And an example of a report that is deemed marfūʿ by ruling on the basis of an action is for a Companion (2) to perform (1) something that leaves no room for personal reasoning; it is therefore treated (3) as knowledge he received from the Prophet ﷺ—just as al-Shāfiʿī said concerning ʿAlī’s eclipse prayer (4): in every rakʿah he performed more than two bowings (5).

Likewise, an example of a report that is deemed marfūʿ by ruling through tacit approval (6) is when a Companion informs us that they used to do such-and-such during the Prophet’s lifetime ﷺ; the report is accorded the force of marfūʿ because, outwardly, he ﷺ must have been aware of it (7), given their eagerness to ask him (8) about matters of their religion and because that period was the era of revelation. Hence, no action could have been undertaken by the Companions and persisted unless performing it was not prohibited (9).

Jābir (10) and Abū Saʿīd (11) invoked this reasoning to establish the permissibility of coitus interruptus, saying that they practised it while the Quran was still being revealed, and had it been something forbidden (12)—