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HADITH 5
On the authority of the mother of the faithful Aisah (may Allah be pleased with her) who said the messenger of Allah, (SAW) said: “whosoever introduces into this affair of ours (i.e. into Islam) something that does not belong to it, it is to be rejected”. According to the version in muslin, (it reads) “whosoever works a work which has for it no command of ours is to be rejected”.
Report
Like Hadith 1, this hadith is one of the most important hadiths, Imam Nawawi said it should be memorized by every Muslim.
This hadith is used as a criterion for judging external actions or performance of Ibadah. If an action is not done in accordance with the shariah or the sunnah of the prophet (SAW) it will be rejected and not accepted by Allah based on text of this hadith. This hadith complements hadith 1, which was a criterion for judging the intentions or the internal actions of the heart. The scholars say that the acceptance of actions of Ibadah is based on two conditions.
i. The intention – the action should be done with sincerity, for the sake of only Allah.
ii. It should be done in accordance with the sunnah of the prophet (SAW).
Lessons
This hadith is related to a very important concept which is following the sunnah and violating this concept will lead to bida’ah (which will be discussed) in detail, insha Allah in Hadith 28). Scholars classify actions of the prophet (SAW) into actions done for the purpose of ibadah (worshiping Allah) and actions which are not done for that purpose (i.e. customs, actions done haphazardly, etc.). There are clear indicators for actions done for the purpose of Ibadah suchas commands to do or not to do something, warnings for not doing something etc.
Muslims are only obliged to follow the first kind of Sunnah. Looking at it in a positive way, the actions (i.e. forms of ibadah) that we do should be done in accordance with the shariah or the sunnah of the prophet (SAW) and to ensure this there is a criterion consisting of five aspects that will keep our actions in check.
i. Time: Any ibadah that we do has to be done in it’s designated or specified time e.g. there are fixed times in the day for the five prayers, for fasting the month for fasting is from fajr to sunset. There is a specific time in the yer when we can perform the hajj from 8 to the 12 zuhijjah.
ii. Place: The shariah has specified that certain ibada have to be performed in designated places. E.g. the places for performing the Hajj, I’tkaf, doing ihram for hajj have been fixed by the shariah and this is something which is sometimes violated by muslims, e.g. doing the ihram (starting talbiyyah and niyyah for hajj) in Jeddah is incorrect.
iii. Quantity: for most of the ibadahs the shariah has specified a certaing number of times that the ibadahs or their components need to be perfomed e.g. for prayers, there are specified number of rakaah and sujud and for tawaf there is a fixed nuber of rounds (7) etc.
iv. Way: every ibadah was described or shown to us by the prophet (SAW) being our best model to follow and emulate. The way that the ibadah are performed by him have to be followed.
v. Type: if the shariah has specified a type of ibadah, then we should stick to that type. E.g. Al-udiah (sacrifice) the type of animal to be sacrificed has been specified by the shariah and this should not be violated.
On the authority of the mother of the faithful Aisah (may Allah be pleased with her) who said the messenger of Allah, (SAW) said: “whosoever introduces into this affair of ours (i.e. into Islam) something that does not belong to it, it is to be rejected”. According to the version in muslin, (it reads) “whosoever works a work which has for it no command of ours is to be rejected”.
Report
Like Hadith 1, this hadith is one of the most important hadiths, Imam Nawawi said it should be memorized by every Muslim.
This hadith is used as a criterion for judging external actions or performance of Ibadah. If an action is not done in accordance with the shariah or the sunnah of the prophet (SAW) it will be rejected and not accepted by Allah based on text of this hadith. This hadith complements hadith 1, which was a criterion for judging the intentions or the internal actions of the heart. The scholars say that the acceptance of actions of Ibadah is based on two conditions.
i. The intention – the action should be done with sincerity, for the sake of only Allah.
ii. It should be done in accordance with the sunnah of the prophet (SAW).
Lessons
This hadith is related to a very important concept which is following the sunnah and violating this concept will lead to bida’ah (which will be discussed) in detail, insha Allah in Hadith 28). Scholars classify actions of the prophet (SAW) into actions done for the purpose of ibadah (worshiping Allah) and actions which are not done for that purpose (i.e. customs, actions done haphazardly, etc.). There are clear indicators for actions done for the purpose of Ibadah suchas commands to do or not to do something, warnings for not doing something etc.
Muslims are only obliged to follow the first kind of Sunnah. Looking at it in a positive way, the actions (i.e. forms of ibadah) that we do should be done in accordance with the shariah or the sunnah of the prophet (SAW) and to ensure this there is a criterion consisting of five aspects that will keep our actions in check.
i. Time: Any ibadah that we do has to be done in it’s designated or specified time e.g. there are fixed times in the day for the five prayers, for fasting the month for fasting is from fajr to sunset. There is a specific time in the yer when we can perform the hajj from 8 to the 12 zuhijjah.
ii. Place: The shariah has specified that certain ibada have to be performed in designated places. E.g. the places for performing the Hajj, I’tkaf, doing ihram for hajj have been fixed by the shariah and this is something which is sometimes violated by muslims, e.g. doing the ihram (starting talbiyyah and niyyah for hajj) in Jeddah is incorrect.
iii. Quantity: for most of the ibadahs the shariah has specified a certaing number of times that the ibadahs or their components need to be perfomed e.g. for prayers, there are specified number of rakaah and sujud and for tawaf there is a fixed nuber of rounds (7) etc.
iv. Way: every ibadah was described or shown to us by the prophet (SAW) being our best model to follow and emulate. The way that the ibadah are performed by him have to be followed.
v. Type: if the shariah has specified a type of ibadah, then we should stick to that type. E.g. Al-udiah (sacrifice) the type of animal to be sacrificed has been specified by the shariah and this should not be violated.
