Categories of Innovation
Religious innovation falls into two broad divisions:

1. Doctrinal innovations expressed in speech: such as the doctrines of the Jahmiyyah, the Muʿtazilah, the Rāfiḍah, and the rest of the deviant sects and their creeds.

2. Innovations in acts of worship, meaning to devote oneself to Allah through a ritual He has not legislated. This category branches into several kinds:
   • First: introducing a practice whose very origin has no basis in the sacred law—for example, instituting an unprescribed prayer or fast, or inaugurating unlegislated festivals such as birthday celebrations (mawlids) and the like.
   • Second: adding something to a prescribed act of worship, as when someone inserts a fifth unit (rakʿah) into the Dhuhr or ʿAsr prayer.
   • Third: altering the prescribed manner of performing the worship, such as chanting the legislated remembrances in melodious unison, or imposing such severity on oneself in worship that one departs from the Prophet’s sunnah.
   • Fourth: designating a specific time for a legislated act of worship when the Lawgiver has not specified that time; for instance, singling out the fifteenth day—and its night—of Shaʿbān for fasting and night prayer. While fasting and night prayer are themselves legitimate, restricting them to a particular time requires evidence.

The Ruling on Religious Innovation
Every innovation in religion—whatever its form—is prohibited and a misguidance, because of the Prophet’s ﷺ statement: “Beware of newly invented matters, for every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance.” 1 And he ﷺ also said