You often mention that this practice was not performed by the Companions. Is that a condition? And is the action of a Companion a proof?
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The questioner : I say: Shaykh Nasir (may Allah preserve him), I said in your speech that the Companions did not perform this practice. Is this a condition for the permissibility of actions? You often cite the actions of the Companions as evidence. I ask you: What is the reason? Then a related question: Is a Companion a proof by his action?
The Shaykh : This, too, has a long and recorded discussion. When we say: We call to the Book, the Sunnah, and the practice of the righteous predecessors, we have spoken about it more than once. We understand the Qur'an and the Sunnah in light of the understanding of the righteous predecessors of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. And because the Companions are not only more knowledgeable than us, but also much more pious than us, and further removed from following the desires of the souls, which the later generations are often and very often afflicted with. So, if we see that they unanimously left something that some of the later generations think is an act of worship, we say: It is impossible that this is an act of worship when the righteous predecessors left it. For this reason, we cite the Companions as evidence in what they agreed upon, whether in leaving or doing. As for when they differed, as we have also explained, there is room for the Muslim to take any opinion from what some of the Companions said. As for when it is reported from one Companion and no one is known to have contradicted him, the view hesitates between citing it as evidence or using it as support. And the truth I know from my personal experience is that the researcher sometimes feels reassured by the action or statement of a Companion, even if we do not find support for it. And sometimes the soul does not feel reassured about citing the statement or action of that Companion as evidence, due to the clarity of some signs in the context that this opinion is his and not from the Sunnah. We mention examples of this on many occasions in response to specific questions.
The Shaykh : This, too, has a long and recorded discussion. When we say: We call to the Book, the Sunnah, and the practice of the righteous predecessors, we have spoken about it more than once. We understand the Qur'an and the Sunnah in light of the understanding of the righteous predecessors of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. And because the Companions are not only more knowledgeable than us, but also much more pious than us, and further removed from following the desires of the souls, which the later generations are often and very often afflicted with. So, if we see that they unanimously left something that some of the later generations think is an act of worship, we say: It is impossible that this is an act of worship when the righteous predecessors left it. For this reason, we cite the Companions as evidence in what they agreed upon, whether in leaving or doing. As for when they differed, as we have also explained, there is room for the Muslim to take any opinion from what some of the Companions said. As for when it is reported from one Companion and no one is known to have contradicted him, the view hesitates between citing it as evidence or using it as support. And the truth I know from my personal experience is that the researcher sometimes feels reassured by the action or statement of a Companion, even if we do not find support for it. And sometimes the soul does not feel reassured about citing the statement or action of that Companion as evidence, due to the clarity of some signs in the context that this opinion is his and not from the Sunnah. We mention examples of this on many occasions in response to specific questions.
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