except that he will be one of the people of the Fire,” narrated by Muslim, Ibn Mandah, and others (al-Ṣaḥīḥah 157).

Second: these texts cover every aspect of the religion—there is no difference between what pertains to doctrinal belief, practical rulings, or anything else. Just as every Companion was required to believe in everything that reached him from the Prophet ﷺ, whether he heard it directly or through another Companion, so too every Successor had to accept whatever reached him from a Companion. In the same way that a Companion, for example, was not allowed to reject a prophetic hadith dealing with creed on the pretext that it was a solitary report (khabar āḥād) transmitted to him by another Companion, it is likewise impermissible for those who come after him to dismiss it on the same pretext, so long as the narrator is trustworthy in their estimation. This must remain the rule until Allah inherits the earth and all who are upon it. Such was indeed the practice in the time of the Successors and the mujtahid Imams, as will be confirmed by a statement of Imām al-Shāfiʿī—may Allah have mercy on him.