The Understanding of Bid‘ah Concept from Hadith Perspective

This article seeks to identify the extent to which the concept of Bid‘ah, its distribution and the understanding of bid’ah asanah (commendable innovation) concept from the perspective of hadith as debated by scholars. This article employs the method of documentation in gathering the data from Kutub al-Tis‘ah (The six books of hadith) and other sources identified as appropriate with the requirement of the study. Based on this study, the related hadiths show that the Bid‘ah practice is forbidden. This is because according to the scholars, Bid‘ah in terms of the Islamic law is the practice that conflicts with the Qur’an, hadith and sayings of the Companion (athar). Meanwhile, the concept of bid‘ah asanah needs to be understood so that Muslims are not confused about this matter and so that it will not confuse others. Although Imam al-Shāfi‘ī divides Bid‘ah into good (asanah) and bad (sayyi’ah), we need to find evidence and come up with the debate before imposing anything whether it will be accepted or otherwise.