving of that.” He said: “Do not do that. Had I ordered anyone to prostrate to anyone, I would have ordered the woman to prostrate to her husband.” Ibn Ḥibbān, Ibn Mājah, and others have narrated that. The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ did not say to him: “You have blasphemed,” and he did not say: “You have committed shirk,” despite that his prostration to the Prophet is a great sign of humility.

Visiting the Graves of the Pious for Blessings

Those who charge a person with blasphemy because he sought out the grave of the Messenger ﷺ or the Waliyys for seeking blessings are ignorant about the meaning of worship. They have opposed what the Muslims are upon, because the Muslims of the Salaf and the Khalaf never ceased to visit the grave of the Prophet ﷺ for seeking blessings. Traveling to seek blessings does not mean the Prophet ﷺ creates the blessing for them. Rather it means that they hope that Allāh creates the blessing for them by their visiting his grave.

The evidence for that is what Al-Bayhaqiyy narrated with an authentic chain of narration from Mālik al-Dār, who was ʿUmar’s treasurer, that he said:

The people were inflicted with a drought during the time of ʿUmar, so a man came to the grave of the Prophet ﷺ and said: “O Messenger of Allāh, seek the rain for your nation, for surely they are perishing.” So the man was approached in his dream. It was said to him: “Convey the salām to ʿUmar, and inform them that they will be watered, and say to him: ‘Endeavor, endeavor.’” The man came to ʿUmar and informed him, so ʿUmar cried and said: “O my Lord, I do not fall short except in what I am unable.”

The identity of this man was Bilāl Ibnul-Ḥārith al-Muzaniyy, the Companion. This Companion sought the grave of the Messenger ﷺ for blessings. ʿUmar did not object to him, nor did anyone else.

Seeking Blessings from the Traces of the Prophet ﷺ

Al-Ṭabarāniyy narrated in his big and small Muʿjams from the route of ʿUthmān Ibn Ḥunayf that a man used to go back and forth to ʿUthmān Ibn ʿAffān but ʿUthmān would not look into his need. So this man met ʿUthmān Ibn Ḥunayf and complained to him, so he said: “Go to the place of wuḍūʾ and make wuḍūʾ, then pray two rakʿahs and then say: ‘O Allāh, certainly I ask You, and I direct myself to You by our Prophet Muḥammad, the Prophet of Mercy. O Muḥammad, certainly I direct myself by you to my Lord in my need, so that it would be fulfilled for me.’”

So the man did what ʿUthmān Ibn Ḥunayf told him, then came to ʿUthmān Ibn ʿAffān’s door. The doorman took him in and ʿUthmān fulfilled his need. He left and met ʿUthmān Ibn Ḥunayf and said: “May Allāh compensate you with goodness. He would not look into my need until you spoke to him.”

ʿUthmān Ibn Ḥunayf said: “I swear by Allāh, I did not speak to him. However, I witnessed the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ when a blind man came to him and complained about the loss of his sight. The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘If you want, you will be patient; and if you want, I will make duʿāʾ for you.’ So he said: ‘Certainly the loss of my sight is a hardship upon me, and I do not have a guide.’ So the Prophet ﷺ said to him: ‘Go to the place of wuḍūʾ and make wuḍūʾ and pray two rakʿahs and then say these words.’ So the man did what he said.” ʿUthmān Ibn Ḥunayf said: “I swear by Allāh, we had not dispersed, and the session had not been long, when the man returned to us while he was sightful as if he was never blind.”

Al-Ṭabarāniyy said: “The ḥadīth is ṣaḥīḥ.”

Ijtihād and Imitation

Ijtihād is the extraction of judgments for which there is no explicit text that can only have one meaning. The mujtahid is the one who is qualified to do that. Among his qualifications: he must have memorized the verses and ḥadīths related to judgments, knowledge of their chains of narration and the conditions of the narrators, knowledge of the abrogating and the abrogated, the general and the specific, the absolute and the restricted. He must have mastered the Arabic language sufficiently to know what the texts refer to according to the language in which the Qurʾān was revealed. He must also know what the mujtahids have agreed upon, because if he does not know that, there is no safety that he will not breach the consensus of those before him. Above all of that is a great condition in ijtihād, and that is fiqhun-nafs, meaning great strength of understanding and realization. Trustworthiness is also a condition.

As for the imitator, he is the one who has not reached this level.

The evidence that the Muslims are of these two levels is the saying of the Prophet ﷺ:

نضَّرَ اللهُ امرأً سَمِعَ مقالَتِي فَوَعَاهَا فأدَّاهَا كما سمِعَها، فرُبَّ مُبَلِّغٍ لا فِقْهَ عندَهُ

May Allāh enlighten the face of the person who heard my saying, understood it, and conveyed it as he heard it, for how many conveyors there are who have no fiqh. [Al-Tirmidhiyy and Ibn Ḥibbān]

In another narration:

رُبَّ مُبَلَّغٍ أوْعَى مِن سَامِعٍ

How many a person received the conveyance and understood better than the one who heard. [Al-Tirmidhiyy and Ibn Ḥibbān]

This ḥadīth establishes that among those who heard the ḥadīth from the Messenger ﷺ were those whose share was only to narrate what they heard, while others could extract rulings and cases from that same ḥadīth by the strength of their understanding. This is called istimbāṭ. From here it is known that not every Muslim is qualified to exercise ijtihād.

The mujtahid who is correct in his ijtihād has two rewards, and the mujtahid who errs has one reward. The Prophet ﷺ said:

إذَا اجتهَدَ الحاكمُ فأصابَ فلَهُ أجْرانِ وإذا اجتهدَ فأخطأَ فله أجرٌ

If the ruler makes ijtihād and he is correct, then he has two rewards; and if he makes ijtihād and he is mistaken, then he has one reward. [Al-Bukhārī]

The scholars of ḥadīth counted the muftīs among the Companions as less than ten, and some said about two hundred of them reached the level of ijtihād, which is the most correct saying. So if this was the situation among the Companions, how is it valid for every Muslim who is able to read the Qurʾān and some books to say “They were men and we are men,” meaning by that the mujtahids such as the four Imāms?

It is confirmed that most of the Salaf were not mujtahids but imitators of the mujtahids among them. The function specific to the mujtahid is comparative analogy, meaning to consider what has no narrated text according to what does have a narrated text because of a resemblance between them.

Be warned against those who encourage their followers to make ijtihād despite the fact that they and their followers are far from this rank. These people cause destruction in the matters of the Religion. The cure for ignorance is asking the people of knowledge, as the Prophet ﷺ said:

أَلَا سَأَلُوا إِذْ لَمْ يَعْلَمُوا إِنَّمَا شِفَاءُ الْعِيِّ السُّؤَالُ

Why did they not ask if they did not know? The cure for ignorance is the question. [Abū Dāwūd]

This article is part of IKF’s Ilm al-Aqīdah series, drawn from the works of the scholars of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah.

SERIES: ʿILM AL-AQĪDAH