me. Hold fast to it and cling to it with your back teeth. Beware of newly introduced matters, for every innovation is misguidance.”

In another wording:

“Every newly introduced matter is an innovation.”

He also used to say:

“I have left you upon a clear path whose night is like its day. No one will stray from it after me except one who is doomed.”

He also used to say:

“There is nothing Allah has commanded you that I have not commanded you, and nothing Allah has forbidden you that I have not forbidden you.”

Abū Dharr said:

“When the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) died, there was not a bird flapping its wings in the sky about which he had not imparted some knowledge to us.”

There are many such reports.

How, then—with all this clarification and guidance—could what he brought contain no answer to this question, nor distinguish truth from falsehood and guidance from misguidance concerning it?! Indeed, how could he possibly have remained silent instead of explaining the matter, even if people had not asked him?!