al-Hawadith wal-Bida
- Author died
- 520 AH
- Editions
- Dār Ibn al-Jawzī
al-Hawadith wal-Bida (Events and Innovations) is a legal treatise on religious innovations authored by the Andalusian Maliki jurist Abu Bakr al-Tartushi (d. 520 AH / 1126 CE) . The work examines the concept of innovation (bid'a) in Islamic law, addressing doctrinal deviations briefly while focusing primarily on practical innovations in worship and daily customs .
Structure and Contents
Al-Tartushi organized the book into four major chapters (abwab):
- Chapter One: Covers matters found in the Quran whose outward appearance seems safe but lead to ruin; this chapter contains no sub-sections .
- Chapter Two: Treats the warnings against whims and innovations contained in the prophetic Sunnah, including sub-sections on the origins of sects and innovations as well as the definition of bid'a . Al-Tartushi defines innovation linguistically as something newly invented without a prior model, noting that the term applies to inventions of the heart, speech of the tongue, and actions of the limbs .
- Chapter Three: Details the methodology of the Companions in rejecting innovations and avoiding what leads to them . It includes chapters on the congregation for the Tarawih prayer, blocking legal pretexts (sadd al-dhara'i'), the legal principle that the widespread occurrence of an act does not prove its permissibility, and the avenues through which corruption enters upon common Muslims .
- Chapter Four: Transmits uncommon innovations and the scholars' denunciation of them, surveying various practical novelties widespread in his era until the end of the book . It treats specific practices such as singular veneration or fasting of the month of Rajab, entering public baths without waist-wrappers, ostentatious wedding and funeral notices, constructing stone structures over graves, rubbing against the Prophet's tomb, establishing formal gatherings for mourning, and women following funeral processions .
Method and Sources
The author followed a juristic and dialectical approach, engaging opposing views through legal reasoning and arguments framed as "if it is said... we say" . He relied extensively on the legal literature and authoritative rulings of the Maliki school, particularly reports from Malik ibn Anas . Al-Tartushi did not accept the division of innovations into praiseworthy or good categories (al-bida' al-mustahsana), treating religious innovation as blameworthy in its entirety .
In addition to its legal analysis, the text preserves descriptive records of the social environment, customs, and community practices prevalent across Islamic regions during the fifth and early sixth centuries AH .
Reception and Critique
The treatise became an important source for later treatises on religious innovations . Abu Shama praised it in al-Ba'ith 'ala Inkar al-Bida' wal-Hawadith, describing it as a work "packed with benefits despite its small size" . Al-Shatibi utilized it in al-I'tisam, though he observed that al-Tartushi's contribution, while distinguished from earlier works that merely compiled raw reports like that of Ibn Waddah, was still brief relative to the full scope required for theoretical grounding on the topic . Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti also drew upon the work in al-Amr bil-Ittiba' .
Critics of the book have noted that al-Tartushi's heavy reliance on the Maliki school led him to classify certain customary matters or disliked (makruh) practices as innovations, such as specific dining manners, novel foods, and reading directly from a copy of the Quran inside a mosque .
Editions
The work was edited by Muhammad al-Talibi and published in Tunis in 1959 by the Official Press for the Secretariat of State for National Education, based on two manuscripts preserved at the National Library in Spain and the Ahmadiyya Library of the Zaytuna Mosque in Tunis . It was subsequently edited by 'Abd al-Majid Turki and published by Dar al-Gharb al-Islami in Beirut .
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