Bid'ah

In Islam and sharia (Islamic law), bidʿah (Arabic: بدعة [ˈbɪdʕæ], lit. 'innovation') refers to innovation in religious matters.^[1] Linguistically, as an Arabic word, the term can be defined more broadly, as "innovation, novelty, heretical doctrine, heresy".^[2] Despite being the subject of many hadith and commonly used in Muslim texts, the term is not found in the Qur'an.

Different hadith narrating what Muhammad and early Muslims say about bidʻah — one of them being: "Avoid novelties for every novelty is an innovation and every innovation is an error"^[3] — are often cited as evidence of Islam's opposition to innovation in religion. The term has been said (by Mehram Kamrava) to have acquired over time "a highly negative, even dreaded connotation" in the Islamic world, where attacks on bidʻah have resonated with the masses of Muslims.^[4] Among the disagreements within the Muslim community over interpretations of the concept concern the legitimacy of the celebration of Muhammad's birthday (mawlid) — which is widely practiced in some parts of the Muslim world, while being emphatically condemned as bidʻah by many influential Sunni clerics;^[5] whether generally accepted definitions of bidʻah change over time-- whether there can be both good and bad bidʻah or only bad; if there is such a thing as good bidʻah, (along with lawful, recommended and the obligatory kinds), how can we reconcile this with Muhammad’s statement that “every innovation is misguidance”.^[6]

In classical Arabic literature (Arabic: أدب, romanized: adab) outside of religion, bidʻah has been used as a form of praise for outstanding compositions of prose and poetry.^[7]