The Second Point: Its Comprehensiveness of All Matters of Religion, with No Distinction Between What Is Jurisprudence, Creed, or Conduct.

The Shaykh : And the second point is that it encompasses every matter of religion, with no distinction between what is a matter of doctrinal knowledge, a practical ruling, or otherwise. Just as it was obligatory for every Companion to believe in all of it when it reached him from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or from another Companion, and just as it was likewise obligatory for a Successor to believe in it when it reached him from a Companion, so it was not permissible for him, for example, to reject a hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) if it was in the domain of creed on the grounds that it is a report with a limited chain. Likewise, it is not permissible for anyone after him to reject it on the same grounds, as long as the one reporting it is trustworthy in his view. And so it should be that this matter continues until Allah inherits the earth and those upon it. And the matter was indeed so in the era of the Successors and the jurists qualified to derive rulings, as the text from Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) will indicate, as will follow.