Performing the night prayer of the month of Ramadan behind the imam is therefore more firmly established than being a merely general Sunnah. In the Prophet’s lifetime—peace and blessings be upon him—the people used to pray it in groups in the mosque and he approved their action, and his approval itself constitutes a Sunnah.

As for ʿUmar’s remark, “What an excellent innovation this is,” most of those who cite it—were we to try to base a ruling on ʿUmar’s words in an undisputed matter—would retort, “A Companion’s statement is not proof.” How, then, can it be proof for them when it conflicts with the words of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him? And whoever does hold a Companion’s statement to be authoritative does so only when it does not oppose a ḥadīth. On either view, then, a prophetic report cannot be countered by the opinion of a Companion. Granted, according to one of the two transmitted positions, it is permissible to particularize the general wording of a ḥadīth by means of an uncontested statement of a Companion; this would only demonstrate the praiseworthy nature of that specific “innovation,” not of any other.

Furthermore, the most that can be drawn from this is that ʿUmar termed it an innovation while praising it, and this is a linguistic, not a legal, usage. Linguistically, bidʿah applies to anything introduced without prior example.

Legally, however, bidʿah is whatever lacks any evidence from the Sacred Law. Thus, if a text from the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—indicates the recommendation or obligation of an act after his passing, or indicates it absolutely, yet it was not acted upon until after his death—such as the register of alms that Abū Bakr produced—