Bidʿa

views updated May 14 2018

Bidʿa (Arab., ‘innovation’). Belief or practice for which there is no precedent in the sunna of Prophet Muḥammad. Generally speaking, bidʿa as ‘innovation’ has a bad sense, since it implies unconsidered disruption of what God has revealed and intended in Qur'ān. However, jurists such as Imām al-Shāfiʿi recognized that allowances must be made for changes in environments and other conditions, and in the development of knowledge. He therefore taught that there were good and even necessary innovations as long as they did not contradict Qur'ān, sunna, and ijmāʿ.