“Say, ‘My Lord has commanded justice’”—and the rest of the verse.

Thus He explained to them what He had commanded and what He Himself had forbidden. He also said, condemning them:

“Or do they have partners who have prescribed for them a religion”—and the rest of the verse.

This is discussed at length elsewhere. The point is that no one may declare anything forbidden unless the Sharia has forbidden it; otherwise, the default is that it is not forbidden. This applies equally to things and actions. Nor may anyone institute a religious practice as obligatory or recommended without evidence from the Sharia establishing its obligatory or recommended status.

With this understood, the people of Medina adhere to this principle more firmly than anyone else. Of all the inhabitants of Muslim cities, they are the most averse to religious innovations. We have already noted things and transactions that others prohibit but they do not. As for religious practice, they adhere more closely than the inhabitants of other cities to prescribed acts of worship and keep furthest from innovated acts of worship.

There are many examples of this. Some scholars of Kufa and elsewhere, for instance, recommended that those performing ablution, the ritual bath, prayer, and similar acts of worship should state their intention verbally. They said that expressing the intention verbally gives it greater force than merely forming it inwardly, although none of the imams considered its verbal expression obligatory. The people of Medina, however, did not recommend any of