al-Sahih al-Muntakhal min Kalam al-Awwalin fi Bida al-Amal
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al-Sahih al-Muntakhal min Kalam al-Awwalin fi Bida al-Amal (Arabic: الصحيح المنتخل من كلام الأولين في بدع العمل, lit. 'The Selected Authentic [Traditions] from the Words of the Early Generations Regarding Innovations in Action') is a treatise on Islamic legal theory and the doctrine of innovation (bid'ah) by Muhammad bin Mubarak Hakimi. The work compiles and analyzes authentic reports from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, the Companions (al-Sahabah), and early successors to delineate the early generations' methodology in identifying religious innovations and adhering to the Sunnah.
Purpose and Objective
The central inquiry of the book focuses on practical innovations (bida' al-'amal): acts added to religious practice that were never established by any of the Companions—despite the motive for doing them existing during their era—yet ostensibly fall under general scriptural texts, determining whether such practices constitute valid acts of devotion or blameworthy innovations. Hakimi stated that his aim was not to resolve narrow legal rulings within the narrations, but rather to extract the overarching hermeneutical method (منهجية الحكم) of the early generations (al-salaf) regarding innovations. The author composed the work as a preliminary precursor to a broader planned compendium of traditions and Sunan from the Companions.
Method and Structure
Hakimi organized the text topically across thematic chapters, adopting specific methodological criteria:
- Authenticity: Restricting the cited traditions strictly to authentic (صحيح) and comparable sound reports, intentionally excluding weak narrations.
- Conciseness: Selecting representative traditions that suffice over redundant variants, omitting prolonged discussions of chains of transmission (الأسانيد) to maintain focus on the core objective.
The work is arranged in a foundational preface followed by two primary parts:
- Introductory Principles (مقدمات متفق عليها): Outlines fourteen agreed-upon principles among classical scholars concerning the boundaries of innovation, public interest (المصلحة المرسلة), general textual proofs versus established practice, and the authority of the Companions' practice.
- Part One: Presentation of Traditions and Their Benefits (الجزء الأول: في سَوق الآثار وفوائدها): Compiles textual evidence across dozens of chapters, beginning with the completeness of religion and the comprehensive prophetic guidance, and covering subjects such as innovation in acts of worship, permissible legal reasoning (ijtihad) in established rites when necessary, the realm of ordinary customs (العادات), and instances where customs cross into innovation when treated as religious obligations.
- Part Two: Jurisprudential Insights from the Traditions (الجزء الثاني: في فقه معالم الآثار): Deduces theoretical principles from the preceding narrations, defining bid'ah according to the early generations as anything added to what is legally demanded without being part of it, anchored in adherence to early normative practice (العمل العتيق).
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