On the Obligation of Following the Sunnah and Abandoning Innovation

Among the most frequently repeated warnings in the works of the early scholars is the command to hold fast to the Sunnah and the severe prohibition against innovation in religion. Ibn Battah al-Ukbari devotes considerable attention to this theme, drawing on the statements of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and the transmitted reports of the Companions and their Successors.

The foundation of this chapter rests on the well-known hadith in which the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: 'Hold fast to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly-guided caliphs after me. Bite onto it with your back teeth. And beware of newly-invented matters, for every newly-invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance.' This narration, transmitted through multiple chains, was taken by the scholars of the Salaf as a comprehensive warning encompassing all matters introduced into religion after the death of the Prophet, peace be upon him.

Ibn Battah emphasizes that the condemnation of bid'ah — innovation in religion — is not a peripheral concern but a central pillar of the Sunnah itself. He records the statement attributed to Imam Malik ibn Anas: 'Whoever introduces into Islam an innovation which he considers good has claimed that Muhammad, peace be upon him, betrayed the message — because Allah said: Today I have completed your religion for you. Whatever was not religion on that day is not religion today.' This is the logic of the Salaf: if the religion was complete at the time of the Prophet's death, then any addition to it implies the Prophet left something out.

The scholars of the early generations were particularly watchful against innovations that dressed themselves in the appearance of piety. Ibn Battah records that Ibn Mas'ud, upon finding a group engaged in a collective dhikr circle using pebbles to count their recitations, said to them: 'Count your sins, for I guarantee that none of your good deeds will be wasted. Woe to you, O community of Muhammad — how quickly you are destroyed! Here are the Companions of the Prophet still alive, and his garments not yet worn out, and his vessels not yet broken. By the One in whose hand is my soul, either you are on a religion more guided than the religion of Muhammad, or you are opening a door of misguidance.' Ibn Mas'ud wept as he said this.

The reason the Salaf reacted so strongly to apparent innovations is precisely because innovations appear good to those who practice them. The innovator does not consider himself a deviant — he considers himself devoted. This is what makes bid'ah more dangerous in the eyes of the early scholars than open sin: the sinner knows he is sinning, while the innovator believes he is drawing closer to Allah through his innovation.

Ibn Battah also records the principle that every innovation crowds out a corresponding Sunnah. The spread of innovations is not neutral — it displaces authentic practice. For this reason, the scholars said that reviving a Sunnah in a time when innovations have spread carries a great reward, and that those who adhere to the Sunnah when innovations surround them are like strangers among their people.

The path set out in Al-Ibanah is clear: the Muslim holds to what the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his Companions were upon, takes warning from every newly-invented matter in religion, and recognizes that the safest way is the old way — the way of the first and best generations of this ummah.