Please explain the literal meaning of bid’ah, its type and its broadness.
Linguistically, the word bid’ah applies to anything new, even relatively, regardless of whether it is considered good or evil in Islam.[1]
An example of its linguistic usage is in the following ayah:
بَدِيعُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِۖ وَإِذَا قَضَىٰٓ أَمۡرً۬ا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ ۥ كُن فَيَكُونُ
"Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it: "Be!" and it is." [2]
Another example is the statement of 'Umar ibn-ul-Khattab radhiyaalhu anhu when he gathered the people for taraweeh prayer in congregation behind one imam: "What an excellent innovation this is!" [3]
Technically or Islamically, bid'ah refers to anything introduced in the religion which does not have any basis in Islamic Law.This usage is found in the Prophet's (ﷺ) statement: "...the worst of matters are invented ones, and every innovation is heresy." [4]
Here, new things, invented matters and innovations refer to new things in the religion which do not have any valid evidence supporting them.
The types into which bid'ah can be divided is many, but the most important of them is its division into:
- Bid'ah which reaches the level of kuffar, such as wahdat-ul-wujood (pantheism), taking Prophets and saints as intermediaries in worship, seeking help from the dead or the absent, qualifying saints and the Imam’s of Ahl-ul-Bait with attributes which befit Allah alone, denying the Divine Decree, denying the authority of the Sunnah and so on.
- Bid'ah which does not reach the level of kuffar, such as celebrating the birthdays of prophets and saints, performing tawassul through prophets and saints while supplicating to Allah, making supplication in congregation after the obligatory prayers, attaching reward to specific times or places for worship without evidence and so on.[5] It can be found in worldly dealings as well, such as forbidding things that have been permitted by Allah, or preferring customs to Islamic laws when they are in conflict and so on.
And Allah knows best.
References:
[1] http://islamqa.info/en/10843
[2] Surah al-Baqarah verse 117
[3] Sahih Bukhari, Book 31, Hadith 3
[4] Sahih Muslim, Book 30, Hadith 23
[5] Ibn Taymiyah, Majmoo al Fatwa, Vol 2, p 291
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