Title: Further Clarification about Innovation Question/Comments: Thanks for your valuable comments. Following points require further clarification. Point 1: You said "as long as a person does not transmit or pass down this personal routine to others as if it were actually part of the religion then there is no harm in such a personal routine. Nevertheless, the act should not be considered religiously desirable: that would be a qualification we would make based on our own opinion not one that is rooted in the religion itself. In addition, one should not think that the act is rewardable or complementary to the faith; this goes for days like the Prophet's (PBUH) birthday or any regular day. I understand that transmission of any new practice as essential part of Shari'ah should be avoided but calling it religiously desirable requires more clarification. What is the criterion for anything to be declared as religiously desirable? If any practice is not mentioned by Quran, Sunnah, Hadith and four jurists then it should not be considered religiously desirable? And will it be bid'ah to do that practice? Why a person cannot get reward or compliment from Allah by doing that practice which he is just doing at individual level? Point 2: You said"Innovations are those things that people try to add to the religion when it had never been established by the Prophet himself." There are many practices that have not been established by prophet (pbuh) like in some of Hadiths prophet (pbuh) reported to have discussed/told a particular practice with someone or group of people only like saying Ameen after soorah Faatihah, different azkar/tasbeeh at different times etc also as I asked in point 1 above if a person does any of these practices, he should not get reward because these should not be considered religiously desirable? Prophet (pbuh) himself seems not to fix a particular practice/worship for a particular time neither seem to establish it. We also know that our four famous jurists have different opinions in many matters including many worships which might be due to the reports they reached to during their times. Point 3: You said "Any voluntary actions, whether it be prayer or charity or anything else, which you commit yourself to on the birthday of our blessed Prophet or any other day is allowable as long as one does not proclaim it is part of the religion or passes it down as such." Should we not keep proclaiming something part of religion separate from passing it down? Take example I discussed in point 2 above where prophet telling (passing down) a particular practice to few people only. Sufism is also an example. There are many Sufi way of worships which have been passing down since ages because these are proving to be worthy for weak Nafs. Many people have practiced them and achieved results, should we say that inventor of these practices were innovators although they might not consider it essential part of religion and should they not be rewarded for it? Hope I have clarified my question. Please forgive me if I looked offensive anywhere in my post and do correct me if I am wrong in my understandings. May Allah guide us all to the right path. Answer: You are most welcome. Following are the answers to your questions. You write: I understand that transmission of any new practice as essential part of Shari'ah should be avoided but calling it religiously desirable requires more clarification. What is the criterion for anything to be declared as religiously desirable? If any practice is not mentioned by Quran, Sunnah, Hadith and four jurists then it should not be considered religiously desirable? And will it be bid'ah to do that practice? Why a person cannot get reward or compliment from Allah by doing that practice which he is just doing at individual level? In reference to what is religiously desirable I am saying that one should not qualify certain actions as being so because it is not up to the individual to decide what is befitting the religion. One can go as far as stating that something seems desirable to the spirit of Islam but cannot say it is desirable to Islam to do this or that thing. There is a significant difference. Even still, the point was related to the masses not the individual. As long as that "desirable" thing is not presented to the masses as being such towards the religion then if the person wants to practice it it is fine. The Qur'an and Sunnah is Islam. The entire belief system and practices are contained in those two sources. There are no other sources. Anything that is religiously desirable should be in the spirit of Islam and that should be its foundation. Drinking a soda each time before prayer cannot be seen as desirable in any way. Any good deed is rewarded by God. Any practice such as the one mentioned above that has no merit really has no positive outcome. The same is with the Prophet's (pbuh) blessed birthday, one may commemorate it but has nothing to do with one's spiritual ascendence towards God. Thus, celebrating a birthday does not merit a reward. You write: There are many practices that have not been established by prophet (pbuh) like in some of Hadiths prophet (pbuh) reported to have discussed/told a particular practice with someone or group of people only like saying Ameen after soorah Faatihah, different azkar/tasbeeh at different times etc also as I asked in point 1 above if a person does any of these practices, he should not get reward because these should not be considered religiously desirable? Prophet (pbuh) himself seems not to fix a particular practice/worship for a particular time neither seem to establish it. We also know that our four famous jurists have different opinions in many matters including many worships which might be due to the reports they reached to during their times. The utterance of "amen" after Surah Al-Fatiha is a person's response to the supplication recited before it. Any words of tazkeer (remembrance of God) are up to the individual. The Prophet never limited people's expression of devotion. I never said that one is not rewarded for such deeds I only emphasized the point that one should not transmit a practice as if it were desirable to the faith as we are in no position to do such a thing. The point that needs to be clarified here is the meaning of a practice being established by the Prophet. Sometimes an approved variation in a practice is just as much established by him. You write: Should we not keep proclaiming something part of religion separate from passing it down? Take example I discussed in point 2 above where prophet telling (passing down) a particular practice to few people only. Sufism is also an example. There are many Sufi way of worships which have been passing down since ages because these are proving to be worthy for weak Nafs. Many people have practiced them and achieved results, should we say that inventor of these practices were innovators although they might not consider it essential part of religion and should they not be rewarded for it? The Prophet never established something in religion and only mentioned it to a few people. This is contrary to the very establishment of the Sunnah (practice of Islam). If there were instances that the Prophet made mention of something to some people it should not be taken as being an essential part of the religion. He was addressing them and their issues within a certain context. We cannot apply these to the religious body of Islam as he did not authorize it to be so. As for Sufis, or anyone for that matter, that created practices that help people then the matter goes back to whether it was framed in a religious way or desirable to the religion. It does not matter if something feels good or brings you back to the Lord; that is not the issue: the issue is that nothing can be propped up to be part of religion if it had not been established. As I said before, one can do anything they please to help their spirituality develop. It is a problem when one attempts to get people following that practice and even worse those people beginning to feel that it is part of the religion when it is not. I hope I have clarified the issue. God knows best. Ronnie Hassan February 11, 2007