Someone asked me the following question:

 Yesterday, someone left me a paper at the table in which he asked: The Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

(I warn you of the newly invented matters (in the religion), and every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance and every misguidance is in the Hellfire)

 Also, he, peace be upon him, said:

(The one who innovates a good innovation in Islam has its reward and the reward of those who would practice with it until the Day of Judgment.)

 The question is: What is the difference between Bid'ah and Sunnah Hasanah (good practice)?
 The above-mentioned As7adeth are Prophetic sound As7adeth. The first Hadith is:

(I warn you of the newly invented matters (in the religion), and every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance and every misguidance is in the Hellfire)

 The second one is:

(The one who innovates a good innovation in Islam has its reward and the reward of those who would practice with it until the Day of Judgment.)

The answer to the question:

 I repeat the question: What is the difference between Bid'ah and Sunnah Hasanah?
 Dear brother, scholars have made a difference between the linguistic meaning of Bid'ah and the religious one. There is a big difference between the two meanings. Bid'ah in religion means to introduce something new into the Aqeedah which is not mentioned in the Quran or Sunnah. Also, it means to invent a new act of worship which was not reported from the Prophet, peace be upon him. Hence, whatever innovation in both Aqeedah and Ibadah is considered Bid'ah, and "every innovation is misguidance and every misguidance is in the Hellfire." Every misguidance is in the Hellfire, because Islam came to us from Allah the Exalted, and Allah is the Absolute Perfect. He says:

(This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion)

[Al-Ma'idah: 3]

 Every addition to the Aqeedah and to Ibadah is accusing religion implicitly of being incomplete. Also, omitting something from the religion implicitly indicates that there is something unneeded in religion. This religion is from Allah the Exalted, and (the word "perfected" in the above Ayah means that Islam is perfect in quality (the way the religious issues are discussed in it), and the word "completed" means that it is complete in quantity (the number of the issues discussed in it).
 The number of the issues which the Quran has addressed is complete, and the method by which these issues are tackled is perfect. Thus, every addition is Bid'ah and every deletion is also Bid'ah. This is the meaning of Bid'ah religiously speaking. The method of the Islam is complete and balanced, and it comes from the Creator of the universe, the All Knowing and the all Aware.
 If someone wants to add an additional Salat, fasting, or an exhausting act of worship, it may make people turn away from Islam.. Therefore, every additional thing to religion has a negative effect. In a religion other than Islam. I mean, for example, a religious man who was ill and he used to fast extra ten days in addition to the month of fasting, and bit by bit this month has become 6 months. Some sh3er might say that one should fast until noon, not sunset, and sh3er say that fasting means refraining from eating food in which the oil is one of its components. The truth is that fasting should last for one month

(O you who believe! Observing As-Saum (the fasting) is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become Al-Muttaqun)

[Al-Baqarah: 183]

 Someone has made fasting 6 months, the other one has made it last for noon and someone else has made it refraining from animal fats. The fasting which lasts till noon will last for two hours if the one who fasts wakes up at 10.am. There is another condition of this fasting; he should refrain from eating animal fats.

 If people are permitted to worship Allah the way they want, religion will be ridiculous. Even in Islam some people have not acted upon the prohibitions, so religion turned into dancing, singing folklore and appearances, is this how religion should be manifested? Is it logical to make hitting oneself with a sharp device part of religion? Is it logical to make dancing part of religion? If we do not apply what is ordained on us, we will see rituals which can never be accepted in religion introduced into it. The religion of Allah the Exalted is not like this. Thus, the religion is perfect and complete, so every Bid'ah in religion is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Hellfire. This religion is from Allah the Exalted Who is the Most Perfect.
 There is a wonderful fact about Islam; this religion is Tawqeefi [It is not permissible to worship Allah, may He be exalted, through any act of worship unless this act of worship is proven in the Shar'i texts (Qur'an and Sunnah) to be an act of worship that was prescribed by Allah.] Some say that religion is our heritage, but heritage is man-made, while religion is Tawqeefi. Most educated people use the two terms to refer to religion; they say that religion is our heritage. Well, heritage is man-made, and it includes traditions, culture and folk art, whereas religion is revealed from heaven it is from Allah. It originates from His Revelation, while heritage originates from people. Hence, the religion cannot go on in the same way it started unless we prevent every addition to it and every omission from it.
 A man wanted to begin his Ihram (in preparation for Hajj or Umrah) from a place which was farther than the place from where the Prophet, peace be upon him, did his hoping for more reward. He said to someone, "The Prophet began Ihram from here, but would like to begin it from there." The man said to him, "Woe to you! You would be afflicted by Fitnah!" The man asked, "How could that happen as I am a servant of Allah?" The man answered, "Is there any greater Fitnah than thinking that you have surpassed the Prophet, peace be upon him, in good deeds?"
 Bid'ah can be obvious when the missioner asks people to do things which are too heavy for them to bear. Those people are asked to make certain Awrad (the singular is Wird: the wird, or dhikr, is a practice of repeating the name of Allah, and a set of invocations assigned to the murid) which include 100.000 words to be said every day. This is too much for someone to accomplish. Every addition to Ibadah which is beyond your scope is but illusion. People who ask you to perform an addition to Ibadah tell you that it is part of the religion, and it will get you closer to Allah. This is an unbalanced method, and the best proof is:

(But the Monasticism which they invented for themselves, We did not prescribe for them)

[Al-Hadid: 27]

 Allah the Exalted, has instilled in man the love for women, so when abstaining from marriage is considered a means of getting closer to Allah, shameful sins and moral deviations which only Allah knows arose:

(But the Monasticism which they invented for themselves, We did not prescribe for them)

[Al-Hadid: 27]

 They prescribed it for themselves seeking Allah's Satisfaction. However, because abstaining from marriage is not from Allah:

(But that they did not observe it with the right observance)

[Al-Hadid: 27]

 They could not observe it with the right observance.
 In Turkey, there are certain religious groups or trends who call for abstaining from marriage, which is Bid'ah. When someone forbids himself from getting married, he may tend to commit shameful sins including not only zina (adultery) but also homosexuality. Allah's Order is right and balanced.
 Dear brother, how can we make a balance between, (I warn you of the newly invented matters (in the religion), and every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance and every misguidance is in the Hellfire) and (The one who innovates a good innovation in Islam has its reward and the reward of those who would practice with it until the Day of Judgment.)?
 Let me give you an example of the Sunnah Hasanah. Was there any sound amplification at the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him? No, there was not. This innovation has nothing to do with Aqeedah or Ibadah, but rather it has to do with transmitting the sound of whoever delivers a lecture or gives a religious lesson to all parts of the Masjid. The Masjid contains a basement and sometimes two large ones, lecture halls and the courtyard, so whatever you say using the microphone will be heard all over the Masjid. How about heating and providing hot and cold water to people who come to the Masjid? Were there any of these things at the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him? No, they weren't. There are millions of things which have improved the situation of our Masajid.
 People in the past used to ride animals (horse or mule), but nowadays they drive cars. This has no relation to religion, but rather it is related to worldly issues. We have improved our lives within the Method of our religion.
 There is a nice comment; Sunnah Hasanah also means something new, so linguistically speaking it is innovation (Bid'ah, but it is called Sunnah Hasanah, because it does not have negative effect on religion). For instance, the ground of the Prophet's Masjid used to be covered with sand, its roof was made of the fronds of the palm trees and it had neither sound amplifiers nor a place for performing ablution. Like sound amplifiers, the telephone was not used in the past (again it is Sunnah Hasanah). Hence, the Sunnah Hasanah is related to Dunya.
 I was told that in Africa there is a very nice tradition. When someone dies, the mourners give some money to his heirs. Paying respect there is done by giving money. If the father who is the supporter of the family dies, the family will receive a large sum of money which will help them to satisfy their need. Furthermore, in case the deceased is wealthy, his family does not keep the money they are given for themselves, instead they give it to the poor. Accordingly, paying respects by offering money is really Sunnah Hasanah.
 Nowadays there are collective wedding; about two hundred grooms get married at one wedding ceremony. This never happened at the time of our Prophet, peace be upon him, but today there are difficulties in finding houses and paying the high expenses of marriage. Collective wedding ceremony has saved the youth large amounts of money. Hence, bringing something new to our Dunya, not to Aqeedah and Ibadah, is considered Sunnah Hasanah, and whoever innovates it will have its reward and the reward of those who practise with it until the Day of Resurrection. This is the reward of whoever introduces a Sunnah Hasanah.
 It has become a tradition to bring with you something made of glass as a gift when you come to the engagement ceremony. Why do we not change this gift to be more useful one? For example we can bring books of Hadith, Fiqh or Tafseer as gifts, and the couple will have a library of Islamic books. This is better than having two hundred different plates put in the cupboard (these are the gifts which are brought by those who attend the engagement ceremony), and sometimes they may not be one set.. What if you have valuable books instead? This will be a Sunnah Hasanah.
 A man held a wedding ceremony for his son, and he invited to it 1.000 people. At the ceremony he said, "The gift you would like to give cost 8.00 lira, so if you all give the amount of the gifts, there will be about 8.00.000 lira. This amount will be left with so and so man in order to be used in helping the young men to get married. This is the gift I would like you to give to me"
 Another person gives you along with the invitation card 1000 lira as a donation to a Shari'ah higher school. How wonderful this is! We can gather people at a wedding ceremony and ask them to denote money to build a Shari'ah school. Also, we can celebrate the wedding of someone and give books (as gifts) to the couple, so that they will an Islamic library at their house. This is very nice, and this is who the Sunnah Hasanah should be..
 At a wedding ceremony, I think that it is enough to have 3 bouquets of flowers. Once, I attended a wedding ceremony where the cost of the flowers there was about one million lira. At another wedding ceremony, the quantity of food was unbelievable! Nevertheless, less than tenth of it was eaten. ? A brother told me, "I was present at the time of ordering the banquet, and it cost a million lira."Less than a tenth of it was eaten! However, later on I was surprised when I saw the food was neatly packaged and delivered to an orphanage where the children kept eating it food for about ten days. The amount which was paid for the banquet was as much as the one paid for the ceremony. Notice how Muslims are oblivious to performing many good deeds.
 One day, I had an idea concerning the Sunnah Hasanah. I thought of making lists for the blood type of our brother, so that we could call the person whose blood type is needed instead of posting an advertisement on the wall asking people to provide a sick man with a certain blood type. We can have the lists of the brother' names along with their blood type. Actually, you forgot about many ways through which the situation of Muslims can be improved. Muslims should collaborate with one another.
 Nowadays, some people make money pool groups. If we have about twenty people, each one of them is supposed to pay 2000 lira every month, and so the total is 20.000lira. This amount will be given to one of them according to lots they draw each month. The one who gets the money will be able fix his financial problems. This is how the Sunnah Hasanah should be; it has nothing to do with Aqeedah or religion.

Types of Sunnah Hasanah:

 Dear brother, the Sunnah Hasanah has a rule. One type of Suunah Hasanah is not related to religion, and it is permissible, and the other type is related to religion, it is recommended and it has a positive effect on religion such as encouraging collaboration between Muslims. The last type contradicts religious rules (Bid'ah).
 At the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him, there were no video cameras, but nowadays wedding parties are recorded on video. The women who are invited to the parties are dressed clothes which expose their body, and they are at their best appearance. Is it permissible for us to record wedding parties on videos, take copies of the film and know who each woman is? This is considered a grave sin. Video recording was not known in the past ages, but it is not a Sunnah Hasanah, because it goes against the Shari'ah texts.
Let me repeat what I have just said: There is a type of Sunnah Hasanah which is permissible; it has nothing to do with religion, and it affects it neither positively not negatively. The second type affects religion positively as it makes Muslims collaborate with one another. This is Sunnah Hasanah, in Islam. The last type contradicts religious texts. Therefore, it is forbidden.
 The Sunnah Hasanah is considered Hasanah according to its use; weather it is invested in the good of Islam or in ways which contradicts the Islamic teachings. This is how we make a balance between the Prophet's sayings:

(I warn you of the newly invented matters (in the religion), and every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance and every misguidance is in the Hellfire)

 and

(The one who innovates a good innovation in Islam has its reward and the reward of those who would practice with it until the Day of Judgment.)

Some examples of the Sunnah Hasanah:

 In one of the Islamic country, if the prisoner memorizes the Book of Allah, he is exempted from half of the period which he should spend in prison. If he is sentenced to be imprisoned for 15 years, he will be imprisoned for 7 years instead. There are people whose job is listening to this prisoner while he is reciting the Quran. Keeping the Book of Allah by heart will make the prisoner another person. How wonderful such a practice is! This is truly a motive for memorizing the Quran.
 We could innovate thousands of new practices in our lives which have nothing to do with religion, but if they have, they should be effectively positive, not negative, because the latter is forbidden. However, the negative or positive effect of something is based on the purpose of its use.. Take for example the tape-recorder, is it Haram or Halal? Deciding on this is based on the purpose it is used for. If you use it in order to listen to religious lectures or the Quran, it is not Haram. On the contrary, it would be a Sunnah Hasanah. You could be at home and listen to 50 lessons. A wife can listen to religious lectures while she is at home, and so she gets benefit from the tape recorder. Also, you can listen to a critical scientific subject while you are driving your car, particularly when you travel from one country to another. Moreover, you can listen to a religion lesson while you are making exercises. Hence, you make benefit of your leisure by listening to something useful instead of wasting this time. This is truly Sunnah Hasanah. Unlike this Sunnah Hasanah, if the same tape recorder is used to listen to songs, it becomes forbidden. Calling it Halal or Haram is based on the purposes it is used for. This is all about the Sunnah Hasnah.