Some of the sheikhs said that following the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in his customs that do not exist today is a contradiction of him.

'Abd al-Malik: One of the sheikhs says that following the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in his customs that do not exist today is a contradiction of him, because following him means following our people, since he followed the custom of his people. So we follow the custom of our people, even if it contradicts his custom (peace and blessings be upon him), as long as there is no prohibition in it.
'Ali: With regard to his people.
'Abd al-Malik: Yes, with regard to his people. Yes.

The Shaykh: Well, if there is no contradiction.
Abd al-Malik: Yes.

The Shaykh: What would the ruling be?
'Abd al-Malik: Permissibility.

The Shaykh: The Sunnah of custom?
Abd al-Malik: Yes.

The Shaykh: So he says to follow the Sunnah of custom.
'Abd al-Malik: No, he says permissibility. But when they left it, when they left it at that time, and then we practice it following the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), we fall into contradiction from two sides. The first side is that we intend worship, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not intend worship. The second side is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) only followed the custom of his people, and here we contradict the custom of our people for the sake of his custom (peace and blessings be upon him).

The Shaykh: Do they mean that it is not permissible for a Muslim to contradict the custom of his people?
'Abd al-Malik: Yes, that is correct.

The Shaykh: This is a frightening matter. And what is the evidence?
'Abd al-Malik: And the evidence is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not contradict his people. And this may be one of the means of da'wah.

The Shaykh : No, this indicates permissibility, but the evidence indicates impermissibility. For example, let me give you an example, and perhaps I was the one intended by this statement; it was I.The Shaykh : I was the only one at the Islamic University walking like this here with the qalansuwa, and you would not see a shaykh without the 'imamah on his head. So I am contradicting these people. Does this mean it is not permissible in the example you mentioned? It seems that it is not permissible.
'Ali: Heh, the people there.
'Abd al-Malik: But it seems...The Shaykh : This, in any case, was in a study of usul al-fiqh. I do not think he intended it, but rather he was...

The Shaykh: No, no, I...
'Ali: An example.
'Abd al-Malik: I understand, I understand, what...

The Shaykh : Yes.
'Abd al-Malik: Just this, because the tape reaches students of knowledge, and a lack of understanding may lead to...

The Shaykh: Yes, heh, yes.
'Abd al-Malik: I heard him qualify this with the people among whom he lives, meaning his origin is from them, and so on. So perhaps the picture is...

The Shaykh: But this involves a lot of restriction, a lot of narrowing, as he (peace be upon him) said: . No, what seems to me, and Allah knows best, is that everything, meaning what the Messenger (peace be upon him) did, even if it is from the category of customs, should not be prohibited due to traditions that have become established in some lands. Did you notice my statement?
Abd al-Malik: Yes.

The Shaykh : Yes?
'Abd al-Malik: Yes, good.

The Shaykh: For example, growing the hair long. Regarding growing the hair long, one looks at the motive. If the motive is just that he likes it, and it is not imitating the custom and traditions of the disbelievers, and so on, why do we say it is not permissible because this is not the custom of the country? So, the thing whose origin is permissibility can be linked to the intention. The growing and braiding of the hair, do you know braiding?
'Abd al-Malik: Yes.

The Shaykh: The long locks, as long as the Messenger did that and many of the Companions did that, this is practical evidence of its permissibility. So we cannot say that this becomes forbidden because it contradicted his people. He followed his Prophet (peace be upon him), and other people did so. We fall into excess and deficiency. Some people draw near to Allah with the Sunnah of custom, and others forbid it because it ceased to be a custom among them. This is a prohibition and restriction that has no justification at all. But if we link the permissible matter to the intention, this is a very important matter. For example, in addition to what I said earlier, a man grows his hair long imitating those who were recently called "beetles," do you hear of them?
'Ali: The name is appropriate.

The Shaykh: Yes, so with his intention, we say to him: No. Let me give another example now, which is that he does it for show. We also say to him: No, because the hadith says: . So this is my opinion on the matter of the Sunnah of custom: there is no excess in it and no deficiency. It is done with the same intention with which the Messenger (peace be upon him) did it.