80 J. O’Kinealy— History and Doctrines of the Wahhabis. [No. 1, 
mandubah , ancl obligatory, and call it “ bid’at,” while “ bad” refers to those 
acts which are unlawful or prohibited. There is no harm in so grouping 
them. 
Among the forms of sinful bid’at which we prohibit, is raising one’s voice 
at Azan time, on Friday night, during the Ramazan, or at either of the ’Ids 
(in Makkah we set aside every thing connected with tazhir and tarhhim as 
sinful according to the Divines of every sect), also reading the Hadises of 
Abu-Hurairah before the Khatib on Fridays, which is denounced as Bid’at 
in the Jami'-u^aghir; assembling on certain particular occasions to 
read the story of the prophet’s birth and believing that it is a special 
kind of prayer, even though the members of the assembly have no 
knowledge of history. There is no precedent for this. Again, we forbid 
people taking to themselves Pirs, or assembling to invoke their Pirs; call¬ 
ing on their Pirs with a loud voice, offerin gfatihahs to them, or seeking to 
obtain important advantages through them. For example, we prohibit the 
ratib-us-Saman and the rdtib-ul-hadddd as included in the more heinous 
form of shirk, for which we are ready to battle. 
If any person abandon the right way, follows customs which are 
not Sunnat but Bid’at, and subsequently refuses to give them up, he is 
punished by the Magistrate, such punishment as shall seem fit until he 
repents. 
We do not prohibit people from reading frequently pamphlets com¬ 
posed from extracts of the Qoran and Sunnat; and as to blessing the pro¬ 
phet, repeating his name, &c., begging pardon from God, reading the 
Qoran, &c., all these are commanded by the Law. Whoever exerts himself 
in such duties will be rewarded, and as his prayers increase, his reward 
increases in a greater proportion,—provided he offers them up according to 
law, without changing the words or the form of them. For God has said, 
“ Call on your Lord secretly as a suppliant.” And again, “ God has beautiful 
names, call on him by them.” The Kitab-ul-lzkar is full of praises of God, 
whoever is a seeker of his God can be so with this book, which is in itself 
sufficient for religious people. 
Among those things which we prohibit is the custom of reciting verses 
in praise of the prophet, and at the same time blessing him, that of repeat¬ 
ing his name or reading it after Tarawih prayers under the belief that it is 
a form of prayer. Indeed, multitudes are under the idea that this is a custom 
undoubtedly handed down from our ancestors, and hence we forbid it. But the 
Tarawih itself is Sunnat, and there is nothing wrong in assembling to read it, 
or even in repeating it very often. Another form of Bid’at is the custom 
of reading the five prayers, which are farz after the close of Friday in the 
Ramazan. This has been prohibited by Ijma’, and we punish it most severely. 
There are other forms of Bid’at, such as taking the name of God in a loud 
