Ibn Abī Zaid al Qairawānī رحمه الله affirmed this foundation [i.e. that the religion is based on the Book and the Sunnah upon the understsnding of the salaf] by stating,

“And what the Salaf as Sālih explain from the texts, then we explain it as such and what they acted upon from the texts, we do the same action.

Likwise, what they left off, we leave off, just as we refrain from what they refrained from. We follow them in what they clarified, and we follow them in the rulings they derived and adopted [from the texts] concerning new issues/situations which arise.

We do not part ways with their respective positions in the general sense in that which they differed in or explained [1].”

The author of “al Intisār al Faqīr” in clarifying this foundational principle mentioned by Ibn Abī Zaid and the Mālikī madhab, “The Mālikī madhab was established upon adhering and following the salaf.” He also mentioned, “The madhab of Imām Mālik رحمه الله is established upon adhering to and following the salaf…. Mālik himself stated, “The last of this Ummah will not be more adherent upon guidance than the 1st generations of this Ummah[2].””
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[1] Kitāb al Jām’i, al Qairawānī pg. 117
[2] Intisār al Faqīr, pgs. 243-244.