A man went to see Ameer ul-Momineen -asws and said: “What does tradition, innovation, union and deviation mean?” Ameer ul-Momineen -asws replied: “Tradition refers to the way of living that Rasool Allah -saww has prescribed (demonstrated by acting upon). Innovation refers to ways that have been proposed after the Prophet ‑saww .
Union refers to the assembly of a group of people who believe in Allah ‑azwj , even if they are few in number, and deviation refers to following what is wrong, even if the number of such followers is large.” [28] And Amir ul-Momineen -asws also said, in another Sermon: وَ رُوِيَ أَنَّهُ ع قَالَ: إِنَ أَبْغَضَ الْخَلَائِقِ إِلَى اللَّهِ تَعَالَى رَجُلَانِ رَجُلٌ وَكَلَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَى نَفْسِهِ فَهُوَ جَائِرٌ عَنْ قَصْدِ السَّبِيلِ سَائِرٌ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ وَ لَا دَلِيلٍ مَشْغُوفٌ بِكَلَامِ بِدْعَةٍ وَ دُعَاءِ ضَلَالَةٍ فَهُوَ فِتْنَةٌ لِمَنِ افْتَتَنَ بِهِ ضَالٌّ [عَنْ] هَدْيِ مَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَهُ مُضِلٌّ لِمَنِ اقْتَدَى بِهِ فِي حَيَاتِهِ وَ بَعْدَ وَفَاتِهِ حَمَّالٌ خَطَايَا غَيْرِهِ رَهْنٌ بِخَطِيئَتِهِ Among all the people the most detested before Allah -azwj are two persons.
One is he who is devoted to his self (with his own religious ideas). So, he is deviated from the true path and loves speaking about (foul) innovations and inviting towards wrong path. He is therefore a nuisance for those who are enamoured of him, is himself misled from the guidance of those preceding him, misleads those who follow him in his life or after his death, carries the weight of others’ sins and is entangled in his own misdeeds.