Firstly, we should know what "bid'ah" means according to Islamic teaching.
It is defined as: any invented way in religion that is aimed at worshipping or drawing closer to Allaah. This means anything that is not referred to specifically in Sharee'ah, and for which there is no evidence (daleel) in the Qur'aan or Sunnah, and which was not known at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and his Companions. At the same time, it is quite obvious that this definition of religious inventions or innovations, which are condemned, does not include worldly inventions [such as cars and washing machines, etc. - Translator].
If your confusion has to do with an apparent contradiction between the hadeeth narrated by Abu Hurayrah and the hadeeth narrated by Jareer ibn 'Abdullaah, then let us examine these two reports and find out what they mean:
Jareer ibn 'Abdullaah al-Bajali (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: "The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: 'Whoever starts a good thing and is followed by others, will have his own reward and a reward equal to that of those who follow him, without it detracting from their reward in any way. Whoever starts a bad thing and is followed by others, will bear the burden of his own sin and a burden equal to that of those who follow him, without it detracting from their burden in any way.'" (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, no. 2675. He said, This is a saheeh hasan hadeeth)
There is a story behind this hadeeth, which will explain what "whoever starts a good thing" means. Imaam Muslim reported this story from Jareer ibn 'Abdullaah, who also narrated the hadeeth itself. He said: "Some people from the Bedouin came to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), wearing woollen garments. He saw that they were in bad shape and in desperate need, so he urged the people to give them charity. They people were very slow to respond, and it could be seen in his face (that he was upset). Then a man of the Ansaar brought a package of silver, then another came, and another and another, and his face was filled with joy. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: 'Whoever starts a good thing in Islam, and others do likewise after him, there will be written for him a reward like that of those who followed him, without it detracting in the least from their reward. Whoever starts a bad thing in Islam, and others do likewise after him, there will be written for him a burden of sin like that of those who followed him, without it detracting in the least from their burden.'" (Reported by Muslim, no. 1017)
Further explanation may be found in a report recorded by al-Nisaa'i, also from Jareer ibn 'Abdullah, may Allaah be pleased with him, who said: "We were with the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) early one day, when some people who were almost naked (not dressed properly) and barefoot, with their swords by their sides, came to him. Most, if not all of them, were of (the tribe of) Mudar. The Messenger's face changed when he saw how poor they were (i.e., he became upset). He went into (his house), then he came out and ordered Bilaal to give the call to prayer. He led the people in prayer, then he addressed them, saying: 'O people, "be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person, and from him He created his wife, and from them both he created many men and women, and fear Allaah through Whom you demand your mutual (rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship)" [al-Nisaa' 4:1].
"Fear Allaah, and keep your duty to Him. And let every person look to what he has sent forth for the morrow" [al-Hashr 59:18].
Let a man give charity from his dinars, his dirhams, his clothing, his wheat or his dates - even if it is only half a date.' A man from the Ansaar brought a package which he could hardly carry in his hand, then another and another came, until there were two piles, of food and clothing, and I saw the face of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) beaming with joy. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: 'Whoever starts a good thing in Islam will have his own reward and a reward equal to that of those who follow him, without it detracting in the least from their reward, and whoever starts a bad thing in Islam will have to bear the burden of his own sin and a burden equal to that of those who followed him, without it detracting in the least from their burden. (Reported by al-Nisaa'i in al-Mujtaba: Kitaab al-Zakaat, Bab al-Tahreed 'ala al-Sadaqah).
From the context of the story, it is clear that what is meant by the words "whoever starts a good thing (sunnah hasanah) in Islam" means: Whoever revives a part of the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), or teaches it to others, or commands others to follow it, or acts according to it so that others see him or hear about it and follow his example. This is also indicated by the hadeeth narrated by Abu Hurayrah, may Allaah be pleased with him, who said: "A man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and he urged the people to give him charity. A man said: 'I have such-and-such,' and there was no person left in the gathering who did not give something in charity to him, whether it was a large amount or a little. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: 'Whoever starts something good, and others follow his lead, will have a complete reward and a reward like that of those who followed him, without it detracting in the least from their reward. Whoever starts something bad, and others follow his lead, will bear a complete burden of sin, and a burden like that of those who followed him, without it detracting in the least from their burden. (Reported by Ibn Maaajah in al-Sunan, no. 204)
It should be clear from the above, with no room for doubt, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was not allowing innovation in matters of deen (religion), nor was he opening the door to what some people call "bid'ah hasanah," for the following reasons:
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) stated repeatedly that: "Every newly-invented thing is a bid'ah (innovation), every bid'ah is a going astray, and every going astray will be in the Fire." (Reported by al-Nisaa'i in al-Sunan, Salaat al-'Eedayn, Baab kayfa al-Khutbah). Reports with the same meaning were narrated via Jaabir (may Allaah be pleased with him) by Ahmad, via al-'Irbaad ibn Saariyah by Abu Dawud and via Ibn Mas'ood (may Allaah be pleased with him) by Ibn Maajah.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to say, when beginning a khutbah (sermon): " The best of speech is the Book of Allaah and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. The worst of things are those which are newly-invented, and every innovation is a going astray" (reported by Muslim, no. 867)
If every bid'ah is a going astray, how can some people then say that there is such a thing in Islam as "bid'ah hasanah"? By Allaah, this is an obvious contradiction of the statement and warning of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) stated that whoever innovates something new in the deen (religion) will have his deed rejected, and Allaah will not accept it, as is stated in the hadeeth narrated by 'Aa'ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her), who said: "The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: 'Whoever innovates something in this matter of ours that is not a part of it will have it rejected.'" (Reported by al-Bukhaari, Fath al-Baari, no. 2697). How can anybody then say that bid'ah is acceptable and it is permitted to follow it?
When a person innovates something and adds to the deen something that does not belong to it, he is implying a number of bad things, each worse than the last, for example:
That the religion is lacking, that Allaah did not complete and perfect it, and that there is room for improvement. This clearly contradicts the statement in the Qur'aan (interpretation of the meaning): " This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion" [al-Maa'idah 5:3]
That the religion remained imperfect from the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) until the time when this innovator came along and completed it with his own ideas.
That the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was "guilty" of either of two things: either he was ignorant of this "good innovation," or he knew about it but concealed it, thus letting his ummah down by not conveying it.
That the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), his Companions and the righteous salaf (early generations) missed out on the reward of this "good innovation" - until this innovator came along and earned it for himself, despite the fact that he should say to himself, "If it was truly good, they would have been the first to do it."
Opening the door to bid'ah leads to changing the deen (religion) and opens the way for personal whims and opinions, because every innovator implies that what he is introducing is something good, so whose opinion are we supposed to follow, and which of them should we take as a leader?
Following bid'ah leads to the cancelling out of sunnah practices and the ways of the salaf. Real life bears witness that whenever a bid'ah is followed, a sunnah practice dies out; the reverse is also true.
It was narrated that Sahl ibn Sa‘d said: The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “I will reach the Cistern ahead of you. He who comes to me will drink, and whoever drinks will never thirst again. There will come to me some people whom I will recognize and they will recognize me, then they will be prevented from reaching me. I shall say: ‘They are of me,’ but it will be said: ‘You do not know what they introduced after you were gone.’ So I shall say: ‘Away, away with those who changed (the religion) after I was gone.’”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari (6212) and Muslim (2290).
It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) came to the graveyard and said: “Peace be upon the abode of believing people, and if Allah wills we will join you soon. Would that we could see our brothers.” They said: Are we not your brothers, O Messenger of Allah? He said: “You are my companions. Our brothers are those who have not come yet.” They said: How will you recognize those of your ummah who have not come yet, O Messenger of Allah? He said: “Do you not see that if a man has a horses that have white blazes and white feet among horses that are all black, will he not recognize his horses?” They said: Of course, O Messenger of Allah. He said: “They will come to me with bright faces and limbs (like the white markings of a horse) because of the traces of wudoo’. I will reach the Cistern before them, and men will be driven away from my Cistern as stray camels are driven away. I will call out to them, ‘Come here!’ but it will be said, ‘They changed after you were gone.’ And I will say, ‘Away with you, away with you!’”
Narrated by Muslim (249).
It was narrated that ‘Aa’ishah said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) say: “I will be at the cistern, waiting for those of you who will come to me. Some men will be prevented from reaching me, so I will say: ‘O Lord, my ummah, my ummah!’ but it will be said to me: ‘You do not know what they did after you were gone; they kept turning on their heels.’”
Narrated by Ahmad (41/388); classed as saheeh by the commentators.
It was narrated from Anas ibn Maalik that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Some of those who accompanied me will come to me at the Cistern, and when I see them and they come close to me, they will be snatched away before they reach me. I will say: ‘O Lord, my companions [usayhaabi], my companions!’ but it will be said to me: You do not know what they introduced after you were gone.”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari (6211) and Muslim (2304).
It was narrated that ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ood said: The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “I will reach the Cistern ahead of you, and some of you will come close to me until, when I am about to reach out (to give them a drink), they will be snatched away before they reach me. I will say: ‘O Lord, my companions!’ He will say: ‘You do not know what they introduced after you were gone.’”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari (6642) and Muslim (2297).
When reflecting upon the hadiths quoted, we find that the words refer only to groups of people who will head towards the cistern of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) to drink from it, but the angels will push them back. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) will call out to them, saying words such as “my ummah” or “my companions (ashaabi or usayhaabi). This variation in wording is not contradictory; rather it is to be understood as referring to people who are referred to by these words, and we can sum up these people [who will be pushed away from the cistern] as follows:
Those who apostatised from Islam after the death of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and had become Muslim during his lifetime and had seen him when they were Muslims.
Those who apostatised from Islam at the end of the Prophet’s life, but he (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was not aware of their disbelief.
Hypocrites who outwardly appeared to be Muslims, but concealed disbelief in our hearts.
Followers of whims and desires who changed the Sunnah and teachings of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), such as the Raafidis and Khawaarij.
Some of these scholars include among these people those who committed major sins. There is evidence from the Sunnah to support this view. Imam Ahmad narrated in his Musnad (9/514) that Ibn ‘Umar said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “There will be rulers over you who will tell you to do what they do not do themselves. Whoever believes in and confirms their lies, and helps them in their wrongdoing, is not of me and I am not of him, and he will never come to me at the cistern.” Classed as saheeh by the commentators on al-Musnad.
The phrase “my ummah (ummati)” in the hadiths is applicable to nos. 4 and 5 above. The phrase “my companions (as-haabi or usayhaabi)” is applicable to the first three groups.
What indicates that they are part of his ummah is the fact that he will recognise them by the traces of wudoo’ on their faces and limbs, which is a mark that is unique to this ummah. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) will recognise them by their general attributes, not individually, because they came after he was gone.
What indicates that the hypocrites are included in the phrase “my companions (as-haabi)” is the fact that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said [when some of the Sahaabah suggested killing the hypocrites, and he refused to do so]: “Lest people say that he is killing his companions (as-haabahu).” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (3518). This is the purely linguistic sense of companionship; it does not mean that they deserve the honour of being called companions of the Prophet, because the definition of the technical term Sahaabi [companion of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)] is not applicable to these people.
There follow some scholarly comments on these hadiths:
An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said, commenting on the hadith:
This is something concerning which the scholars differed as to what is meant. There are several views, as follows:
That it refers to the hypocrites and apostates. They may be gathered (on the Day of Resurrection) with the traces of wudoo’ on their faces and limbs, so the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) will call out to them because of the mark that is on them, but it will be said: These people are not among those concerning whom the promise was given to you, for they changed after you were gone, i.e., they did not die as Muslims although they appeared to be Muslims.
That it refers to those who were Muslims at the time of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), then they apostatised after he was gone, so the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) will call them, even if there is no trace of wudoo’ on them, because he (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) knew them as Muslims during his lifetime. But it will be said: They apostatised after you were gone.
That it refers to people who committed sins, including major sins, but died believing in Tawheed, and followers of innovation (bid‘ah) whose innovation did not put them beyond the pale of Islam.
Sharh Muslim (3/136, 137).
2. Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Al-Khattaabi said: None of the Sahaabah apostatised; rather those who apostatised were some of the rough, hardhearted Arabs, who were not known for making any effort in supporting the religion. Their apostasy does not undermine the status of the well-known Sahaabah. The phrase “my companions [usayhaabi, which is a diminutive form of the word]” indicates that they are few in number. Fath al-Baari (11/385).
3. Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qaadir al-Baghdadi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Ahl as-Sunnah are unanimously agreed that those who apostatised after the death of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) from the tribes of Kindah, Haneefah, Fazaarah, Banu Asad and Banu Bakr ibn Waa’il were not among the Ansaar or the Muhaajireen who migrated before the conquest of Makkah; rather the religious texts give the title of Muhaajireen to those who migrated to join the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) before the conquest of Makkah. They – praise be to Allah – remained steadfast in adhering to the true religion and the straight path.
Ahl as-Sunnah are unanimously agreed that those who were present with the Messenger of Allah (sa) at Badr will be among the people of Paradise; the same is true of those who were present with him at Bay‘at ar-Radwaan in al-Hudaybiyah.
Al-Farq bayna al-Firaq (p. 353).
4. Ash-Shaatibi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
What appears to be the case is that they will be included in the midst of this ummah, because of the signs that they will have on them [on the Day of Resurrection], namely the traces of wudoo’ on their faces and limbs, because that sign cannot be present on people who are complete disbelievers, whether they were originally disbelievers (and remained so) or apostates (from Islam), and because of the words “they changed after you were gone.” If that referred to disbelief, he would have said, “they disbelieved after you were gone.” The more likely interpretation is that what is meant is drifting away from the Sunnah, which is applicable to the followers of innovation. With regard to those who suggested that it refers to hypocrisy, that falls within the parameters of what we are saying, because the hypocrites did religious duties by way of dissimulation, not by way of worship, so they fulfilled religious obligations in a manner that was not proper, which is exactly what innovation is.
This is applicable to anyone who follows the Sunnah and puts it into practice by as a means of accumulating worldly gains – and not as a means of worshipping Allah, may He be exalted, and drawing closer to Him – because that is toying with the Sunnah and practising it in a manner that is contrary to Islamic teachings.
Al-I‘tisaam (1/96).
5. Al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Our scholars (may Allah have mercy on them all) said: Everyone who apostatised from the religion of Allah, or introduced into it something with which Allah is not please and for which He did not give permission, will be among those who will be pushed away and kept away from the cistern. Those who will be most harshly pushed away are those who differed from the main body (jamaa‘ah) of the Muslims and drifted away from their path, such as the Khawaarij and Raafidis of various groups, and the Mu ‘tazilah who followed different whims and desires. All of these people introduced changes. The same applies to the wrongdoers who went to extremes in committing injustice and oppression, and tried to suppress the truth, killing and humiliating the people of truth, as well as those who committed major sins openly, taking the matter of sin lightly, and groups who drifted away and followed their whims and desires and innovations.
Moreover, they may be pushed away for a while, then allowed to come closer after being forgiven, if the problem had to do with misdeeds and not matters of belief (‘aqeedah). Based on this assumption, this group will be known by the light of wudoo’, then it will be said, “Away with them.” But if they were among the hypocrites who lived at the time of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), who made an outward display of faith whilst inwardly disbelieving, they will be taken as they appear to be, then their real nature will be exposed, and it will be said, “Away, away with them.” No one will abide forever in hell except a disbeliever, a denier and a follower of falsehood in whose heart there was not even a mustard seed’s weight of faith.
At-Tadhkirah fi Ahwaal al-Mawtaa wa’d-Daar al-Aakhirah (p. 352).