“There is room for objection here, for none of those who described the Prophet’s prayer included every single sunnah that is unanimously agreed upon; rather, the totality of the sunnahs has been gathered by combining all of their accounts.”
Al-Shawkānī stated the same point (2/226), and this is the undeniable truth.
As for his statement, “The mere fact that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed it does not prove that it is among the sunnahs of the prayer unless it is known that he did it as a sunnah to be emulated…,” I reply:
We do indeed know that he performed it as a sunnah and as legislation for several reasons:
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The default assumption is that no special circumstance was involved; whoever alleges one must furnish the proof.
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One of the transmitters of this sunnah is Mālik ibn al-Ḥuwayrith, the Companion who narrated the ḥadith: “Pray as you have seen me pray.” His description of the Prophet’s prayer therefore falls under that very command. See Fatḥ al-Bārī and Nayl al-Awṭār.
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A group of Companions transmitted it, as has already been mentioned in the narration of Abū Ḥumayd. It is practically impossible that they would have failed to notice had the Prophet performed it merely out of personal need. Even if we were to concede that such an oversight was possible, it would certainly not have escaped the Prophet himself; he would then have alerted them to it. Since nothing of this occurred, it is clear evidence that he performed it as an act of worship, not out of necessity. Allah is the One who grants success.