What is the interpretation of Ibn Taymiyyah's rule?

The questioner : Shaykh, I would like you to explain to us—my Shaykh—the rule that Imam Ibn Taymiyyah stated, as I believe: "Every general text that the practice of the Salaf did not follow."

The Shaykh : And I was on the verge of this, may Allah bless you. I wanted to reach this result; because when I mentioned this man who was pointing with every takbirat, ten more times, he took that from this general text. And I wanted to say: What I fear most is that he will come to take from other general texts other innovations. For example, he—peace and blessings be upon him—said: , and we know that in the prayer there are supplications, some short and some long. A supplication, for example, between the two prostrations: and so on. What do you think of a person who acts on this hadith and raises his hands specifically in the final tashahhud; where he—peace be upon him—said after seeking refuge from four things: ? So he supplicates and raises his hands acting on that hadith. This is ignorance of a very important scientific rule, which is: that any general text that contains many parts, where one of these parts is indicated by the general text but the practice was not carried out on this part, then acting on it is an innovation. And the examples are before you. But I was inspired one day, and then it became a "cliché" for me. I was inspired one day with an example. What do you think? We entered the mosque for one of the prayers that have recommended practices before it, like the Zuhr prayer. Three, four, five, ten people, each one went to a corner wanting to pray the recommended practice. One of the congregation, from those like these who do not understand how texts are interpreted, said: "O people, why is this separation? He—peace be upon him—said. Come, let us pray in congregation." And stronger in indication than this hadith is: ; come, let us pray in congregation. How do we respond to these people? With the word that the scholars of the Salaf say; that is, those who understood the methodology of the Salaf and followed the methodology of the Salaf; and it is: "If it had been good, they would have preceded us to it."
Take any example from these examples, and it will appear to you that these general arguments have no value at all. In fact, I say: the origin of most of the innovations that we fight people over arises from taking general texts on which the practice of some of their parts was not carried out. So the innovation of adding to the adhan and the iqamah, and the innovation of the minbar in front of the preacher on Friday found in some mosques; all of these have a basis in the Book and the Sunnah. O people, Allah said this. What are we doing? General proofs. So the origin of every innovation—except a few of them—is resorting to acting on a general proof on which the practice of the Salaf was not carried out. Therefore, in this research, in this knowledge, a person cannot simply read a book and understand, by Allah, what this hadith means, what that hadith means. He needs to have a comprehensive understanding of what the Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him—was upon and what the righteous Salaf were upon. And if this is realized, it requires something that is not hidden from you all; which is that he distinguishes between what is authentic and what is not authentic, whether from the Sunnah or from the reports of the righteous Salaf.
This leads me to remind you of a matter in which I differ with some of our Salafi brothers, the shaykhs in India and outside India, who place the right hand over the left after raising the head from the bowing. The same way that these people resort to in the previous examples, these people fell into it, unfortunately. They do not have a hadith, even if weak, even if fabricated, that the Messenger, when he raised his head from the bowing, placed the right hand over the left in the prayer. Where did they come from? They came from general texts; for example: . They tell you: this is a general text. But O people, did the action of the Messenger follow this general text that you understood? Did the Salaf act on it? Did any of the imams say it? Absolutely not, no one.

The questioner : They answer—my Shaykh—do you allow me: that is it established that the practice of the Salaf did not follow this?

Another questioner : They are asking for the proof, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : This question, we consider them wrong and they cannot respond. We say to them: If the placing of the hands in the first standing had not come, what would you have been doing? Would you have been making it up from yourselves? Of course, they say: No; because this is a form that they cannot legislate with their minds. We say, with this principle, bring us a text that the Messenger was placing his hands in this second standing so that we can follow them. Otherwise, by Allah, you must bring a proof that the Messenger was not doing such and such. And if the innovators heard them, they would take it as a sharp weapon against them. Why? By Allah, the addition to the adhan after the prayer upon the Messenger after the adhan is an innovation. Bring a text, O my brother, that the Messenger forbade it or that they did not do it? We do not have such a thing, of course. But we know the life that the Messenger was upon, which some scholars express by saying that if it had occurred, it would have been transmitted; because these are matters that people's efforts combine to transmit. A mu'adhdhin calls to prayer every day five times for five prayers, and then all these centuries pass and no report comes that one of them was coming with this addition? This is, without a doubt, pure fabrication. And so we say, all these centuries have passed and no one from the mujtahid imams, whether they were the four or the forty or the four hundred—we are not biased toward one over the others—no one of them says that it is from the Sunnah to do this. So the error arises from applying a personal understanding from a person who, in our Syrian expression, is in the shallow part; meaning in the shallow water. After what? He mastered swimming, and he does not venture into what he cannot venture into, the seas. So he comes out with these opinions and ideas.
And once a student of knowledge whom I know came to me. He graduated from the Islamic University, and he was originally Tunisian, and he was in Damascus. He got to know me, and I was the one who recommended him at that time, so they accepted him as a student in the university. He continued and the man graduated. So he was sent for da'wah to Belgium. He visited me, I think a year or two ago, at home. We prayed Maghrib, and he, considering himself a traveler, and with him a person who came with him from Belgium who is originally Moroccan. When he prayed, and there he was raising his finger between the two prostrations. He raised his head from the first prostration and moved his finger between the two prostrations. I, before I saw this observation, used to bring this example—also—saying, perhaps you heard this thing. And I was surprised by it having occurred before me. After he finished the prayer, I discussed it with him. He said: There is a hadith. We said to him: Where is the hadith? He said: In "Musnad Imam Ahmad." We said to him: Is it authentic? He said: Yes. I said to him: O my dear, this hadith is called by the scholars of hadith the anomalous hadith, and it is from the sections of the weak hadith; because when we move in the tashahhud, our basis is the hadith of Wail ibn Hujr; he said: "I looked at the prayer of the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—and when he sat in the tashahhud, he placed his left hand on his left knee, and his right hand on his right knee, and he gathered his fingers and circled with the middle finger and the thumb and raised his index finger, and I saw him moving his hand with it."
This hadith has multiple routes, and these routes converge on a single person, 'Asim ibn Kulayb, who narrated it from his father, who narrated it from Wa'il ibn Hujr—three people. Then the routes multiply beneath him. All the routes narrate the hadith as we mentioned to you regarding the gesture in the tashahhud. One route is anomalous in "Musnad al-Imam Ahmad," in "Mu'jam al-Tabarani," and in "Musanaf 'Abd al-Razzaq." Through this route, these scholars received it from Sufyan, from 'Asim ibn Kulayb, from his father, from Wa'il, describing the manner of prayer: when he raised his head from the first prostration, he gestured with his finger. But when he mentioned the tashahhud, there was no gesture. This is an anomalous hadith, a mistaken hadith. You might even call it a reversed hadith, or consider it an example of a reversed hadith, because the gesture was reversed from the tashahhud to the position between the two prostrations. All of this comes back to what I said earlier, a word you should remember: we said that one must encompass, to the best of one's ability, the Sunnah that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the righteous Salaf followed, on the condition of what? Distinguishing the authentic from the weak. Otherwise, one falls into religious innovation without intending it or even realizing it. This is the example.
This is an action based on a hadith, and it is found in "Musnad al-Imam Ahmad," but this hadith is anomalous. How can every student of knowledge know this anomalous hadith? This is impossible. Therefore, I consider it among the profound wisdoms what some Sufis mistakenly narrate as a hadith attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . They narrate it as a hadith, but it is not a hadith; however, it is wisdom in its place. Because when a person knows his state, that he is still doing what? He walks like a nursing infant. How does he come out, jump, take a leap, and act like a great mujtahid? And if he is told, "Where did you get this from?" he says, "This is my opinion." Well, every person has an opinion and has ijtihad. This is the calamity of the time, and this is a calamity specific to those who claim to follow the Book and the Sunnah.
So we ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to inspire us with guidance, to correct our behavior, and to inspire us to act with the correct action, which necessitates that we know the ways of reaching correct knowledge.