—whose disappearance would have entailed the lapse of the ruling itself, neither in their own era nor thereafter. To allege that they thought otherwise is patent misguidance, and this is supported by the following.

Fifth point: The continuous practice of the early generations upheld this ruling and similar ones that presuppose the persistence of the original cause—namely, the fear of falling into temptation and deviation. Had that cause truly ceased to exist, they would not have persisted in acting upon its resultant ruling. This is perfectly clear, praise be to Allah. Consider, then, a few illustrative examples:

1 – ʿAbd Allah ibn Sharḥabīl ibn Ḥasnah reported: “I saw ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān—may Allah be pleased with him—ordering that graves be levelled. Someone said to him, ‘But this is the grave of Umm ʿAmr, daughter of ʿUthmān!’ Yet he still gave orders for it to be levelled, and so it was.” ⦗1⦘