How does following revelation protect worship from desire and innovation?
2026-09-21
T35 · Ibn Taymiyyah
Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah
شيخ الإسلام أحمد بن تيمية
Selected explanation · Selected source passage(s) — fully translated
Selected passage from Ibn Taymiyyah’s account of a dispute concerning his writings. The opening accusation is reported and rejected, not endorsed. Its historical pronouns should not be turned into judgments about a present-day person. The English translates every displayed Arabic paragraph; this selection is not the complete surrounding work. Square brackets identify translator-supplied clarification.
النص العربي
المقتطف
وَقَوْلُ الْقَائِلِ: إنَّهُ يُظْهِرُ الْبِدَعَ كَلَامٌ يَظْهَرُ فَسَادُهُ لِكُلِّ مُسْتَبْصِرٍ وَيَعْلَمُ أَنَّ الْأَمْرَ بِالْعَكْسِ فَإِنَّ الَّذِي يُظْهِرُ الْبِدْعَةَ إمَّا أَنْ يَكُونَ لِعَدَمِ عِلْمِهِ بِسُنَّةِ الرَّسُولِ أَوْ لِكَوْنِهِ لَهُ غَرَضٌ وَهَوَى يُخَالِفُ ذَلِكَ؛ وَهُوَ أَوْلَى بِالْجَهْلِ بِسُنَّةِ الرَّسُولِ وَاتِّبَاعِ هَوَاهُمْ بِغَيْرِ هُدًى مِنْ اللَّهِ {وَمَنْ أَضَلُّ مِمَّنَ اتَّبَعَ هَوَاهُ بِغَيْرِ هُدًى مِنَ اللَّهِ} مِمَّنْ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِسُنَّةِ الرَّسُولِ مِنْهُمْ وَأَبْعَدُ عَنْ الْهَوَى وَالْغَرَضِ فِي مُخَالَفَتِهَا
English translation
English translation reviewed against the displayed Arabic by SalafAlSalih editorial preparation (AI-assisted); explanatory additions appear in square brackets or separate notes.
Selected explanation
The assertion that “he promotes innovations” is a statement whose falsity is clear to anyone with insight, who knows that the matter is the reverse. Someone who promotes an innovation does so either because he does not know the Messenger’s Sunnah or because he has an aim and a desire contrary to it. Such a person is more fittingly described as ignorant of the Messenger’s Sunnah and as following desires without guidance from Allah—“Who is more astray than one who follows his desire without guidance from Allah?”—than someone who knows the Messenger’s Sunnah better than they do and is further removed from desires and aims that oppose it.
Source and editorial notes
Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 28/58
مجموع الفتاوى
Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā
Arabic passage checked against the cited volume and printed page. English reviewed against every displayed Arabic paragraph on 14 October 2026.