What does the good innovation (bid’ah) in religion means and does it exist?

Before answering, we have to clarify the meaning of bid’ah: the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “He who introduces something that is not in agreement with our matter (religion), will have it rejected” [Bukhari). The Prophet’s words illustrate that acts initiated in Islam that do not conflict with the established principles of Sacred law are accepted. This was exactly what ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) did when he introduced the second Adhan [Eng. call to prayer] before Friday Prayers. And this is how the imams and scholars of the followed schools of jurisprudence understood the concept of bid’ah.

If we do not understand this issue in this way, life will be of difficulties to people and they will have to abandon many matters concerning their livelihood, and the Sharo’a comes with ease to humankind.

Categories of Bid’ah
Scholars classify bid’ah into five categories: Permissible, recommended, prohibited, offensive and obligatory i.e. it takes the five rulings of obligation.

However, some scholars deviated from this opinion and claimed that every bid’ah is an evil. In this manner they contradict the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):

“Whoever initiates a good Sunnah in Islam, earns the reward of it and of all who perform it after him until the Day of Judgment and whoever initiates a bad Sunnah in Islam, will bear its sin and of all who perform it after him until the Day of Judgment”. This is the established opinion of the Muslims from the predecessors and successors without any denial that can be taken into account.