al-Bida wa al-Nahy anha
- Author died
- 286 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat Ibn Taymiyyah
Al-Bida wa-al-nahy 'anha (Religious Innovations and Their Prohibition) is an early hadith treatise on heretical innovations and adherence to the prophetic tradition compiled by the Andalusian scholar Muhammad ibn Waddah al-Qurtubi (d. 286 AH / 899 CE) .
Contents and Structure
Ibn Waddah opens the work with prophetic hadiths and reports (athar) encouraging adherence to the Sunnah, stating that the religion is preserved through trustworthy transmitters and that God appoints defenders of the faith against introduced innovations . He then details the vigilance of the early generations (al-salaf) in warning against innovators .
The treatise is organized into thematic chapters, including:
- Bab ma yakun bid'ah (What Constitutes an Innovation): contains reports of the Companions condemning novel practices, such as congregational calls to prayer in mosques late at night, isolating oneself in separate mosques, sitting in circles for collective chanting of tasbih, and fasting on Zoroastrian festival days . It also records disciplinary actions taken against innovators—such as striking storytellers (qussas) or reprimanding children who sat with them—alongside statements from early authorities concerning the innovations of popular preachers .
- Bab kull muhdathah bid'ah (Every Newly Invented Matter is an Innovation): gathers narrations censuring religious inventions and reports concerning whether an innovator's repentance is accepted .
- Bab ihdath al-bida' (The Introduction of Innovations): adduces narrations on the punishment for introducing foreign elements into religion, caution in issuing legal rulings (fatwa), and the view of the Salaf that innovation is more grave than ordinary sin .
- Bab taghayyur al-bida' (Changing Innovations): presents reports on the harm of innovations, the obligation to alter them, and narrations stating that the emergence of an innovation displaces a corresponding Sunnah .
- Bab fi ittiba' al-athar (Following Historical Relics; corrupted as ittiba' al-adhan in print): gathers reports forbidding the deliberate tracing and visiting of physical locations where the Prophet ﷺ prayed or took pledges of allegiance .
Towards the end of the text, Ibn Waddah cites narrations concerning tribulations (fitan) associated with the signs of the Hour, the fragmentation of the community, the Kharijites, and hypocrisy among reciters and scholars, concluding the treatise with reports on commanding right and forbidding wrong .
Methodology and Characteristics
Classified as a hadith booklet (juz'), the work is primarily an evidential collection of narrations transmitted with full chains of transmission (asānīd) rather than an analytical theological discourse . The majority of the innovations censured in the collection concern practical rituals and acts of worship (al-bida' al-'amaliyyah) rather than purely doctrinal deviations . Ibn Waddah grouped narrations of similar purport under specific headings, and he occasionally inserted brief commentary reflecting his legal and hadith comprehension . The text has reached later scholars as a transmitted compilation from Ibn Waddah, frequently opening individual reports with phrases such as "Muhammad ibn Waddah narrated to us" .
Reception and Influence
Al-Bida wa-al-nahy 'anha is among the earliest and most widely cited compilations dedicated specifically to religious innovations, serving as a core source for later treatises on the subject . It was cited extensively in al-Hawadith wa-al-bida' by Abu Bakr al-Turtushi, al-Ba'ith 'ala inkar al-bida' wa-al-hawadith by Abu Shamah, and the writings of Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim .
In al-I'tisam, al-Shatibi drew the majority of his textual citations from Ibn Waddah's collection, extracting legal and theoretical principles (qawa'id usuliyyah) from its narrations . However, al-Shatibi noted that works like Ibn Waddah's confined themselves mostly to raw transmission of texts without providing exhaustive legal jurisprudence or theoretical definitions of innovation .
Printed Editions
The treatise was edited by Muhammad Ahmad Dahman and published in Damascus in 1400 AH / 1980 CE . Dahman's edition was prepared from a single manuscript with poor calligraphy, leading to several textual errors and scribal corruptions in the printed copy despite his editorial notes and cross-referencing .
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