What is the difference between innovation (bid‘ah) and extremism (ghuluw), and when is an act considered an innovation or extremism, with examples from daily life?
Source: FtawySummarized from the full answer at Ftawy · imported Sep 2, 2026
Extremism (ghuluww) is exaggeration in something and exceeding the limit. It has been explicitly prohibited in the hadith: "Beware of extremism in religion, for indeed, those who were before you were destroyed due to extremism in religion." As for innovations (bid'ah), they are every newly invented matter in religion that has no basis in the Qur'an or Sunnah. They include what is praiseworthy and what is blameworthy, and in Islamic law, they specifically refer to what is blameworthy. Extremism is a type of innovation, and innovations are more general than it. So, every extremism is an innovation, but not every innovation is extremism.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · imported
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- 159370
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