Haqiqat al-Sunnah wal-Bidah = al-Amr bil-Ittiba wa al-Nahy an al-Ibtida
- Author died
- 911 AH
- Editions
- Matabi' al-Rashid
Al-Amr bi-l-Ittibaʿ wa-l-Nahy ʿan al-Ibtidaʿ (Commanding Adherence and Forbidding Innovation), also published under the title Haqiqat al-Sunnah wa-l-Bidʿah (The Reality of Sunnah and Innovation), is a treatise on Islamic creed and jurisprudence by al-Jalal al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH / 1505 CE) dedicated to enjoining adherence to the Prophetic tradition and warning against religious innovations.
Content and Structure
Al-Suyuti begins the treatise by citing Quranic verses, prophetic hadiths, and reports from the early generations (al-salaf) concerning the obligation of holding fast to the Sunnah and the community (al-jamaʿah), alongside the censure of religious innovation (bidʿah) and sectarian division. He then provides a chapter on distinguishing between Sunnah and bidʿah, presenting the general meaning of the Sunnah and various aspects of innovation without establishing formal definitional boundaries.
In a subsequent section on newly invented matters that do not overtly conflict with Islamic law, al-Suyuti classifies innovations into commendable (mustahsana) and reprehensible (mustaqbaha). He divides reprehensible innovations into doctrinal deviations that lead to misguidance and ruin—which he identifies with the seventy-two deviant sects—and practical innovations introduced into worship and daily customs.
The work enumerates numerous specific newly invented practices to be avoided, including:
- Invented ritual prayers: such as the Alfiyyah prayer performed on the night of mid-Shaʿban and the Umm Dawud prayer in mid-Rajab.
- Pulpit and sermon practices: innovations associated with the Friday sermon (khutbah), such as the preacher turning left and right during specific phrases, striking the steps of the pulpit with a sword upon ascending, raising hands in supplication during the sermon, and unnaturally shouting blessings upon the Prophet.
- Mosque construction: the unnecessary proliferation of mosques within a single quarter, which al-Suyuti criticizes for dispersing congregations and undermining the communal purpose of collective prayer.
- Doctrinal and behavioral pitfalls: including following base desires (ittibaʿ al-hawa).
Method and Sources
In his discussion of the legal categories of innovation, al-Suyuti incorporates the fivefold division of bidʿah previously formulated by al-ʿIzz ibn ʿAbd al-Salam, citing the categorization without explicitly naming al-ʿIzz as its author in the text.
Manuscripts and Editions
Manuscripts of the treatise survive in several collections, including a copy held at the Central Library of King Faisal University in al-Ahsa (MS 199). The text has been printed in multiple modern critical editions, including one edited by Dhib ibn Misri ibn Nasir al-Qahtani under the title Haqiqat al-Sunnah wal-Bidʿah = al-Amr bil-Ittibaʿ wa al-Nahy ʿan al-Ibtidaʿ (1409 AH), and an edition edited by Mashhur Hasan published by Dar Ibn al-Qayyim in Dammam.
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