Re: Bida’a…
Sister Lajawab, i think both Codey and Ahmad G make very good points.
another interesting (read controversial) “bid’aa” is the pronouncement of three divorces at once, initiated two years into Hazrat Umar’s caliphate. I thought that by and large sunnies believed three divorces to be effective immediately, but it seems there is considerable disagreement about it, to the extent of calling the other “rebel’s against Allah’s law”
A cursory look at google results seems to indicate that there is no clear way to determine what is actually the view of the 4 maz’habs, atleast for me since I dont know the names of sunni scholars. Could the sunni posters here tell me what they think about this, it seems to me that if this is a bid’aa then a whole lot of marriages have either been unjustly terminated or people are living in sin? It seems to be a very necessary issue to address.
Hazrat Umar initiates three divorces as one:
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/muslim/009.smt.html#009.3491
Against three divorces at once:
For three divorces at once:
http://www.jamiat.org.za/ttalaaqs.html
Please ascertain as to the credibility of these sites, I have no clue if islamonline.net is a good resource, jamiat.org would certainly seem to be one.
Edit: I found this article to be very instructive
(apologies if I’ve veered too far offcourse)