RECOVER THE FORGOTTEN SUNNATS AND AVOID BID'ATS (I)

Hadrat Imâm-i Rabbânî says in the 105th letter of the third volume of his Maktûbât:

This letter, written in response to a letter from Shaikh Hasani Berkî, encourages to recover the forgotten sunnats and to avoid bid’ats.

I begin to write this letter with the Basmala. May hamd (praise and gratitude) be to Allâhu ta’âlâ. I send my salâms to and invocations for the good people chosen by Allâhu ta’âlâ. I very much rejoiced to read the letter from my brother Shaikh Hasan. Valuable pieces of knowledge and ma’rifats were written in it. When I understood them, I became very happy. Thanks be to Allâhu ta’âlâ, all the knowledge and kashfs which you wrote are correct. They are all agreeable with the Qur’ân and hadîths. So are the right beliefs of the savants of Ahl as-sunnat. May Allâhu ta’âlâ keep you on the right way. May He bless you with attaining high grades! You write that you have been striving to extirpate bid’ats, which are so widespread. At such a time as this, when the darknesses of bid’ats is so prevalent, it is a very great blessing to bring about the annihilation of one bid’at and to recover one of the forgotten sunnats. Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ states in a sahîh hadîth: “He who recovers one of my forgotten sunnats will receive as many thawâbs as a hundred martyrs will receive!” The greatness of this deed must be inferred from this hadîth. But, when doing this, there is an important subtlety to be observed. That is, while trying to recover one sunnat, we should not cause any fitna; one goodness should not give birth to a variety of problems or evils, for we live in the latest time. We are in a century when Muslims are weak and forlorn.