Hakikat Kitabevi Publications No: 10 answer to an enemy of islam

Question: “Why did the Sahâbat al-kirâm, the Tabi’în and
Taba’ at-tâbi’în not do the bida’ hasana that are mustahab and
wâjib?”
Answer: They did not need some of them. For example, they
did not build schools, nor did they need to write books. For, there
were many scholars and mujtahids. It was easy for everybody to
ask and learn. Further, they did not have enough money or
property to make huge buildings or minarets. But the most
important reason was that they did more important duties, which
left them no time to do them. Day and night they fought against
disbelievers, against those states and dictators who impeded
Islam’s promulgation. They spent all their money and property for
those jihâds. Conquering countries and cities, they rescued
millions of people from the talons of cruel states and, converting
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them to Islam, caused them to attain to felicity in this world and
the next. They conveyed Islam’s order and morals to Allâhu
ta’âlâ’s slaves. They did not have time to do other things.
Rasûlullah (sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam) stated, 
“If a person
makes a sunnat hasana in Islam, he attains its thawâb plus the
thawâb of those who will practise it. If a person introduces a
sunnat sayyi’a in Islam, he is given its punishment plus the
punishment of those who will practise it.” All the bida’ hasana are
included in the sunnat hasana stated in this hadîth sherîf. His
deserving the rewards or punishments of all the people who will
practise a newly introduced sunna till the end of the world depends
on his intending for others also to do it. Likewise, if the imâm of
the jamâ’a does not intend to be the imâm for the jamâ’a, he only
gets the thawâb of performing salât alone — not the twenty-seven
times as much as this. For getting the total thawâb of the jamâ’a,
he has to intend to be the imâm.
The harm of committing a bid’at sayyi’a is worse than the
harm of omitting a sunna and even wâjib. In other words, if it is
dubious whether something is sunna or bid’a, it should not be
done.