The Necessity of Receiving from the Book and the Sunnah in Light of the Understanding of the Righteous Predecessors

The Shaykh : And in accordance with what they understood and transmitted to us. This issue you asked about earlier may serve as an example of the necessity of interpreting the texts of the Shari'ah in light of the application of the Righteous Predecessors. However, I wanted to remind our brothers present of an example that recurs for the Muslim every day, may Allah will it, many times and often, yet most people are heedless of it. I do not exclude anyone, nor do I exempt many of our brothers among the people of hadith or the followers of the Righteous Predecessors. What is it? Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated in their Sahihs from the hadith of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: , and he mentioned the tashahhud known as the tashahhud of Ibn Mas'ud: . This is the tashahhud of Ibn Mas'ud.
But he (may Allah be pleased with him), out of his care to convey beneficial knowledge to the Muslims, inserted an interjected phrase when he reached the point where the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught him the salam in the tashahhud: . Ibn Mas'ud said: "And he was among us. When he died, we said: 'As-salamu 'alayka ayyuha an-Nabi' (Peace be upon you, O Prophet)." Here is the point: we must receive the Book and the Sunnah in light of the understanding and application of our Righteous Predecessors. Everyone is aware of this hadith, and the hadith of Ibn Abbas, the hadith of Aisha, and the hadith of Umar, all of which revolve around the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) teaching his Companions the tashahhud with the wording of address: "As-salamu 'alayka ayyuha an-Nabi" (Peace be upon you, O Prophet). But Ibn Mas'ud, who was granted a fiqh rarely granted to others among the Companions, let alone those who came after them, and therefore was eager to convey his knowledge to the Tabi'un among his followers, inserted this interjected phrase after conveying to us the teaching of our Prophet (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) that we should say in the tashahhud "As-salamu 'alayka"; that is, with the letter kaf of address. He corrected the teaching for us and said: "And he was among us"; that is, he taught us to say: while the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was alive. When he passed away, Ibn Mas'ud completed this phrase by saying: "When he passed away, we said: 'As-salamu 'ala an-Nabi' (Peace be upon the Prophet)." Thus, we take the teaching of the Messenger (peace be upon him) to say "As-salamu 'alayka" with the condition that he is in his lifetime; that is, this ruling was specific to the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and during his lifetime (peace and blessings be upon him). When he passed away, his Companions said: "As-salamu 'ala an-Nabi."