Imam al-Shawkani's Position on Innovations (Bid'ah) in Religious Rituals: An Analytical Jurisprudential Study

Abstract

This study examines Imam al-Shawkānī’s position on religious innovations (bidʿah) in devotional practices. It aims to clarify his concept of bidʿah as presented in his works and to highlight his methodological approach to condemnation and religious rectification. The study is based on inductive analysis of relevant texts, employing a precise ḥadīth-based and uṣūlī methodology grounded in strict adherence to textual evidence, rejection of practices lacking proof, and examination of the practice of the early generations (al-salaf).

The research is structured into an introduction, three chapters, and a conclusion. The first chapter addresses the concept of bidʿah and its regulating principles according to al-Shawkānī. The second chapter discusses his methodology in denouncing innovations and addressing newly introduced practices. The third chapter presents selected examples of al-Shawkānī’s stance on practical innovations in religious rituals.

The study concludes that Imam al-Shawkānī adopts a strict ḥadīth-based and uṣūlī methodology in defining and regulating the concept of bidʿah, and that he does not endorse the classification of innovations in purely devotional acts into good and bad categories. The researcher recommends further scholarly attention to al-Shawkānī’s methodology in general, and to his views on religious innovations in particular, as well as reviving the principle of tawqīf (strict adherence to revelation) in acts of worship within the contemporary Muslim context