Is everything the Prophet (peace be upon him) commanded his Ummah a revelation from Allah, or could he have commanded something on his own initiative? And what is the interpretation of his saying: "Were it not that I would overburden my Ummah, I would have commanded them to use the miswak with every prayer..." and his saying: "Were it not that I would overburden my Ummah, I would have commanded them to delay the 'Isha prayer until the first third of the night..."? For if the command was a revelation from Allah, how could the Prophet (peace be upon him) change it?

The Prophetic Sunnah is one of the two divisions of divine revelation. Some hadiths might be understood to suggest that the Prophet, peace be upon him, commanded something on his own accord. This issue has been discussed by scholars, and some have termed it the "issue of delegation" (mas'alat al-tafweedh), meaning whether it is permissible to delegate authority to the Prophet to rule as he wills, on the basis that his judgment is always correct.

Scholars differed on the permissibility and occurrence of this delegation. Those who affirmed its occurrence presented evidence, including: the hadith about the siwak (toothbrush) "Were it not that I would overburden my Ummah, I would have commanded them to use the siwak with every prayer"; the hadith about Hajj "Had I said yes, it would have become obligatory"; and the hadith about the sacredness of Mecca.

Those who denied this delegation responded by stating that these matters are either a choice given to the Prophet by Allah, or that the ruling on them came through a swift revelation, or that Allah commanded him to issue the command when there was no hardship involved.

It can be said that this matter is either an ijtihad (independent reasoning) from the Prophet, peace be upon him, or a delegation to him. In both cases, the revelation approved it. Thus, the Prophet's Sunnah is either revelation from the outset, or its ultimate outcome leads to revelation through Allah's affirmation of it.

In summary: Whether through delegation or ijtihad approved by revelation, the legal ruling is firm and sound.