into His Paradise. May Allah make us among those who listen to the word and follow the best of it.

Know, then, that the innovations just referred to can be traced back to four causes:

1. Weak hadiths that may neither be cited as proof nor attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. In our view—outlined in the introduction to The Prophet’s Prayer Described—it is impermissible to act on such reports. This is likewise the position of a number of scholars, including Ibn Taymiyyah and others.

2. Fabricated hadiths, or narrations with no basis whatsoever. Their falsehood escaped some jurists, who proceeded to derive rulings from them—rulings that are pure innovations and newly-invented matters.

3. Personal judgments and so-called “approvals” (istihsānāt) issued by certain jurists, especially those of later times, without any supporting evidence from the law. They presented these views as unquestionable, until they came to be treated as sunnahs to be followed. Anyone with insight into the religion knows that such following is impermissible, for legislation belongs solely to Allah. At best, if the person who preferred such a view is a qualified mujtahid, he may act on it himself and will not be held accountable; but for the people to adopt it as binding law and Sunnah—most certainly not. How much more so when some of these preferences contradict the Prophet’s practical Sunnah, as will be noted, God willing.

4. Customs and superstitions unsupported by the Sharia and rejected by sound reason. Yet some ignorant folk practice them, turn them into a rule, and even find supporters—sometimes among those who claim scholarship and don its attire.

Let it also be known that these innovations do not stand on one level; they vary in gravity. Some amount to outright polytheism and clear disbelief, as you will see, while others are less severe. Nevertheless, one must realize that even the smallest innovation a person introduces into the religion is