بدعTo originate a thing with no precedent model; a second, seemingly unrelated sense is to … (root bd)

Al-bidʿ (البدع) is the bringing about of a thing which previously had no creation, no mention, and no [prior] knowledge [of it]. God is Badīʿ al-samāwāti wa-l-arḍ (بديع السموات والأرض) — He originated them; they were not previously anything that anyone could conceive; He originated creation (badaʿa l-khalq). Al-badʿ (البدع) is said of the thing that comes first in any matter, as God Almighty said: "qul mā kuntu bidʿan min al-rusuli" — "say: I am not the first of the messengers" (Qurʾān 46:9), i.e., I am not the first one sent. The poet said: "I am not unprecedented (bidʿ) amid misfortunes, nor in the unravelling and renewal of calamities." Al-bidʿah (البدعة) is the name for what is originated in religion or otherwise. We say: "You have brought a badīʿ (بديع) matter," meaning an originated, wondrous thing. "Ibtadaʿtu (ابتدعت)": I produced a novel matter not previously known, as [the poet] said: "Indeed Nabā and Muṭīʿ created a wondrous creation (khalqan badīʿan): Friday follows Saturday, and Jumādā and Rabīʿ." It is [also] read "Badīʿa l-samāwāti wa-l-arḍ" in the accusative, as an expression of wonderment, in answer to what the polytheists said — "how strange (bidʿan) is what you say, and how wondrous (badīʿan) is what you have invented!" — so it is put in the accusative for wonderment, and God knows best. It is said this is one of the names of God — He is al-Badīʿ (البديع), there being nothing before Him. The reading of the majority is the nominative, [and this] is more likely correct. Al-bidʿah (البدعة) is what has been newly introduced after the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, of whims and deeds; it is pluralized as bidaʿ (بدع). The poet said: "The thrusts of enemies and slanderers against us have not ceased, and the thrust of the slanderers is more bitter — that is no novelty (lā bidʿ)." "Abdaʿa l-baʿīru (أبدع البعير)" — so it [the camel] is mubdaʿ (مبدع), [afflicted] by some disease or the like; it is said it is a specific disease. "Abdaʿati l-ibilu (أبدعت الإبل)" — when [camels] are left behind on the road from emaciation. "Abdaʿa bi-l-rajuli (أبدع بالرجل)" — when his mount breaks down under him [leaving him stranded].

"Abdaʿtu l-shayʾa (أبدعت الشيء)": I invented the thing without following any model. God Almighty is Badīʿ al-samāwāti wa-l-arḍ. Al-badīʿ (البديع) [means] the originator (al-mubtadiʿ). Al-badīʿ also [means] the originated thing (al-mubtadaʿ). Al-badīʿ [also means] the wineskin (al-ziqq). In the ḥadīth: "Indeed Tihāma is like a honey-skin (ka-badīʿi l-ʿasal) — sweet at its beginning, sweet at its end" — he likened it to a honey-skin because it does not spoil, unlike milk. "Abdaʿa l-shāʿiru (أبدع الشاعر)": the poet produced something wondrous (al-badīʿ). A thing described as "bidʿ (بدع)" with kasra means innovated/novel. "Fulānun bidʿun fī hādhā l-amri" means [he is] unprecedented (badīʿ) [in this matter]; and "qawmun abdāʿ (قوم أبداع)" according to al-Akhfash. From this is His saying: "qul mā kuntu bidʿan min al-rusuli" (Qurʾān 46:9). Al-bidʿah (البدعة): the newly introduced thing in religion after its completion. "Istabdaʿahu (استبدعه)": he considered it wondrous/novel. "Baddaʿahu (بدعه)": he attributed it to innovation. "Abdaʿati l-rāḥilatu (أبدعت الراحلة)": it became worn out. And "abdaʿa bi-l-rajuli (أبدع بالرجل)": his mount became worn out.

Bāʾ, dāl, and ʿayn have two root meanings: one is the initiation of a thing and its making without following a precedent model, and the other is severance and exhaustion. As for the first: their saying "abdaʿtu (أبدعت)" a thing — a saying or a deed — when you initiate it without any prior model. And God is Badīʿ (بديع) of the heavens and the earth. The Arabs say "ibtadaʿa fulānun al-rakiyya (ابتدع فلان الركي)" when he dug/discovered a new well, and "fulānun bidʿun (فلان بدع) fī hādhā l-amr" [so-and-so is unprecedented in this matter]. God Almighty said: "mā kuntu bidʿan min al-rusuli (ما كنت بدعا من الرسل)" — "I was not the first [of the messengers]" (Qurʾān 46:9). The other root meaning is their saying "abdaʿati l-rāḥilatu (أبدعت الراحلة)" when the riding-mount becomes worn out and disabled, and "abdaʿa bi-l-rajuli (أبدع بالرجل)" when his mounts become worn out or disabled, leaving him stranded. In the ḥadīth: a man came to him and said, "O Messenger of God, I have been left stranded (ubdiʿa bī), so give me a mount." It is said that al-ibdāʿ (الإبداع) only occurs together with lameness [of the mount]. And from some of this the word al-bidʿah (البدعة) is derived.

Al-ibdāʿ (الإبداع): the making of a thing without following or imitating [a model]; hence it is said "rakiyyah badīʿ (ركية بديع)" — a newly dug well. When used of God Almighty, it is the bringing of a thing into existence without instrument, matter, time, or place, and that belongs to God alone. Al-badīʿ (البديع) is used for the one who originates (al-mubdiʿ), as in His saying: "Badīʿu l-samāwāti wa-l-arḍ" (Qurʾān 2:117), and it is [also] used for what is originated (al-mubdaʿ), as in "rakiyyah badīʿ." Likewise al-bidʿ (البدع) is used for both, in the sense of active and passive participle. His saying "qul mā kuntu bidʿan min al-rusuli" (Qurʾān 46:9) is said to mean: "originated [i.e. first], no messenger having preceded me," and it is [also] said to mean: "originating something new in what I say." Al-bidʿah (البدعة) in doctrine is the introducing of a statement in which its speaker/doer did not follow the example of the bearer of the Sharīʿah [the Prophet], nor his exemplary predecessors, nor his firmly-established principles. It is transmitted: "Every newly-introduced matter is a bidʿah, every bidʿah is misguidance, and every misguidance leads to the Fire." And al-ibdāʿ bi-l-rajuli (الإبداع بالرجل): being left stranded because of the apparent exhaustion and emaciation of his mount.

"Badaʿa l-shayʾa yabdaʿuhu badʿan (بدع الشيء يبدعه بدعا)" and "ibtadaʿahu (ابتدعه)": he brought it into being and initiated it. "Badaʿa l-rakiyyata (بدع الركية)": he dug/discovered it and brought it into being. "Rakiyyun badīʿ (ركي بديع)": newly dug. Al-badīʿ and al-badʿ: the thing that is first [of its kind]. In the Revelation: "qul mā kuntu bidʿan min al-rusuli" (Qurʾān 46:9), meaning: "I am not the first to be sent as a messenger; many messengers were sent before me." Al-bidʿah (البدعة): the newly-introduced thing, and what is innovated in religion after its completion. Ibn al-Sikkīt: al-bidʿah is every newly-introduced matter. In the ḥadīth of ʿUmar, may God be pleased with him, concerning the night-prayer of Ramaḍān: "How excellent is this bidʿah (niʿmat al-bidʿatu hādhihi)!" Ibn al-Athīr [says]: al-bidʿah is of two kinds — bidʿat hudā (an innovation of guidance) and bidʿat ḍalāl (an innovation of misguidance). Whatever is contrary to what God and His Messenger, peace be upon him, commanded falls under blame and rejection; whatever falls under the general scope of what God or His Messenger urged and encouraged falls under praise; and whatever has no precedent example — such as some form of generosity, munificence, or performing good deeds — is among praiseworthy acts, and it is not permissible for that to be contrary to what the Sharīʿah has brought, because the Prophet, peace be upon him, assigned a reward for that, saying: "Whoever institutes a good practice (sunnah ḥasanah) shall have its reward and the reward of whoever acts by it," and he said of its opposite: "Whoever institutes a bad practice shall bear its burden and the burden of whoever acts by it" — and that is when it is contrary to what God and His Messenger commanded. He said: of this kind is ʿUmar's saying, may God be pleased with him, "How excellent is this bidʿah," for since it was among good deeds and fell under the category of praise, he called it bidʿah and praised it, because the Prophet, peace be upon him, had not established it for them as a fixed practice; rather he prayed it for some nights and then left it, did not maintain it, did not gather the people for it, nor was it [practiced] in the time of Abū Bakr — rather it was ʿUmar, may God be pleased with both of them, who gathered the people for it and urged them to it, and for this he called it bidʿah, though it is in reality a sunnah, on account of his saying, peace be upon him: "Hold fast to my sunnah and the sunnah of the rightly-guided caliphs after me," and his saying, peace be upon him: "Follow the example of the two after me: Abū Bakr and ʿUmar." And upon this interpretation the other ḥadīth is understood: "Every newly-introduced matter is a bidʿah" — meaning only what is contrary to the foundations of the Sharīʿah and does not conform to the sunnah; and most often al-mubtadiʿ [the innovator] is used conventionally in a pejorative sense. Abū ʿAdnān said: al-mubtadiʿ is one who does a thing resembling [a precedent] which he himself did not truly initiate. "Fulānun bidʿun fī hādhā l-amri": first, [such that] no one preceded him. It is said: "mā huwa minnī bi-bidʿin wa-badīʿin (ما هو مني ببدع وبديع)" [it is not unprecedented from me]. Al-Aḥwaṣ said: "She boasted and made her claim, so I said, 'Look at me — it is no folly I have committed, being unprecedented (badīʿ).'" "Abdaʿa (أبدع)", "ibtadaʿa (ابتدع)", and "tabaddaʿa (تبدع)": he brought forth an innovation (bidʿah), as God Almighty said: "monasticism, which they invented (ibtadaʿūhā)" (Qurʾān 57:27). And he said [entry continues]