Sūratu’l-Baqarah [The Cow] : (2:117)

بَدِيعُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ

The Originator of the heavens and the earth with nothing preceding Him to imitate. (Al-Baqarah 2:117)

The verb Ba-Da-‘A in Arabic means creating something completely novel without imitating anything preceding it.

The heavens and the earth are unique and incomparable in terms of their profundity and beauty. In other words, they are wonders of creation, before which there existed no model. In addition to the originality of their creation, nothing, no universe is more beautiful than the heavens and earth. Therefore, with their billions of beacons of light, they point to the All-Originating.

▪Indeed, the heavens and the earth, their fascinating beauty, all they contain, and the mysteries behind them were created with the command of “Be!” of the All-Holy Creator.

▪Furthermore, they were created perfectly, without any defect.

▪All of the creatures are neither a part of the Creator nor are they God’s incarnations.

▪The relationship between all existing things and/or beings and the All-Originating is only the relationship between the Creator and the created.

▪Neither are they born of Him or emanations from Him.

▪Clearly, all things and beings come into existence within time and space and then depart to make room for those who will follow them.

▪In-deed, everything is born and dies, comes and goes, and only “the Originator of the heavens and the earth” remains unchanged.

Thus, as the All-Originating manifests His existence by bestowing existence or life on every new-comer, so does He display His eternality or ever-permanence by making His creatures come one after the other in a perfect sequence.

The word “bid‘ah,” meaning innovation in the religion, is derived from the same root Ba-Da-‘A.

Bid‘ah is defined in different ways:

One definition of bid‘ah is doing or inventing anything in the name of worship which neither God’s Messenger nor the first Four Rightly-Guided Caliphs did.

Another definition or kind of bid‘ah is any innovation or good practice which ap-peared after the Prophet and his first four successors but does not abrogate or replace any sunnah, or practice, of Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings.

Some scholars are very strict on the issue of bid‘ah; they do not discriminate between good and evil innovations whereas some are quite mild.

▪Bediüzzaman Said Nursi represents the most moderate and agreeable attitude towards innovation:

He states that as long as the innovation does not oppose any of the basic principles of the religion and replace any sunnah act or rule, and if it can be based on any basic acceptable rule or practice, it may be regarded as bid‘atu’l-hasanah—good or acceptable innovation. But if the innovation cannot be reconciled with the basic principles of Islam, then it is regarded as bad innovation.

God knows the best.