scope for independent opinion.

Likewise, were a Companion to perform an act of worship for which no precedent is found in the Sunnah, we would still regard the report as constructively marfūʿ.

They cite as an example ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him), who, during the eclipse prayer, made three bows in each cycle of prayer 1, even though the established Sunnah prescribes two bows per cycle 2. The scholars explain that personal reasoning has no place here: the number of bows is a purely devotional matter that must rest on explicit evidence from the Quran or the Sunnah. Had ʿAlī not possessed knowledge of such evidence, he would never have performed three bows in a single cycle. Therefore, the report is deemed constructively marfūʿ, for ijtihād cannot enter into it.

The same ruling applies when a Companion says, “Part of the Sunnah is such-and-such,” because by “Sunnah” he invariably means the Sunnah of the Messenger ﷺ. Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both), for instance, once recited al-Fātiḥah aloud in the funeral prayer and said, “I did that so you might know it is Sunnah”—or, in another wording, “so that they might know it is Sunnah.” 3

Similarly, Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Part of the Sunnah is that when a man marries a virgin after having been married to a previously married woman, he stays with her for seven nights.” 4 Statements of this kind are all treated as constructively marfūʿ, for a Companion attributes the term “Sunnah” only to the Sunnah of the Messenger ﷺ.

Moreover, if a Companion were to report anything about Paradise or Hellfire, we would say: “This….”