Select a passage to highlight it. Click or tap a highlight to remove it.
Text and translation
English translation
203. It was narrated from Mundhir bin Jarir that his father
said: "The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: 'Whoever introduces a good practice that is followed, he will receive its reward and a reward equivalent to that of those who follow it, without that detracting from their reward in the slightest. And whoever introduces a bad practice that is followed, he will receive its sin and a burden of sin equivalent to that of those who follow it, without that detracting from their burden in the slightest.'" (Sahih)
Your commentary saves automatically in this browser, separate from the published commentary. It stays private unless you include it in a shared study file.
Footnotes
1
[1] Ar-Rahmân 55:29.
Commentary
'Introducing a good practice' means that a need was being felt for an act of virtue but no one was practising it, or else introducing a good practice would mean reviving the implementation of a Sunnah that had since been abandoned, and when someone revived it, others also took to following it. It would also apply to the situation where one devises a new methodology for the promotion of a proven act of virtue. Declaring an action as good and giving it currency in the society on the basis of one's own subjective opinion is a form of innovation (Bid'ah) which will attract retribution or punishment instead of recompense or reward from Allāh.
'Introducing an evil practice' means a situation where a man did an evil act which was non-existent in the society. Then, taking the cue from him, others also started doing the same. The Prophet ﷺ has warned against it.
People engaged in the work of Da'wah (calling people to the right path) must be on their guard lest they themselves start doing an act or inviting others to do something, on the basis of some weak or spurious Hadith, not proved from the sound sources. If they do so, not only will their entire labor go to waste but they shall also have to carry on their shoulders the burden of the sins of others who followed them in that act.
Crediting the reward or punishment for deeds done by a person to his account is an automatic operation, by the will of Allāh, in which the person concerned has no say either way. It is, therefore, meaningless to argue in support of the concept of the transference of the reward of one man's actions to another. If such a philosophy of transference were accepted, then, by the same token, the transference of a person's sins to others will also have to be accepted.
