Al-‘Izz ibn ‘Abdis-Salām, in his discussion of legal maxims, elaborates on this principle:
7 March 2025 • 1.07K views
«من ملك التصرف القولي بأسباب مختلفة، ثم صدر منه تصرف صالح للاستناد إلى كلِّ واحد من تلك الأسباب، فإنَّه يُحمل على أغلبها. فمن هذا تصرف النبي ﷺ بالفتيا والحكم والإمامة العظمى، فإنَّه إمام الأئمة، فإذا صدر منه تصرُّف، حُمِل على أغلب تصرفاته، وهي الإفتاء، ما لم يدل دليل على خلافه»
"If a person holds a position of authority that allows them to act for multiple reasons, and they issue a ruling that could be attributed to any of these reasons, it should be attributed to the most common one. This applies to the Prophet (ﷺ), as he was both a Mufti, a Judge, and the Supreme Leader. If an action is issued from him, it should be attributed to his most frequent role—that of issuing legal rulings—unless there is clear evidence indicating otherwise."
[قواعد الأحكام في مصالح الأنام (2/244)]