Does the Prophet's — may God's prayers and peace be upon him — and his companions' abandonment of an act indicate its impermissibility?

The silence of the Lawgiver concerning a ruling on a matter, or His leaving a matter, is of two types: 1. That the Lawgiver remains silent about something for which there is no reason or exigency for its establishment. This includes new occurrences that arose after the death of the Prophet (peace be upon him), where scholars exercised ijtihad (definition) based on general Sharia (definition) principles. Examples include: guaranteeing the liability of artisans, the compilation of the Qur'an, and the codification of laws. 2. That the Lawgiver remains silent about a specific ruling or leaves a matter despite the presence of a necessitating factor and cause during the time of revelation and thereafter. In this case, the silence is akin to a clear text that the legislative intent is to not increase or decrease it from what it was, because the existence of the necessitating factor and the absence of legislation indicates that any addition is an innovation (bid'ah) and a contravention of the Lawgiver's intent.

Scholars have emphasized this meaning, including: Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah: The Prophet's (peace be upon him) abandonment of something despite the existence of a necessitating factor and the absence of any impediment is considered a Sunnah (definition), and any addition to it is an innovation. Ibn Hajar al-Haytami: The Prophet's (peace be upon him) abandonment of something despite the existence of a necessitating factor for doing it is considered a Sunnah, and doing it at that time would be a blameworthy innovation. Al-Shawkani: The Prophet's (peace be upon him) abandonment of something is like his doing it in terms of the obligation to emulate him. Shaykh Al-Fawzan: There are three types of "turuk" (abandoned practices), and this type is a great principle for preserving the rulings of Sharia and closing the door to innovation. Dr. Muhammad Al-Jizani: If the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) abandoned an act of worship despite the presence of its necessitating factor and the absence of any impediment, then performing it is an innovation. The same applies to what the righteous predecessors abandoned. Shaykh Bakr Abu Zayd: If a necessitating factor existed during the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the impediment was absent, yet the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not legislate it by word or deed, then the Sunnah is to abandon it as an act of emulation.