You mentioned in *Tammam al-Mannah* under the fourteenth rule
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The questioner : The second question concerns your statement in "Tammam al-Mannah" under the fourteenth rule regarding the obligation to act upon an authentic hadith even if no one has acted upon it, and the statement of Imam al-Shafi'i: "A hadith is established by itself, not by the action of others after it." The question has two parts: First, are there examples of authentic hadiths that none of the Salaf acted upon? Second, how do we reconcile this rule with what you constantly mention regarding the impermissibility of adopting an issue for which we have no precedent from the Salaf?
The Shaykh : The issue requires detail, and we must say: It is impossible for an authentic hadith to exist that has no abrogator in the Book or in the Sunnah, explicitly, and for which no one has ever acted upon it. Such a hadith cannot exist. However, what can happen is that a researcher, scholar, or jurist may come across a hadith that is authentic and explicit, with no abrogator, but he does not find anyone who has acted upon it. This is possible. But the detail I referred to is when we say that we do not act upon a hadith unless we are preceded by someone who did so, in the case where the hadith is not explicit in its meaning and carries many possible interpretations. In that case, we say what we mentioned earlier: that we do not act upon it unless we know that some of those before us have acted upon it. This is the detail.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : The issue requires detail, and we must say: It is impossible for an authentic hadith to exist that has no abrogator in the Book or in the Sunnah, explicitly, and for which no one has ever acted upon it. Such a hadith cannot exist. However, what can happen is that a researcher, scholar, or jurist may come across a hadith that is authentic and explicit, with no abrogator, but he does not find anyone who has acted upon it. This is possible. But the detail I referred to is when we say that we do not act upon a hadith unless we are preceded by someone who did so, in the case where the hadith is not explicit in its meaning and carries many possible interpretations. In that case, we say what we mentioned earlier: that we do not act upon it unless we know that some of those before us have acted upon it. This is the detail.
The questioner : ... .
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