Re: Too Extreme
Peace bro lethal kamikaze
Yes, this is a very important topic. One that we should fully understand as modern day Muslims. There are actions that are driven from our needs and then there are actions that are imposed on us - that are not directly based on our needs.
There are also promises that we make or join a contract that turn certain things that would otherwise be good practice in to obligations.
Now when it comes to Shari’ah (Schools of Fiqh) - Every Obligatory, Recommended, Reprehensible, or Forbidden act must be understood in absolute terms … such that if any of these are not considered to be what they are then that is kufr and to make anything that is not as documented to be obligatory or forbidden as obligatory or forbidden or introducing a new matter that such and such is a matter of Shari’ah - i.e. praying 3 rakahs in fajr, fasting 40 days, or making a new pillar of Islam … these are all bidda’ and sometimes kufr.
However, du’a, and generally understood pious practices - like reciting the Qur’an, supererogatory fasts, are not part of Shari’ah, but must be performed in accordance with a given practice in Shari’ah. For example a nafili fast cannot be done without the iftar being done after maghrib. It is nafil, but the format cannot change, although the timing in the year of it is not fixed, the format of it has to stem from established formats.
As with prayer - you will notice that timing for fard prayer is fixed … nawafil prayer is not fixed, but certain times are forbidden.
Some people say that celebrating mawlid is bidda’ - but this cannot be true since no one claims the mawlid is part of Shariah … Rather for some people it becomes an excuse to observe more nawafil iba’dah and that in turn encourages the adherence to the faraid requirements. Some people fast every Mondays.
Generally gathering people together for an event is a separate activity is often mistaken to be a religious practice … but when such is done in order to walk the footsteps of the salaf in order to gain what they gained, then this is not bidd’a … For example if some person decides to go out in to the mountains to think about his life for a short while and then return - he manages to get some spiritual benefit so if another person wants to achieve the same there is nothing in wrong in him copying that act … and from this a “way” is developed … but a “way” is not the same as “introducing new matters in to the Deen”.
Because a “way” will only encode practices and routines in such a way that skirt around and enhance the effectiveness or quality of the “required” practices …
For these reasons we can’t use rationale to deduce that 3 rakahs are better than 2 rakahs for Fajr … But we can conclude that daily knocking at your neighbours house and praying in jamaat is better than just praying by yourself … Because the practice of helping each other get up for Fajr is not encoded in the Shar’iah … and the practice of praying in Jamaat is about gaining fadzilah … even though the basic requirement is for the individual to get up and pray by himself.