Intoducing something new in religion considering it to be an essential part of Deen is bid’at/innovation (ahdis fi deen). However, if the new action introduced is considered non-essential and only to be a means of achieving a Shariah objective then it is not a bid’at (ahdis lideen). A bid’at is worse than a sin. Sinner considers himself to be wrongful, so there are chances that he might repent. However, bid’ati never considers himself to be doing anything wrong and never repents. Alhuma hafizna!

Once Sidi wa sanadi Hazrat Moulana Mohammad Taqi Usmani sahib db told us;

“Once Moulana Abdul Aziz Duaju, a senior scholar/sufi sheikh associated with Tablighi-jamat visited my father Hazrat Mufti Mohammad Shafi’i ra. He said, ‘Mufti sahib, I dreamt that you were standing infront of a blackboard teaching a class of students. You wrote the arabic numerical one (1) on the board and inquired the student what it was. They replied correctly. Then on its right side you added a zero (sifir) making it 1.(10) . Again you questioned the students and they answered correctly. Then mutiple time you added zero on the right side and the number increased tenfolds every time(100. 1000, 10,000). Then you erased all these and added a zero (sifir) on the left side of the arabic numerical 1, making it .1(0.1). Again you questioned the audience and they replied that it has decreased tenfolds. Like before you added zero many times on the left and the number decreased tenfolds every time (0.01, 0.001, 0.0001).

Having demonstrated this example you explained to the students that the similitude of adding zero on the right side is of doing an action in accordance with Sunnah. It increases the reward many folds. Whereas, the likeness of adding zero on left is of innovative (bid’at) actions. It decreases the reward of the deed many folds. Both look the same outwardly but actully they are very different.”