Al-Ibda fi Bayan Kamal al-Shar wa Khatar al-Ibtida
- Author died
- 1421 AH
- Editions
- Printed at the expense of an anonymous benefactor, under a permit from the Ministry of Information in Jeddah
Al-Ibda fi Bayan Kamal al-Shar wa Khatar al-Ibtida (The Mastery in Demonstrating the Perfection of the Law and the Danger of Innovation) is an Islamic theological treatise and public lecture by the Saudi jurist Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymin (d. 1421 AH / 2001 CE) on the completeness of Islamic law and the prohibition of religious innovation (bid'ah) .
Purpose and Content
The work was originally delivered as a public lecture and subsequently transcribed and published as an independent treatise, as well as compiled within the fifth volume of the author's collected works and fatwas (Majmu' Fatawa wa Rasa'il al-Uthaymin) by Fahd al-Sulayman . Its central theme is establishing the comprehensive perfection of Islamic law and warning against inventing new practices in religion .
Ibn Uthaymin begins by demonstrating that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ conveyed the message fully, leaving the Muslim community upon clear guidance ( محجة بيضاء ليلها كنهارها ) and explaining all necessary matters across every sphere of life, citing statements by Companions such as Abu Dharr al-Ghifari and Salman al-Farsi . The treatise addresses the theological implications of religious innovation, arguing that introducing unauthorized acts of worship amounts to an implicit claim that the religion was left incomplete .
The author defines religious innovation in the legal sense as worshipping Allah through that which He has not legislated, or through practices not observed by the Prophet ﷺ or the Rightly Guided Caliphs . He distinguishes between religious innovation, which is rejected, and customary or worldly matters, which are subject to custom and convention and do not fall under the prohibited religious innovations .
Editions and Publication
The work has been published under variants of its title, including Al-Ibda' fi Kamal al-Shar' wa Khatar al-Ibtida' . Notable printings include an edition issued under permit from the Ministry of Information in Jeddah in 1410 AH, a second edition published by Dar al-Watan in Riyadh in 1411 AH, and its inclusion in the fifth volume of Majmu' Fatawa wa Rasa'il al-Uthaymin .
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