Ihyaaud Deen An Effort to Revive Deen in Totality
Refraining from all Bid’aat (Innovated Practices in Deen)
The twelfth quality of the true Ulama of the Aakhirah is that they strictly refrain from all bid’aat (innovated practices) in deen.
If some practice becomes common among people, then this does not mean that it will be considered permissible (and recognized in Shari’ah). Rather, true deen is following the mubaarak sunnah of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam).
In any situation we are in, we should always find out what was the practice of the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum) in such a situation. Hence, it is extremely important for an Aalim to remain engaged in studying the practices and ways of the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum) (to understand what they did in different situations).
Hazrat Hasan Basri (rahimahullah) mentioned:
Two classes of people are bid’atees who have innovated two types of practices in deen:
1. The person who feels that deen is only what he has understood (from his self-study, independent research, etc.), and he feels that only those who conform to his opinion will be successful.
2. The person who worships the dunya and chases after the wealth of this world. He becomes extremely pleased with those people who earn the dunya, and dislikes those who do not earn the dunya.
You should leave both these classes of people as they are heading towards Jahannum. As for the one whom Allah Ta‘ala has protected from being from these two classes of people, then he follows in the footsteps of the pious predecessors and emulates their lifestyle and ways. For such people insha Allah, there is great reward in the Aakhirah from Allah Ta‘ala.”
Hazrat Abdullah bin Mas’ood (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) has said, “You are living in a time when people’s worldly desires are controlled by the knowledge of deen. However, a time is soon to come when the knowledge of deen will be used for acquiring one’s worldly desires. People will try to justify their worldly temptations and desires through their deeni knowledge.” (Fazaa’il-e-Sadaqaat [English] pg. 450-452, [Urdu] pg. 494-496)
