LUCAS - Legal Hadith

Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008 DOI: 10.
1163/156851908X299232
Islamic Law and Society 15 (2008) 283-314 www.brill.nl/ils
Islamic Law
and
Society
Where are the Legal adth? A Study of the Muannaf
of Ibn Ab Shayba*
Scott C. Lucas
Abstract
Te Muannaf of Ibn Ab Shayba provides unparalleled access into the legal thought
of the Companions of adth in 2
nd
/8
th
and early 3
rd
/9
th
century Iraq. Tis article
consists of a quantitative analysis of 3628 narrations found in the Muannaf in the
books on zakt, divorce, and add crimes. It demonstrates that the Prophet Muammad
was an important authority in the Muannaf, but that he appears in only 8.7% of the
narrations examined. Furthermore, it shows that the Companions of adth relied
upon the legal opinions of many of the same Companions and Successors whom
Joseph Schacht identied as the primary authorities for the Companions of ray.
It also identies a division within the Companions of adth between those who,
like Ibn Ab Shayba, categorically reject the opinions of post-Successor jurists, and
others who accept them.
Keywords
adth, Prophet Muammad, Companions, Successors, divorce, zakt, udd
Te early development of Islamic law is frequently cast as a struggle
between two rival camps: the Companions of ray and the Com-
panions of adth.
1
Te former camp is generally depicted as a
Correspondence: Scott C. Lucas, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Religious Studies
Program, University of Arizona, 446 Marshall. E-mail: sclucas@email.arizona.edu
* An earlier version of this article was presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the
American Academy of Religion in San Diego. I am most grateful to Atifa Rawan and the
University of Arizona Library for acquiring the 2006 Riyadh edition of Ibn Ab Shaybas
Muannaf so that I could revise my statistics on the basis of this superior text. I also received
valuable assistance from Mourad Mjahed during the initial phase of data entry.
1)
Ignaz Goldziher, Te hirs: Teir doctrine and their history, translated and edited by
Wolfgang Behn (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1971 [1884]), 3-19; Christopher Melchert, Te For-
284 S.C. Lucas / Islamic Law and Society 15 (2008) 283-314
small group of rationalists whereas the latter is portrayed as an unruly
mass of anti-intellectual transmitters. It is generally assumed but
has not been proven in the secondary literature that individual
Companions of adth endeavored to ground their jurisprudence
primarily upon prophetic adths.
2
On the basis of my analysis of
three books (kutub) of the massive Muannaf of Ab Bakr Abd Allh
b. Muammad b. Ab Shayba (d. 235/849), I demonstrate that the
Companions of adth of the late 2
nd
/8
th
and early 3
rd
/9
th
centuries
had at their disposal relatively few prophetic adths on most legal
topics and were united in their overwhelming reliance upon the legal
mation of the Sunni Schools of Law (Leiden: Brill, 1997), 1-31; and Wael Hallaq, Te Origins
and Evolution of Islamic Law (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 74-6, 102-
9, 113-28. An excellent overview of Western approaches to Islamic law can be found in
Harald Motzki, Te Origins of Islamic Jurisprudence, tr. Marion Holmes Katz (Leiden: Brill,
2002), 1-49. Although Joseph Schacht focuses more on the impact of adths on Islamic
law than on the roles of individual Companions of adth in this process, he does state
that [the traditionists] activity is an integral part of the development of legal theory and
positive legal doctrine during the rst half of the second century A.H.; Joseph Schacht,
Te Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence (Oxford: Clarendon, 1950), 253.
2)
Te classic statement of this position is by Joseph Schacht, who claimed that, the main
thesis of the traditionists... is that formal traditions from the Prophet supersede the living
tradition and that their most important activity was the creation and putting into
circulation of traditions from the Prophet; Origins, 253. Wael Hallaq asserts that the ahl
al-adth, whom he calls traditionalists, held that law must rest squarely on Prophetic
adth, although he observes that the proto-traditionalists had not yet come to the point
at which they would insist upon exclusive reliance on Prophetic adth; Origins and
Evolution, 74. Christopher Melcherts depiction of the adth scholars methodology
re presents a signicant improvement over Schachts analysis, yet requires additional
renement. While he recognizes that the Companions of adth rely upon Companion
and Successor reports, he also identies them as proponents of entirely Scriptural authority
in theology and law; see Melchert, Formation, 1-15, at 1. In his seminal article, Tra-
ditionist-jurisprudents and the Framing of Islamic Law, Melchert correctly observes that,
the use of hadith reports from Companions and later authorities was not an issue dividing
traditionist-jurisprudents from rationalistic [jurisprudents], but is less accurate when he
asserts that adth scholars would rely upon Companion or later hadith if prophetic was
unavailable; see Melchert, Traditionist-jurisprudents and the Framing of Islamic Law,
Islamic Law and Society, 8, no. 3 (2001): 383-406, at 405. I argue in this article that adth
scholars did not distinguish between Companion and Successor reports and prophetic
adths, and that they almost always cited post-prophetic reports even when prophetic
adths were available.
S.C. Lucas / Islamic Law and Society 15 (2008) 283-314 285
precedents of Companions and Successors, but split over the authority
of post-Successor jurists.
Ab Bakr Ibn Ab Shayba was an exemplary member of the
Companions of adth.
3
His primary scholarly activity consisted
of collecting tens of thousands of Companion and Successor opinions,
complete with isnds, along with a substantial corpus of prophetic
adth. Most of his major teachers were prominent Iraqi adth
scholars whom Ibn Qutayba (d. 276/889) classied as Companions
of adth in his Kitb al-marif.
4
Ibn Ab Shayba wrote a brief
refutation of approximately 120 opinions attributed to the central
Companion of ray, Ab anfa (d. 150/767) that is included in
his Muannaf.
5
In 234/848-9, after the infamous Abbsid inquisi -
tion (mina) over the nature of the Qurn, Ibn Ab Shayba heeded
the invitation of the Caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 232-47/847-61) to
promote anti-Mutazili adths in the Mosque of Rufa, a quarter
of Baghdad on the eastern bank of the Tigris.
6
Ibn Ab Shaybas
Muannaf was compiled and preserved by the Cordovan adth-
champion Baq b. Makhlad (d. 276/889), an iconoclastic scholar
who refused to conform to the teachings of any single jurist and
exercised ijtihd on the basis of his trove of transmitted ma terials.
7

In short, the Muannaf of Ibn Ab Shayba was assembled by two
3)
For biographies of him, see al-Khab al-Baghdd, Trkh madnat al-salm, ed. Bashshr
Awwd Marf, 17 vols. (Beirut: Dr al-Gharb al-Islm, 2001), 11:259-67; Shams al-Dn
al-Dhahab, Siyar alm al-nubal, ed. Shuayb al-Arna, et. al., 11th printing, 28 vols.
(Beirut: Muassasat al-Risla, 2001), 11:122-7; Ibn Ab Shayba, Te Encyclopaedia of
Islam, CD-ROM Edition (Leiden: Brill, 2004). See also the extensive editors introduction
to Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, ed. amad al-Juma and Muammad al-Ladn, 2
nd

printing, 16 vols. (Riyadh: Maktabat al-Rushd, 2006), 1:13-127.
4)
Ibn Qutayba, al-Marif, ed. Tarwat Uksha (Cairo: Wizrat al-Taqfa, 1960), 501-
28.
5)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 13:80-195. For a modern refutation of Ibn Ab Shaybas
critique, see Muammad Zhid al-Kawthar, al-Nukat al-arfa f l-taadduth an rudd
Ibn Ab Shayba al Ab anfa, new edition (Cairo: al-Maktabat al-Azhariyya li-l-Turth,
1999).
6)
Al-Khab, Trkh, 11:261; al-Dhahab, Siyar, 11:125; Christopher Melchert, How
anasm came to Originate in Kufa and Traditionalism in Medina, Islamic Law and
Society, 6, no. 3 (1999): 318-47, at 339.
7)
For biographies of him, see al-Dhahab, Siyar, 13:285-96; Manuella Marn, Baqi b.
Majlad y la introduccin del studio del adt en al-Andalus, al-Qantara, 1, no. 1/2 (1980):
distinguished members of the Companions of adth and thus
aords valuable insight into their jurisprudence.
My empirical analysis of the legal chapters of Ibn Ab Shaybas
Muannaf reveals that only one in eleven reports is a prophetic
adth. Tis nding is not entirely surprising in light of Harald
Motzkis pioneering study of the Muannaf of Abd al-Razzq al-
ann (d. 211/827), in which he, too, found relatively few prophetic
adths.
8
However, with nearly 39,000 reports, the Muannaf of Ibn
Ab Shayba is signicantly larger than Abd al-Razzqs book and
draws liberally from the scholarship of Kufa and Basra, the two
most signicant cities of adth scholarship in the 2
nd
/8
th
century.
9

Furthermore, my ndings indicate a substantially lower percentage
of prophetic adths in the legal books of Ibn Ab Shaybas Muannaf
than Christopher Melcherts estimate of about one in four for the
entire Muannaf, as well as amad al-Jumas and Muammad al-
Ladns estimate of one in six, and Aysha al-Mashabs nding
of one in ve.
10
Although the Prophet Muammad is a major
authority in the Muannaf of Ibn Ab Shayba, I will show that the
Iraqi Companions of adth primarily cited the legal opinions of
many, if not most, of the identical early religious authorities as did
the Iraqi Companions of ray, a nding which suggests that the
tension between these two parties did not derive from the adth
scholars insistence upon prophetic reports in legal matters.
165-208; Isabel Fierro, Te Introduction of adth in al-Andalus, Der Islam, 66 (1989):
77-84; Ba b. Makhlad, Te Encyclopaedia of Islam, CD-ROM Edition.
8)
Motzki, Te Origins of Islamic Jurisprudence; for a summary of his ndings, see, Te
Muannaf of Abd al-Razzq al-ann as a Source of Authentic Adth of the First Century
A.H., Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 60, no. 1 (1991): 1-21.
9)
For discussions of the signicance of Basra and Kufa in the development of adth
scholarship, see Melchert, How anasm Came to Originate in Kufa; and Scott C.
Lucas, Constructive Critics, adth Literature, and the Articulation of Sunn Islam (Leiden:
Brill, 2004), 67-73 and 355-62.
10)
Melchert, Traditionist-jurisprudents, 401; Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 1:279.
Several of the major ndings of Aysha al-Mashabs M.A. thesis, Ab Bakr Ibn Ab Shayba
wa manhajuhu f muannah (Mecca: Jmi Umm al-Qur, 1408 AH) are reprinted in
the editors introduction of al-Muannaf, 1:270-9.
I. Methodology
Tis article provides quantitative and qualitative analyses of the books
on the alms tax (zakt), divorce (alq), and add crimes (udd)
in the Muannaf of Ibn Ab Shayba. Tese three books address topics
that fall into the broad Islamic legal categories of acts of worship
(ibdt), transactions (mumalt), and penalties (uqbt). In the
recently published Maktabat al-Rushd critical edition of Ibn Ab
Shaybas Muannaf, the book on alms tax contains 1006 reports in
155 chapters, the book on divorce has 1627 reports in 283 chapters,
and the book on add crimes consists of 995 reports in 183 chapters.
Tis sample covers, in total, 3628 reports in 621 chapters. Te
quantitative analysis derives from a database into which, at a mini-
mum, the rst and nal names of the isnds for all 3628 reports
were entered. Tis database makes transparent the identities of Ibn
Ab Shaybas most-frequently cited authorities and the immediate
sources for his narrations. Te purpose of this article is not to verify
the authenticity of the isnds within the Muannaf, but merely to
determine the identity of the persons Ibn Ab Shayba and Baq b.
Makhlad thought they were citing in order to establish or justify
specic legal positions. Te qualitative portion of this study, which
focuses on Ibn Ab Shaybas adumbration of rulings concerning the
d al-Fir alms tax and the khul procedure for terminating a mar-
riage, invites us to reevaluate prevailing assumptions about the sig-
nicance of prophetic authority in the jurisprudence of the early
Companions of adth.
II. Te Muannaf of Ibn Ab Shayba
Te Muannaf of Ibn Ab Shayba is an Andalusian book that records
a Kufan perspective on a large corpus of transmitted Islamic knowl-
edge in circulation around the year 200/815. Its 39 books run the
gamut from adab to zuhd, from law to history, and from hagiography
to the apocalypse. Ab Bakr b. Ab Shayba, whose birth al-Khab
al-Baghdd dates to 156/773, was the son of a q of Frs province
and the grandson of a q of Wsi.
11
Two of his brothers, Uthmn
11)
For Ibn Ab Shaybas father, Muammad b. Ibrhm (d. 182/798), see al-Khab, Trkh,
(d. 239/853-4) and al-Qsim (date of death unknown) were also
religious scholars, though with diametrically opposed scholarly repu-
tations.
12
Ab Bakr appears to have been more of a compiler of
transmitted materials than a adth-critic, unlike his contemporaries
Ibn anbal, Yay b. Man, and Al b. al-Madn. Despite the fact
that Ibn anbal and Ibn Man graded him as merely sincere
(adq),
13
Ibn Ab Shaybas adth are found in all of the six Sunn
books, with the exception of al-Tirmidhs Jmi. Further testament
to the value of his narrations is the fact that both Muslim and Ibn
Mja incorporated large numbers of his prophetic reports in their
canonical books. In addition to his immense Muannaf, Ibn Ab
Shayba is credited with compiling a qurnic commentary (tafsr)
and several other historical and theological books, portions of which
are found in his Muannaf.
14

Whether Ibn Ab Shayba actually arranged his most famous work
in its current order is largely irrelevant because the only surviving
recension of the Muannaf was transmitted in Cordova by Ab Abd
al-Ramn Baq b. Makhlad and his disciple Ab Muammad Abd
2:265-6. For his grandfather, Ab Shayba Ibrhm b. Uthmn (d. 169/785-6 or slightly
later), see al-Khab, Trkh, 7:21-26 and Ibn Sad, Kitb al-abaqt al-kabr, ed. Al
Muammad Umar, 11 vols. (Cairo: Maktabat al-Khnj, 2001), 8:506. Both al-Khab
and Ibn Sad report the widespread consensus that Ab Shayba was a weak transmitter. I
have not come across any cases of Ibn Ab Shayba quoting either his father or grandfather
in the Muannaf.
12)
For Uthmn Ibn Ab Shayba, see al-Khab, Trkh, 13:162-7 and al-Dhahab, Siyar,
11:151-4. Uthmn is cited frequently in al-Bukhrs a. Al-Dhahab describes al-Qsim
Ibn Ab Shayba as weak (af; ibid., 11:122) and neither he nor al-Khab provides an
entry for him in their respective books. Both Ab tim and Ab Zura al-Rz copied
al-Qsims narrations but refrained from disseminating them; Ibn Ab tim, al-Jar wa-
l-tadl, ed. Abd al-Ramn al-Yamn, 9 vols. (Beirut: Dr al-Fikr reprint of the 1952
Hyderabad edition), 7:120.
13)
Al-Dhahab, Siyar, 11:123-4. Te critic Ab tim al-Rz gives him the higher grade
of trustworthy (thiqa); Ibn Ab tim, al-Jar wa-l-tadl, 5:160.
14)
Ibn al-Nadm attributes eight works to Ibn Ab Shayba, including three that appear
as chapters in the Muannaf; Kitb al-hrist li-l-Nadm, ed. Reza Tajaddod (Tehran, n.
d.), 286. Ibn ajar al-Asqaln provides isnds for the Muannaf, Tafsr, Kitb al-mn,
Trkh, Awil, and Musnad in his bibliography, al-Mujam al-mufahras (Beirut: Muassasat
al-Risla, 1998), 50-1, 110-11, 117, 135, 171. See also Fuat Sezgin, Geschichte des Arabischen
Schrifttums (Leiden: Brill, 1967), 1:108-9. Te most thorough discussion of his books is
in the editors introduction of al-Muannaf, 1:72-98.
Allh b. Ynus al-Qabr (d. 330/941-2).
15
Tese two scholars, whose
names appear at the beginnings of many of the books of the Mu -
annaf, are probably responsible for establishing Ibn Ab Shaybas
cornucopia of transmitted materials as a xed form book.
16
Ac -
cording to al-Dhahab and Ibn ajar,
17
the Muannaf of Ibn Ab
Shayba passed from Abd Allh b. Ynus to Ab Muammad Abd
Allh b. Al, known as Ibn al-Bj (d. 378/988-9),
18
of Seville,
who began teaching in Cordova in 370/980-1 and transmitted this
book to his son, Ab Umar Amad b. Abd Allh al-Bj (d. 396/
1005-6).
19
Ab Umar Ibn al-Bj, who served briey as a q in
Seville, returned to Cordova to teach full time, where he earned the
reputation of being one of the foremost religious scholars of the
Andalusian Umayyad caliphate. He transmitted the Muannaf to his
most illustrious pupil, Ab Umar Ibn Abd al-Barr (d. 463/1070),
20

who cites it frequently in his large commentaries on the Muwaa.
From Ibn Abd al-Barr, the Muannaf was preserved by the Cordovan
Abd al-Ramn Ibn Attb (d. 520/1126),
21
who subsequently
passed it on to the famous historian and occasional q of Seville,
Ab al-Qsim Ibn Bashkuwl (d. 578/1183).
22
Since Ibn Bashkuwl
15)
For more on Baq, see above. Note that his father, like that of Ibn Ab Shayba, was also
a q; Marn, Baqi b. Majlad, 173. Abd Allh b. Ynus does not receive entries in al-
Dhahabs books, but is found in Ibn al-Fara, Trkh al-ulam wa-l-ruwt li-l-ilm
bi-l-Andalus, ed. Izzat al-usayn, 2 vols. (Cairo: Maktabat al-Khnj, 1954), 1:265-6.
16)
Te Book of Firsts (awil) was added later to the Muannaf as we have it now, as
the isnd does not mention Baq. For the dierence between a xed form book and
lecture notes, see Gregor Schoeler, Te Oral and the Written in Early Islam, edited by James
E. Montgomery and translated by Uwe Vagelpohl (New York: Routledge, 2006), 33-6;
originally published as Schoeler, Die Frage der schriftlichen oder mndlichen berlieferung
der Wissenschaften im frhen Islam, Der Islam, 62 (1985): 210-15.
17)
Ibn ajars lineage of this book is found in al-Mujam al-mufahras, 50-1. Al-Dhahab
mentions the Muannaf transmission in each of the following entries, with the exceptions
of Ibn Bashkuwl and Abd al-Ramn b. Makk.
18)
Al-Dhahab, Siyar, 16:377; Ibn al-Fara, Trkh, 1:281. Ibn al-Fara (d. 403/1013)
describes Ibn al-Bj as one of his favorite teachers.
19)
Al-Dhahab, Siyar, 17:74-5.
20)
For more on him, see al-Dhahab, Siyar, 18:153-63 and Ibn Abd al-Barr, Te
Encyclopaedia of Islam, CD-ROM Edition.
21)
Al-Dhahab, Siyar 19:514-5.
22)
Al-Dhahab, Siyar, 21:139-43 and Ibn Bashkuwl, Te Encyclopaedia of Islam, CD-
never left al-Andalus, we can assume that the Alexandrian trader,
Abd al-Ramn b. Makk (d. 599/1202-3),
23
who appears in Ibn
ajrs isnd of the Muannaf, acquired it on one of his trips to
al-Andalus and brought it to Egypt, where it must have stimulated
a great degree of excitement among adth scholars familiar with
Ibn Ab Shaybas name but who had never seen his most famous
book.
24

Even if Ibn Ab Shayba did not arrange the Muannaf in its nal
xed form, all of the transmitted materials in it claim to pass through
him. He collected his narrations from a wide array of 2
nd
/8
th
century
religious authorities, nearly all of whom lived in Iraq. Unlike Abd
al-Razzqs Muannaf, which draws heavily upon the collections of
Mamar b. Rshid (d. 153/770), Sufyn al-Tawr (d. 161/778), and
Ibn Jurayj (150/767),
25
Ibn Ab Shaybas compendium has only
one predominant source, followed by materials from about a dozen
supporting scholars. Tis source is the Kufan Wak b. al-Jarr (d.
197/812) and it is possible that his lost Muannaf is largely extant
within Ibn Ab Shaybas book.
26
Te next fourteen scholars who
appear most frequently as Ibn Ab Shaybas sources all hail from
Kufa, Basra, Wsi, or Baghdad, with two exceptions: Sufyn b.
ROM Edition. Al-Dhahab does not explicitly mention the Muannaf among the books
transmitted by Ibn Bashkuwl.
23)
Al-Dhahab, Siyar, 21:392-3. Al-Dhahab does not mention the Muannaf of Ibn Ab
Shayba in this entry.
24)
Ibn Taymiyyas transmission of the Muannaf passed from Ibn Bashkuwl to Jafar b.
Al al-Hamadn to his teacher, al-Fakhr b. al-Bukhr; see Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf,
1:198 (editors introduction).
25)
Motzki, Te Origins of Islamic Jurisprudence, 58-9. Motzki mentions alternative death
dates of 152 or 154 for Mamar (p. 63).
26)
In a remarkable parallel, Waks Muannaf was probably lost early on in the eastern
Islamic lands, but was transmitted in al-Andalus by Baqs chief rival, Ibn al-Wa (d.
289/900), then passed from Ibn Attb to Ibn Bashkuwl, and nally landed in the hands
of Jafar b. Al al-Hamdn (d. 636/1238) in Egypt; Ibn ajar, al-Mujam, 50. For more
on the peripatetic Alexandrian Jafar b. Al, who transmitted many books, including Ibn
Ab Shaybas Muannaf (see note 24), from al-Andalus by ijza, see al-Dhahab, Siyar,
23:36-9. Ibn al-Wa obtained Waks Muannaf from Ms b. Muwiya al-amdiiyya
in Qayrawn, a scholar who had traveled to Kufa and Rayy in order to collect adths and
was a friend of the great Mlik jurist Sann; Siyar, 12:108-9. For more on Waks
Muannaf, see Schoeler, Te Oral and the Written, 31-2.
Uyayna, who was born in Kufa and moved to Mecca; and the Kufan
Jarr b. Abd al-amd, who moved to Rayy in his adult years (see
Table 1). Even though several of these scholars have books attributed
to them in Ibn al-Nadms Fihrist,
27
where they are classied as
jurists among the adth scholars and the companions of adth,
28

it is quite likely that Ibn Ab Shayba acquired their narrations
through listening to their lectures and/or copying their lecture notes
rather than from actual books.
29
On the basis of the evidence of
the isnds in the Muannaf, Ibn Ab Shayba appears to have obtained
portions of Ibn Jurayjs collection from his Basran teacher Muammad
b. Bakr and selections of Sad b. Ab Arbas (d. 156/773) book
from Abd al-Al b. Abd al-Al and Abda b. Sulaymn.
30
Muslim
scholars have long held that the books of Ibn Jurayj and Sad b.
Ab Arba are among the rst books arranged according to topics
(muannaf )
31
and one can safely assume that Ibn Ab Shayba would
have been keen to include their contents in his collection.
32
Other
prominent mid-2
nd
/8
th
century compiler-transmitters whose narrations
Ibn Ab Shayba includes in his Muannaf are Sufyn al-Tawr and,
to a much lesser degree, Mamar b. Rshid.
33
27)
Te following major teachers of Ibn Ab Shayba have books attributed to them: Wak,
Ibn al-Fuayl, Hushaym b. Bashr, Yazd b. Hrn, and Ibn Ulayya; Ibn al-Nadm, al-
Fihrist, 282-4.
28)
Fuqah al-muaddithn wa-ab al-adth.
29)
On the important role of lecture notes or private written records (hypomnma) in early
Islamic scholarship, see Schoeler, Te Oral and the Written, 28-49.
30)
Ibn Jurayj is present in 192 narrations in this sample of the Muannaf, while Sad b.
Ab Arba is found in 179, all but one of which are in the Book on Divorce and the
Book on add Crimes. Muammad b. Bakr, who is almost entirely absent from the
Book on Divorce, provides 48% of the narrations that trace through Ibn Jurayj. Abd
al-Al supplies 28% of the narrations from Ibn Ab Arba and Abda provides an additional
26%.
31)
Motzki, Origins, 274-5.
32)
Ibn Ab Shayba occasionally transmits from Abd al-Razzq, whom he may have met
during one of his pilgrimages to Mecca, since his biographers do not report that he traveled
to Yemen. He certainly did not rely on Abd al-Razzq for Ibn Jurayjs collection in any
substantial manner.
33)
Sufyn al-Tawr appears in 316 isnds, while Mamar is present in 100.
Table 1: Ibn Ab Shaybas Most Frequently Cited Sources
Name Death Date City Reports:
Zakt
Reports:
Divorce
Reports:
udd
Total
1 Wak b. al-Jarr 197/812 Kufa 225 283 155 663
2 af b. Ghiyth 194/809 or
810
Kufa 43 83 55 181
3 Abd al-Al b. Abd
al-Al
189/805 Basra 25 93 56 174
4 Jarr b. Abd al-
amd
188/804 Kufa,
Rayy
41 73 32 146
5 Ibn Ulayya, Isml
b. Ibrhm
193/809 Baghdad 16 103 21 140
6 Hushaym b. Bashr 183/800 Wsi 19 78 27 124
7 Ab Usma
ammd b. Usma
201/816 or
817
Kufa 54 34 14 102
8 Muammad b. Bakr 203/818 or
819
Basra 61 1 37 99
9 Abd al-Ram b.
Sulaymn
184/800 Kufa 55 6 32 93
10 Abda b. Sulaymn 188/804 Kufa 11 60 22 93
11 Ab Muwiya
Muammad b.
Khzim
195/810 or
811
Kufa 24 42 25 91
12 Yazd b. Hrn 206/821 Wsi 10 49 28 87
13 Sufyn b. Uyayna 198/814 Mecca 23 42 21 86
14 Abd Allh b. Idrs 192/808 Kufa 15 44 26 85
15 Muammad b.
al-Fuayl
195/810 or
811
Kufa 9 48 22 79
III. Quantitative Findings
Tree-quarters of the narrations in the books on the alms tax,
divorce, and add crimes in the Muannaf of Ibn Ab Shayba claim
to report the opinions of fourteen early Muslim authorities (see Table
2). Unlike Ibn Ab Shaybas direct teachers, nearly all of whom are
Iraqi, slightly more than half of his legal authorities lived in Mecca
and Medina. Seven of these authorities are of the Successor genera-
tion, and most of them lived from the mid-1
st
/7
th
century into the
early 2
nd
/8
th
century. One in three reports in the Muannaf is the
putative opinion of either al-asan al-Bar, Ibrhm al-Nakha,
mir al-Shab, or A b. Ab Rab. Te Companions Umar and
Al are cited 12% of the time, and each of them appears nearly
twice as frequently as Abd Allh b. Umar, Ibn Masd, and Ibn
Abbs. Four additional Successors--al-Zuhr, Sad b. al-Musayyab,
the caliph Umar b. Abd al-Azz, and al-akam b. Utayba--round
out the list of Ibn Ab Shaybas top authorities and are cited in an
additional 12% of the reports in these books.
Table 2: Ibn Ab Shaybas Most Frequently Cited Authorities
34
34)
Al-Dhahab mentions a range of 89/707-8 to 105/723-4 for Ibn al-Musayyabs death
date, although he prefers 94; Tadhkirat al-u, 5 vols. (Beirut: Dr al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya,
1998), 1:45.
Name Death
Date
City Number
of
Reports
Percentage
of Total
Sample
Reports
1 al-asan al-Bar 110/728 Basra 363 10.0 %
2 Ibrhm al-Nakha 95/714 Kufa 360 9.9 %
3 Prophet Muammad 11/632 Mecca,
Medina
315 8.7 %
4 mir al-Shab Between
103/721 and
110/728
Kufa 296 8.2 %
5 Umar b. al-Khab 23/644 Medina 227 6.3 %
6 Al b. Ab lib 40/661 Medina, Kufa 211 5.8 %
6 A b. Ab Rab 114/732 or
115/733
Mecca 211 5.8 %
8 Ibn Shihb al-Zuhr 124/742 Medina 130 3.6 %
9 Abd Allh b. Umar 73 or 74/ 692-3 Medina 128 3.5 %
10 Sad b. al-Musayyab 94/712-3
34
Medina 123 3.4 %
11 Abd Allh b. Abbs 68/687-8 Mecca 122 3.4 %
12 Abd Allh b. Masd 32/652-3 Kufa 120 3.3 %
13 Umar b. Abd
al-Azz (Umar II)
101/720 Medina, Shm 100 2.8 %
14 al-akam b. Utayba 114/732 or
115/733-4
Kufa 92 2.5 %
Where does the Prophet Muammad t into this analysis? Even
though he appears in only 8.7% of these legal narrations, he emerges
as the third most frequently cited authority. He is overwhelmingly
the most signicant authority in the Book on Zakt and is the
second most-frequently cited authority in the Book on add Crimes
(see Table 3). In the longer Book on Divorce, the Prophet is cited
only 54 times among 1627 narrations (3.3%). Tis data suggests
that prophetic adths played a more important role in the laws of
worship than in the laws of transactions, a nding that is consistent
with the proportionately larger books on prayer and pilgrimage in
the canonical Sunni adth collections.

Table 3: Ibn Ab Shaybas Top Authorities by Topic
Zakt Divorce udd
1) Prophet
Muammad
(155
reports)
1) Ibrhm
al-Nakha
(197
reports)
1) al-asan
al-Bar
(107
reports)
2) al-asan
al-Bar
(83) 2) al-asan
al-Bar
(173) 2) Prophet
Muammad
(106)
3) Ibrhm
al-Nakha
(81) 3) al-Shab (162) 3) al-Shab (94)
4) Umar (64) 4) A (94) 4) Umar (84)
5) A (61) 5) Al (92) 5) Ibrhm
al-Nakha
(82)
6) Ibn Umar (49) 6) Ibn
al-Musayyab
(86) 6) Al (78)
7) Al (41) 7) Umar (79) 7) A (56)
8) al-Shab (40) 8) Ibn Abbs (74) 8) al-Zuhr (48)
9) Umar b.
Abd al-Azz
(35) 9) Ibn Masd (72) 9) Umar b.
Abd al-Azz
(37)
10) al-Zuhr (26) 10) Ibn Umar (59) 10) al-akam
b. Utayba
(26)
10) Ibn Abbs (26)

Te Prophets presence in legal chapters reaches its apogee when we
shift the analysis from raw numbers of reports to the distribution
of these reports across legal topics. If we assume that each chapter
(bb) in the Muannaf represents a single legal topic or position,
we nd that the Prophet Muammad is quoted in 33% of the
chapters on zakt, in 21% of the chapters on add crimes, but in
only 11% of the chapters on divorce. Even if we assume that Ibn
Ab Shayba did not include all of the prophetic adths at his disposal
in the Muannaf,
35
it is clear that he refrained from invoking pro-
phetic authority in the overwhelming majority of legal topics he
addressed.
Te isnds of the Muannaf indicate that Ibn Ab Shayba exerted
great eort to acquire his 315 narrations of prophetic adths.
36
His
primary teacher, Wak, provides 59 adths (18.7%) in the three
books under consideration and the Kufan q af b. Ghiyth
relates 20 of them. Sufyn b. Uyayna and Abd al-Ram b. Sulaymn
each contribute 17 prophetic adths, while Abd Allh b. Numayr
(d. 199/814-5) adds 16 to the Muannaf. Ab Khlid al-Amar (d.
189/805) and Yazd b. Hrn also supply 13 adths apiece. Te
total number of adths that Ibn Ab Shayba transmits from these
seven Companions of adth is 155, or 49% of his total yield,
which means that he collected an average of just 5 adths from
each of his approximately thirty additional teachers.
Te eorts of Ibn Ab Shayba to collect prophetic adths during
the second half of the 2
rd
/8
th
century can be discerned even more
clearly from the Book on Zakt in his Muannaf. We have seen
that Ibn Ab Shayba musters an impressive collection of 155 pro-
phetic adths in this book.
37
Wak provides 28 of them and Abd
35)
Both Muslim and Ibn Mja include adths they claim to have heard from Ibn Ab
Shayba in their collections that are not found in Baqs recension of the Muannaf. Of
course, it is also highly probable that Ibn Ab Shayba had many additional Companion
and Successor reports as well that did not make it into the surviving editions of the Muan-
naf, so it is unlikely that the absence of these adths would aect my ndings.
36)
Tis point is reinforced by the short Book on the Judgments of the Messenger of God,
which consists exclusively of 81 prophetic adths on diverse legal topics. Ibn Ab Shayba
collected these adths from 32 teachers; the only individuals from whom he acquired 4
or more adths are Wak (11 adths), Shabba b. Sawwr (6), Ibn Uyayna (5), Muammad
b. Bishr (5), Yazd b. Hrn (5), Ab l-Awa (4), Ibn Ulayya (4), and Ibn Ab Zida
(4); al-Muannaf, 9:483-506. In short, Ibn Ab Shayba averaged a mere 2.5 adths per
teacher.
37)
Five of these adths are transmitted by two of Ibn Ab Shaybas teachers with otherwise
identical isnds and matns, so one could argue that there are actually 160 adths in it.
al-Ram adds another 12. Tree additional teachers--Ab Usma,
af, and Ibn Numayr--contribute 9 adths apiece. Ibn Ab Shayba
draws upon another seven teachers for 41 more adths, which brings
his total to 108 adths from 12 teachers. Te remaining adths
come from 30 more teachers, 17 of whom contribute a single nar-
ration apiece. If there were individual Iraqi adth scholars fabri cating
large numbers of legal adths during the latter half of the 2
nd
/8
th

century, it appears that Ibn Ab Shayba either shunned them or only
incorporated a small sample of their product in his Muan naf.
A closer examination of the prophetic material in the book on
add crimes sheds additional light on the role of prophetic authority
in the Muannaf. Ibn Ab Shayba explores the crimes of theft,
fornication, intoxication, apostasy, and the false accusation of for-
nication (qadhf) in Kitb al-udd.
38
I have grouped most of the
remaining chapters of this book under the rubric of general rules
(see Table 4).
39
For the purpose of our analysis, it is necessary that
we distinguish between a adth, which is a claimed statement, action
or episode in the Prophets life, and a narration (or report), which
is a specic account of this statement, action or episode attached
to an isnd. Tis distinction allows us to reduce multiple narrations
of the identical episode or statement to a single adth, an adjustment
that is necessary for an accurate count of prophetic rulings. For
example, the three prophetic reports in the Muannaf that state,
essentially, Whoever raises a sword against us no longer counts as
38)
Tere are also ve chapters on apostasy in the Book on Military Conduct (siyar);
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 11:283-96.
39)
Examples of general rules for which Ibn Ab Shayba provides prophetic adths include
the prohibitions against shaving a criminals head as punishment (al-Muannaf, 9:389-90),
inicting add punishments in the mosque (9:391-2), and womens testimony in add
crimes (9:403-4); and details on the procedures for amputation (9:381-2) and ogging
(9:397-8). Te topic of banditry (irba) is usually considered one of the add crimes,
but Ibn Ab Shayba discusses it in only two chapters of Kitb al-udd (Bb f l-murib
yut bihi il l-imm; Bb f l-murib idh qatal wa-akhadh al-ml wa-akhf al-sabl);
it is treated in greater depth in Kitb al-siyar (11:296-302). Only one prophetic adth,
which describes the Prophets harsh treatment of the bandit-apostates of Urayna, is found
among these chapters on irba, (11:283). Ibn Ab Shayba also discusses very briey the
punishment of the sorcerer (sir) in Kitb al-udd; 9:466-7.
one of us,
40
are equal to one adth since the multiple narrations
communicate a single ruling. Were we to equate each narration
(rather than each adth) with a legal ruling, we would inate
signicantly the actual number of legal opinions attributed to the
Prophet in the Muannaf.
Table 4: Overview of Prophetic adths in the Book on add Crimes
Subtopic of udd Number of
adths
Number of
Narrations
Number of
Mursal or
Munqai
Narrations
Number of
adths in the
Muannaf and
a Muslim
General Rules 12 14 9 2
Teft 14 20 7 4
Fornication 19 44 7 7
Intoxication 3 4 0 1
Apostasy/ Conversion 12 22 5 6
False Accusation of
Fornication
(qadhf )
1 1 1 0
Total 61 105 29 20
Four features of this analysis merit attention (Table 4). First, the
sharp reduction of 105 narrations to 61 adths indicates a sub-
stantially lower number of prophetic rulings than our initial ndings
suggested. Second, there is only a single prophetic report in the
Muannaf related to the crime of the false accusation of fornication
(qadhf)
41
and not more than 19 adths for any single category or
crime. Tird, some of the adths concerning theft, fornication, and
apostasy/conversion are transmitted in multiple narrations, whereas
those on general rules and drinking are relayed primarily in single
narrations.
42
Finally, a high percentage of these narrations exhibit
40)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 9:453-4 (udd: Bb f l-rajul yarib al-rajul bi-l-sayf
wa-yurfa alayhi l-sil). Tis adth is transmitted from Ibn Umar, Ab Hurayra, and
Salama b. al-Akwa.
41)
Tis discovery is even more surprising when we consider that approximately one-quarter
of the chapters in Kitb al-udd relate to qadhf.
42)
Only four adths are found in ve or more narrations in Kitb al-udd. Te most
exceptional episode concerns the story of Miz b. Mlik al-Aslam, who confessed four
defective isnds, a nding that is parallel to Harald Motzkis results
in his study of Abd al-Razzqs Muannaf.
43
Evidently, some of the
Companions of adth were not averse to transmitting awed
reports, a practice they shared with the Companions of ray.
Even though the Muannaf contains multiple narrations with
inferior isnds, we should not overlook the substantial presence of
prophetic adths which Muslim scholars evaluated as authentic
because this indicates that Ibn Ab Shayba was capable of transmitting
the nest available narrations. Nearly one-third of the 61 adths
in the Book on add crimes are also found in either the Book
on add crimes or the Book on Belief (mn) in Muslims a
(Table 4). Muslim relays 14 of these adths directly from Ibn Ab
Shayba and another six adths, with nearly identical texts and isnds
to adths found in the Muannaf, from Ibn Ab Shaybas con-
temporaries.
44
A good example of Muslims appropriation of Ibn
Ab Shaybas adths is the case of the minimum value of stolen
goods that necessitates the amputation of a thief s hand.
45
Ibn Ab
Shayba transmits ve prophetic adths that specify dierent minimum
values of stolen property for which amputation is valid, and Muslim
includes narrations from him of four of them. Tese four adths
found in both the Muannaf and Muslims a all claim to originate
in Medina: two of them are from isha Urwa b. al-Zubayr,
46

times to the Prophet that he committed adultery and was then stoned to death; see chapters
83, 118, and 128 of Kitb al-udd.
43)
Harald Motzki found that only 68% of his sample of prophetic adths had isnds and,
of these, only 69% were continuous; Origins, 241-2.
44)
Al-Nawaw, a Muslim bi-shar al-Nawaw, ed. Fd Abd al-Bq, 18 vols. (Beirut:
Dr al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 2000), 11:151-88. Muslim transmits prophetic narrations found
in Kitb al-udd of the Muannaf directly from Ibn Ab Shayba in: Kitb al-udd: Bbs
1, 4, 5, 6, 8; and Kitb al-mn: Bbs: 8, 32, 41. Muslim transmits adths found in the
Muannaf from sources other than Ibn Ab Shayba in: Kitb al-udd: Bbs 2, 3, 5, 9; and
Kitb al-mn: Bbs 8, 41.
45)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 9:284-9 (udd: Bb f l-sriq man qla yuqa f aqall
min asharat darhim; Bb man qla l yuqa f aqall min asharat darhim); al-Nawaw,
a Muslim, 11:151-5 (udd: Bb 1)
46)
Amputation is for [theft of goods worth] one quarter dnr and greater; and [Te
hand of the thief ] who stole something without value was not amputated at the time of
the Prophet. (In a Muslim, this report includes mention of the round shield found
in Ns narration below.)
one is from Ibn Umar N,
47
and the nal one is from Ab
Hurayra Ab li.
48
Te one adth that Muslim does not include
in his a relays an unusual position; since it is found in the
Muannaf in only a single narration with an interrupted isnd, there
can be little wonder as to why Muslim did not include it in his
book.
49

III. Qualitative Analysis
Te data concerning the role of prophetic adths in the Muannaf
of Ibn Ab Shayba presents us with a paradox: Muammad is the
third most frequently cited authority, yet he appears in only 8.7%
of the reports under examination. He is present in as many as 33%
of the zakt chapters, but only 11% of the divorce chapters. Let
us now examine two specic legal topics in an eort to determine
more precisely the scope of prophetic authority in Ibn Ab Shaybas
jurisprudence.
III.1 Te d al-Fir Alms Tax
Te obligatory alms tax at the conclusion of the month of Raman,
known as adaqat (or zakt) al-r,
50
is nowhere mentioned in the
Qurn and is a good example of a universally-accepted sunnaic
practice. Te Muannaf of Ibn Ab Shayba addresses thirteen issues
pertaining to adaqat al-r in the Book on Zakt.
51
Te Prophet
is not cited in the chapters about paying adaqat al-r with coins,
52

47)
Te Messenger of God amputated [the hand of the thief who stole] a round shield
(mijann) that was worth three dirhms.
48)
God curses the thief who steals an egg or a rope; their hands are to be amputated.
49)
Tis adth sets the minimum value for amputation at ve dirhms. Its isnd is munqai
since it traces directly from Ibn Masd (d. 32/652-3) to al-Shab, who was born around
the year 30/650; Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 9:284.
50)
Te terms adaqa and zakt are essentially interchangeable in the Muannaf and so I
will reproduce whichever one Ibn Ab Shayba uses in the following section. See also the
helpful entry, adaa, Te Encyclopaedia of Islam, CD-ROM Edition.
51)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf (Zakt: Bbs 66-73, 107, 117, 134, 145, 153).
52)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 4:282 (Zakt: Bb f i al-darhim f zakt al-r).
paying on behalf of a Christian slave or a co-owned slave,
53
whether
the Bedouins owe it,
54
or if one can pay it a day or two prior to
the d.
55
He does, however, appear in the following four topics:
1) Zakt al-r is collected prior to the [d] Prayer;
56

2) Te amount of adaqat al-r is half a
57
of wheat (burr);
58

3) Te amount of adaqat al-r is one of barley, dates, or
wheat (qam);
59
4) adaqat al-r is obligatory.
60
Tere are only four uninterrupted and two mursal prophetic adths
in these chapters, all of which record statements of Companions or
Successors describing how things supposedly were at the time of the
Prophet:
1) Ibn Abbs (d. 68/687-8) said: Te Messenger of God made
adaqat al-r obligatory upon every freeman or slave, whether
a youth or adult, male or female, of the amount of one
of dates or barley, or one half of wheat (burr).
61
53)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 4:283 and 335 (Zakt: Bb m ql f l-abd al-narn;
Bb f l-mamlk yakn bayna rajulayn alayhi adaqat al-r).
54)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 4:324-5 (Zakt: Bb f l-arb alayhim zakt al-r).
55)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 4:369 (Zakt: Bb f tajl zakt al-r qabl al-r bi-
yawm aw yawmayn; also a few reports in Bb zakt al-r tukhraj qabl al-alt).
56)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 4:274-6 (Zakt: Bb zakt al-r tukhraj qabl al-
alt).
57)
Te quantity of one has varied and chapter 73 (Bb bi-ayy yu f adaqat al-r)
of Kitb al-zakt in the Muannaf addresses exactly whether the local (and mudd)
measurement or the Medinan measurement should be used for calculating adaqat al-r.
According to the modern Mujam lughat al-fuqah (Beirut: Dr al-Nafis, 1996) by
Muammad Rawws Qalaj, a mudd is 543 grams of grain (815.39 for the anafs) and
a is 2172 grams of grain (3261.5 grams for the anafs); p. 419. See also, , Te
Encyclopaedia of Islam, CD-ROM Edition.
58)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 4:276-9 (Zakt: Bb f adaqat al-r man qla nif
burr).
59)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 4:280-2 (Zakt: Bb man qla adaqat al-r min
shar aw tamr aw qam).
60)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 4:360-1 (Zakt: Bb man awjaba adaqat al-r wa qla
hiya wjiba).
61)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 4:276 (Zakt: Bb f adaqat al-r man qla nif
burr). An abbreviated narration of this adth is also found in chapter 145.
2) Ibn Umar (d. 73 or 74/692-3) said: Te Messenger of God
made obligatory adaqat al-r, which is a of dates or a
of barley. N said: Ibn Umar used to pay it for his
dependent wives and their slaves, except for two muktab
slaves.
62
3) Ibn Umar said: Te Messenger of God made obligatory
adaqat al-r, which is a of dates or a of barley, for
every slave or free person, youth or adult.
63
4) Ab Sad al-Khudr (d. 74/693) said: By God, I will only
pay the adaqa we paid at the time of the Messenger of
Goda of dates, or a of barley, or a of raisins, or
a of cottage cheese (aqi).
64
5) Al-Zuhr (d. 124/742) said: Te Messenger of God com-
manded [Muslims] to bring forth the zakt al-r prior to
the [d] prayer.
65
6) Sad b. al-Musayyab (d. 94/712-3) said: [Te Messenger of
God] was asked about adaqat al-r, to which he replied:
[It is] half a of wheat (burr) or a of dates or barley
for every young or adult [free-person] or slave.
66
While it is possible that these adth provided decisive evidence
concerning the amount of adaqat al-r owed by each household
member, each one of them is accompanied in the Muannaf by the
62)
burr). Tis adth and the following one were discussed extensively in an exchange during
the 1990s between G.H.A. Juynboll and Harald Motzki; see Juynboll, N, the mawl
of Ibn Umar, and his position in Muslim adth Literature, Der Islam, 70 (1993): 207-
44; and Motzki, Quo vadis ad-Forschung? Eine kritische Untersuchung von G.H.A.
Juynboll: N, the mawl of Ibn Umar, and his position in Muslim adth Literature,
Der Islam, 73 (1996): 40-80 and 193-231.
63)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 4:280 (Zakt: Bb man qla adaqat al-r min shar
aw tamr aw qam).
64)
Ibid.
65)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 4:274 (Zakt: Bb zakt al-r tukhraj qabl al-alt).
Tis adth is mursal.
66)
burr). Tis adth is mursal. For more on Ibn al-Musayyabs death date, see above note
34.
opinions of a wide array of Companions and Successors who reiterate
the point or expand upon it. Te most vivid example of this practice
is found in chapter 67, adaqat al-r is half a of wheat, in
which 21 authorities, in the following sequence, overwhelm the
prophetic adths transmitted by Ibn Abbs, Ibn Umar, and Ibn
al-Musayyab:
67

1) Uthmn b. An (d. 35/656): [adaqat al-r is] a of
dates or half a of wheat (burr).
2) Ab Bakr [al-iddq; d. 13/634]: [It is] half a of food
(am).
3) Ibrhm al-Nakha (d. 95/714): [It is] half a of wheat
(qam) for each free person or slave, youth or adult.
4) Mujhid b. Jabr (d. between 102/720-1 and 104/722-3):
[It is] half a of wheat, a complete of dates, raisins,
cottage cheese (aqi), or barley.
5) al-Shab (d. between 103/721 and 110/728): [It is] half a
of wheat or a of dates or barley for free people who
fasted and for slaves who fasted or did not fast.
6) al-asan al-Bar (d. 110/728) agreed with al-Shab that
free people who did not fast did not owe any adaqat al-
r.
7) Ibn Masd (d. 32/652-3): [It is] two mudds
68
of wheat
(qam) or a of dates or barley.
8) Jbir b. Abd Allh (d. between 73/692-3 and 78/697-8):
(same as Ibn Masd).
9) ws (d. 106/725): [It is] half a of wheat or a of
dates.
10) Makl [al-Shm; d. 112/730-1 or 113/731-2]: [It is] a
of dates or barley.
11) A b. Ab Rab (d. 114/732 or 115/733): (same as Ibn
Masd).
12) Ibn al-Zubayr (d. 73/692): (same as Ibn Masd).
13) al-akam b. Utayba (d. 114/732 or 115/733-4): [It is] half
a of wheat (ina).
67)
68)
Two mudds are equivalent to one half .
14) ammd [b. Ab Sulaymn; d. 119/737 or 120/738]: (same
as al-akam).
15) Abd al-Ramn b. al-Qsim (d. 126/743-4): (same as al-
akam).
16) Sad b. Ibrhm (d. before 127/745): (same as al-akam).
69
17) Abd Allh b. Shaddd (d. 82/701): [It is] half a of wheat
(ina) or our (daqq).
18) Al (d. 40/661): [It is] a of dates or a of barley or
a half of wheat (burr).
19) Asm [bint Ab Bakr; d. 73/692]: [It is] half a of wheat
(burr) or a of dates or barley for both living and deceased
family members.
70
20) Umar b. Abd al-Azz (d. 101/720) wrote to the Basrans:
adaqa of Raman is incumbent upon every child and
adult, free or slave, male or female, of the amount of a half
of wheat or a of dates.
21) Ibn Abbs (d. 68/687-8): [It is] a of dates or half a
of food (am).
Seen from this angle, the few prophetic adths concerning adaqat
al-r do not appear to be decisive proofs for Ibn Ab Shayba. Rather,
Ibn Ab Shayba transmits them alongside the putative opinions of
the earliest religious authorities of Sunni Islam in order to impress
upon his readers that the overwhelming majority of these pious men
and women are in agreement upon this legal topic.
III.2 Te Khul Procedure
Te second case study that facilitates our assessment of the role of
prophetic adths in Ibn Ab Shaybas jurisprudence is the khul
procedure, in which a woman returns her dower in order to terminate
her marriage. Tis procedure is based primarily on the qurnic
sentence, If you suspect that the couple may not be able to stay
69)
Te opinions of al-akam, ammd, Abd al-Ramn b. al-Qsim, and Sad b. Ibrhm
are all transmitted by Shuba Ab Dwd al-aylis in a single report (#10442).
70)
Note that Asm bint Ab Bakr is the mother of Ibn al-Zubayr, whose opinion is also
cited in this chapter.
within the bounds set by God, then there will be no blame on either
of them if the woman opts to give something for her release,
71

and the story of the wife of Tbit b. Qays, whom the Prophet
instructed to return her husbands gifts in order to be free of him.
72

Curiously, Ibn Ab Shayba relates only a highly abbreviated mursal
narration of the story of the wife of Tbit b. Qays that has a
peculiar addition in which the Prophet tells the woman, Do not
give back to [your husband] in excess of what he gave you.
73

Tere are 23 chapters totaling 152 reports on the topic of khul
in the Muannaf of Ibn Ab Shayba. Te opinions of 53 individuals,
including the Prophet, are cited in these chapters, although 21 of
them appear in only a single narration. As might be expected from
the earlier statistics, al-Shab, al-asan al-Bar, and Ibrhm al-
Nakha appear 17, 16, and 15 times, respectively, whereas Al and
Umar are called upon 7 and 6 times, respectively. Ibn al-Musayyab,
al-Zuhr, and A voice their opinions in 28 narrations, while the
remaining 23 authorities, including the Prophet, are cited on any-
where from two to six occasions.
74

Tere are only six prophetic reports related to khul in four
chapters of the Muannaf. Tree of these prophetic narrations are
found in the chapter entitled, What is disapproved of for those
71)
Fa-in khiftum an-l yuqm udd Allh fa-l juna alayhim f m-ftadat bihi
(If you suspect that the couple may not be able to stay within the bounds set by God,
then there will be no blame on either of them if the woman opts to give something
for her release); Te Quran, trans. M.A.S. Abdel Haleem (Oxford, 2004), 26 (slightly
modied).
72)
Tis adth can be found in: Mlik, al-Muwaa (alq: Bb 11); al-Drim, Sunan
(alq: Bb 7); al-Bukhr, a (alq: Bbs 12, 13); Ibn Mja, Sunan (alq: Bbs
21-3); Ab Dwd, Sunan (alq: Bb 18); al-Tirmidh, al-Jmi (alq: Bb 10).
73)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 6:504 (alq: Bb man kariha an yakhudh min al-
mukhtalia akthar mimm ah).
74)
Tese authorities are the Companions Uthmn (6 reports), Ibn Abbs (6), Ibn Umar
(4), Ibn Masd (3); and the Successors ws (6), Shuray (4), Qaba b. Dhuayb (3),
Maymn b. Mihrn (3), ammd b. Ab Sulaymn (3), Ibn Srn (3), Ab Salama (3),
Ikrima (3), Urwa b. al-Zubayr (3), al-ak (2), Khils (2), Sulaymn b. Yasr (2),
Makl (2), Qatda (2), al-Qsim b. Muammad (2), Miqsam (2), al-akam b. Utayba
(2), Jbir b. Zayd (2), and Amr b. Shuayb (2). Te nal authority is the Prophet (6
reports).
women who seek khul .
75
Ibn Ab Shayba transmits a mursal trans-
mission of the adth, Te Prophet said, Tose who do khul and
tear themselves away [from their husbands] (muntazit) are among
the hypocrites,
76
along with two narrations of the adth, Te
Prophet said, Any woman who asks her non-abusive husband for
a divorce will never enjoy the scent of Paradise.
77
One of these
two narrations is mursal from the Basran Successor Ab Qilba (d.
between 104/722-3 and 107/725-6), while the other one has a
continuous isnd.
78
Te remaining three adths also lack Com-
panions in their isnds and, as can be seen from the following
summary, depict the Prophet as merely one among a host of early
religious authorities:
1) To what is a khul equivalent?
79

A. It is equivalent to a single irrevocable divorce (talqa bina),
80

according to:
Ab Salama, A, al-asan al-Bar,
81
Ibn Masd, Ibn
al-Musayyab, Ibrhm al-Nakha, Qaba b. Dhuayb,
82
Sad
b. Jubayr, al-Shab, Shuray, Ubayy, Urwa, Uthmn, and
al-Zuhr.
75)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 6:661-2 (alq: Bb m dhukira min al-kirha an yalubna
l-khul).
76)
A adth with a similar text but totally dierent isnd is relayed by al-Tirmidh, who
evaluates it as poorly attested and possessing a weak isnd; al-Tirmidh, al-Jmi (alq
wa Lin: Bb 11).
77)
Tis adth is not found in the as of al-Bukhr or Muslim, but it is present in
al-Drim, Sunan (alq: Bb 6); Ibn Mja, Sunan (alq: Bb 21); Ab Dwd, Sunan
(alq: Bb 18); al-Tirmidh, al-Jmi (alq: Bb 11).
78)
Te missing links that appear in the second narration are Ab Asm [Amr b. Marthad]
Tawbn.
79)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 6:488-92 (alq: Bb m ql f l-rajul idh khala
imraatahu kam yakn min al-alq).
80)
In other words, the husband cannot take her back as his wife during her waiting period,
but he can remarry her with a new dower after her waiting period has ended if she approves.
A single divorce usually implies that the husband has the right to take her back during
her waiting period.
81)
In one narration, he adds that any conditions she imposes upon him are valid.
82)
Te Medinan Successor Qaba (d. 86/705) does not use the term bina; rather he
just says that the husband must give her a new dower if they remarry.
B. It is equivalent to a single divorce, unless she specied some-
thing else: Uthmn.
C. It is equivalent to a single divorce: Al, Prophet,
83
Makl,
84

and Uthmn.
2) Can the husband demand more than what he has given his wife
for her khul payment?
A. It is reprehensible for him to take more than he has given
her:
85

Al, Amr b. Shuayb,
86
A, al-akam, ammd b. Ab
Sulaymn, al-asan al-Bar, Ibn al-Musayyab, Ikrima, May-
mn,
87
Prophet,
88
al-Shab, ws,
89
al-Zuhr.
B. It is perfectly acceptable for him to do this:
90

al-ak,
91
Ibn Abbs, Ibn Umar, Ibrhm al-Nakha,
Mujhid, Umar.
3) How long is the waiting period (idda) of the woman who does
the khul procedure?
A. Same as the divorced woman (muallaqa):
92

Ab Iy,
93
Al, al-asan al-Bar, Ibn al-Musayyab,
83)
Tis adth is mursal from Ibn al-Musayyab.
84)
One narration says he cannot take her back unless she wishes so.
85)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 6:504-5 (alq: Bb man kariha an yakhudh min al-
mukhtalia akthar mimm ah).
86)
Amr b. Shuayb (d. 118/736) is a Medinan Successor and great-grandson of Abd Allh
b. Amr b. al-; al-Dhahab, Siyar, 5:165-80.
87)
Maymn b. Mihrn (d. 117/735) is a Successor and manumitted slave who grew up
in Kufa and later settled in Raqqa; al-Dhahab, Siyar, 5:71.
88)
Tis adth is mursal from A.
89)
ws goes so far as to declare this practice unlawful (l yaill).
90)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 6:505-7 (alq: Bb man rakhkhaa an yakhudh min
al-mukhtalia akthar mimm ah).
91)
Al-ak b. Muzim is a Successor from Balkh who studied in Kufa and transmitted
qurnic exegesis ascribed to Ibn Abbs, which he almost certainly obtained from one of
his pupils. Al-Dhahab oers possible death dates of 102/720-1, 105/723-4, and 106/724-
5; Siyar 4:598-600.
92)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 6:493-4 (alq: Bb m ql f iddat al-mukhtalia kayfa
hiya). In other words, her idda lasts three menstrual cycles, three months if she is not
menstruating, or until delivery of her child if she is pregnant.
93)
Tere are only two men known as Ab Iy in the kuny section of Ibn ajars Tahdhb
al-tahdhb, and considerable confusion exists over the identity of the more probable
Ibrhm al-Nakha, Khils,
94
Slim,
95
al-Shab,
Sulaymn b. Yasr, and Urwa.
B. One menstrual cycle:
96
Ibn Abbs, Ibn Umar,
97

Prophet,
98
and Uthmn.
Te muted role of the Prophet in these three legal topics and his
total absence from issues concerning the validity of a divorce after
the khul procedure has been completed,
99
maintenance and lodging
during the idda of the woman who executes a khul ,
100
the khul
initiated during the husbands terminal illness,
101
along with several
others, reinforces our nding that the legal rulings in the Muannaf
derive overwhelmingly from the opinions of a dozen or so Successors
and Companions, and that the role of prophetic adths is essentially
peripheral to Ibn Ab Shaybas jurisprudence.
IV. Conclusion
Te theory that early Muslim jurisprudence was largely the handiwork
of the Successors and subsequent generations of scholars has long
been advocated almost exclusively on the basis of studies drawing
upon the proto-madhhab books of the early Companions of
ray without taking into consideration the early works of the Com-
panions of adth.
102
Tis situation has begun to change with
candidate, Ab Iy al-Madan; Ibn ajar, Tahdhb al-tahdhb, 12 vols. (Beirut: Dr dir,
1968 [reprint of the 1907-9 Hyderabad edition]); 12:194-5.
94)
Khils b. Amr is a Basran Successor; al-Dhahab, Siyar, 4:491. Ibn ajar reports that
he died just prior to the year 100/718-9; Tahdhb al-tahdhb, 3:178.
95)
His full name is Slim b. Abd Allh b. Umar b. al-Khab.
96)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 6:594-5 (alq: Bb man qla iddatuh aya).
97)
In one narration, Ibn Umar claims to have been of the opinion that her waiting period
should be three cycles (like a divorced woman), until he heard Uthmn give his verdict
in the case of a woman named Rubayyi that it was only one cycle. Sulaymn b. Yasr also
relates this episode, but does not indicate whether he agrees with this position.
98)
Tis adth is mursal from Ikrima.
99)
100)
Ibn Ab Shayba, al-Muannaf, 6:495, 500, 536-7.
101)
102)
Tis approach is epitomized by Norman Calder, who claims that his methodology is,
Harald Motzkis study of Abd al-Razzqs Muannaf, Susan Spectorskys
studies of the qh of Ibn anbal and Ibn Rhawayh,
103
and Chris-
topher Melcherts article on adth-scholar jurisprudence.
104
All of
these valuable studies have skirted around the Muannaf of Ibn Ab
Shayba, which, I have argued here, is one of the most signicant
books for elucidating the legal thought and methodology of the
Companions of adth. Assuming that Ibn Ab Shayba did not
fabricate the bulk of its narrations,
105
the importance of the Muan-
naf derives from the fact that all of its reports date to the 2
nd
/8
th

century and are contemporary with the great jurists Ab Ysuf,
Muammad b. al-asan al-Shaybn, and al-Sh.
How signicant a role do prophetic adths play in the legal
chapters in the Muannaf of Ibn Ab Shayba? While the Prophet
Muammad emerges as the third most popular authority, he appears
in only 8.7% of the narrations in the three books under con-
sideration. Despite the prominence of prophetic adths in the books
on zakt and udd, their utility is marginal when it comes to a
topic such as the regulations of the d al-Fir alms tax, essentially
absent in the case of the crime of false accusation of fornication,
and far from decisive concerning the minimum value for which
the hand of a thief must be amputated. Te lack of inuence
of prophetic authority on divorce law is even more striking, as
Muammad appears in a mere 3.3% of the reports on this topic
a close literary analysis of illustrative passage from all the major early juristic texts; Studies
in Early Muslim Jurisprudence (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), ix.
103)
Susan Spectorsky, Chapters on Marriage and Divorce: Responses of Ibn anbal and Ibn
Rhwayh (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993); idem, Amad ibn anbals Fiqh,
Journal of the American Oriental Society, 102, no. 3 (1982), 461-465; idem, adth in
the Responses of Isq b. Rhwayh, Islamic Law and Society, 8, no. 3 (2001), 407-431.
104)
Melchert, Traditionist-Jurisprudents.
105)
Ibn Ab Shayba lived in the heartlands of adth and thr transmission among many
scholars who studied with his teachers and would have registered some record of their
complaints of his transmissions with the adth-transmitter critics of his day had he been
forging materials wholesale. Even G.H.A. Juynboll appears optimistic about the authenticity
of the postprophetic reports in books like Ibn Ab Shaybas Muannaf. In one article, he
writes that these opinions, may in fact be historically ascribable to the 1
st
/7
th
century
personalities under whose names this category of transmitted material is preserved; see
Juynboll, Some Notes on Islams First Fuqah Distilled from early adt Literature,
Arabica, 39 (1992): 287-314, at 300.
and is cited in only four cases concerning the khul procedure. Finally,
many of the narrations of prophetic adths in the Muannaf have
defective isnds, a feature which might help explain the dramatic
growth of adth criticism from the time of Ibn Ab Shaybas teachers,
such as Wak, Ibn al-Mubrak, and Yay b. Sad al-Qan, to
his contemporaries, Ibn Sad, Ibn Man, Ibn al-Madn, and Ibn
anbal.
106
Tis paucity of legal prophetic adth is also visible in the trans-
mission proles of Ibn Ab Shaybas three most frequently cited
teachers. While it would be erroneous to assume that Ibn Ab Shayba
incorporated all of his teachers narrations in his Muannaf, at the
very least, we can acquire a sense of what they had to oer him.
As we shall see, each of these teachers transmitted a unique set of
primarily Companion and Successor reports.
Wak b. al-Jarrs 663 reports, which comprise 18% of the legal
content of the Muannaf, mention at least one opinion of over 60
early Muslim authorities. Wak cites the opinion of al-Shab 75
times, Ibrhm al-Nakha 61 times, and the Prophet Muammad
59 times. Al, Umar, al-asan al-Bar, and Ibn Masd appear
respectively on 45, 39, 31, and 30 occasions, while Ibn Umar and
A each make 28 appearances. Even the third caliph Uthmn is
cited a dozen times, something one might not expect from a pre-
eminent Kufan scholar like Wak.
Ibn Ab Shaybas narrations from af b. Ghiyth and Abd al-
Al are substantially dierent from both Waks prole and each
other. afs 181 reports contain 17-23 opinions apiece of Ibrhm
al-Nakha, al-Shab, al-asan al-Bar, Umar and Al, while 11%
of them are prophetic adths. By contrast, a slight majority of Abd
al-Als 174 narrations are just the opinions of al-Zuhr (48 reports)
and al-asan al-Bar (45 reports), and Ibn Ab Shayba transmits
only a single prophetic adth from him.
107
afs isnds are more
diverse than those of Abd al-Al, as the latter transmits nearly all
106)
For the rise and development of adth criticism, see Lucas, Constructive Critics, 113-
56.
107)
Qatda, Ibn al-Musayyab, and Ibn Srn also voice their opinions 12, 11, and 10 times,
respectively, in Abd al-Als narrations.
of his Zuhr reports from Mamar and his asan reports from Ynus
b. Ubayd (d. 139/756-7) and Hishm al-Dastaw (d. 153/770 or
154/771). Tis brief excursus into the transmission proles of three
of Ibn Ab Shaybas teachers suggests that each of the Companions
of adth oered him a unique array of Companion and Successor
reports and only occasionally provided him with prophetic a-
dths.
Analysis of the Muannaf of Ibn Ab Shayba reveals that the
Companions of adth relied very heavily on the teachings of most
of the same religious authorities as those whom the Companions
of ray valued. Four of the most-frequently cited men in the Muan-
nafal-asan al-Bar, Ibrhm al-Nakha, al-Shab and A
are also among the most frequently cited authorities in the early
legal treatises that Joseph Schacht analyzed in Te Origins of
Mu hamma dan Jurisprudence.
108
Te most important prophetic Com-
panions in the eyes of the Companions of adthUmar, Al,
Ibn Umar, Ibn Masd, and Ibn Abbsare also, according to
Schacht, the most important prophetic Companions for the Com-
panions of ray.
109
Even Ab anfas master teacher, ammd
b. Ab Sulaymn, appears regularly in the Muannaf of Ibn Ab
Shayba, occasionally even in narrations transmitted by Shuba b.
al-ajjj (d. 160/776), one of the most highly respected members
of the Companions of adth.
110
Regardless of ones opinion of
the authenticity of this vast corpus of reports, it is undeniable that
both the Companions of adth and the Companions of ray
tell essentially the same story about the origins of Muslim juris-
prudence, and that both parties rely upon the legal opinions of most
of the same early authorities.
108)
Schacht, Origins, 228-37 and 250-1. Ibn al-Musayyab and al-Zuhr are also common
to both parties; ibid., 243-6.
109)
Schacht, Origins, 25, 30-1, 249-50.
110)
Christopher Melchert reports al-Fasaws observation that Shuba said, al-akam was
greater as to hadith, while ammd was the more excellent of them as to ray, in his article
How anasm came to Originate in Kufa, 337. Shuba reports the opinions of ammd
on 45 occasions in the chapters of the Muannaf under review; for example, see Kitb al-
udd: Bbs 22, 36, 38, 43, 46, 56, 63, 67, 80, 82, 118, 140, 149. ammds personal
opinions appear 79 times (2%) in the portion of the Muannaf under consideration.
Where the Companions of adth, or at least Ibn Ab Shayba,
break with the Companions of ray is over the latter partys willing-
ness to speculate upon a constellation of matters untouched by the
Companions and Successors and to overturn their precedents. For
some unspecied reason, Ibn Ab Shayba refrains from relaying almost
any personal legal opinions, not only from Ab anfa, but also
from the adth-friendly Sufyn al-Tawr, al-Awz, and Mlik.
111

Tis openness to the opinions of early 2
nd
/8
th
century religious
authorities and boycott of the opinions of later jurists is a subtle
dierence between Ibn Ab Shayba and Abd al-Razzq, the latter
of whom includes numerous personal opinions of Sufyn al-Tawr
in his Muannaf.
112
We seem to have located a division within the
Companions of adth in the early Abbsid period between one
party, which relied almost exclusively upon the legal opinions of the
Prophet, Companions, and Successors, and another, which drew
upon the teachings of these same religious authorities, along with
the opinions of a handful of post-Successor jurists. Tis rened
understanding of the adth scholars helps explain why al-Bukhr,
like Ibn Ab Shayba, usually shuns the teachings of post-Successor
jurists in his a, in contrast to his pupil, al-Tirmidh, who includes
the opinions of al-Tawr, Mlik, al-Sh, the Kufans (i.e., Ab
anfa and his disciples), and even Ibn anbal and Ibn Rhawayh,
in his canonical Jmi.
More importantly, we can conclude from this investigation of the
Muannaf of Ibn Ab Shayba that the role or authority of prophetic
adths in Muslim jurisprudence was probably not a burning issue
for most religious scholars in early 3
rd
/9
th
century Iraq, for the simple
reason that the quantity (and quality) of legal adths was modest
and of limited utility relative to the magnicent volume of Com-
panion and Successor reports in circulation.
113
Rather, the real
111)
Only 10 of the 3628 narrations under consideration report Sufyn al-Tawrs personal
opinions; one of them mentions the opinion of Ab anfa, while none of them cite the
opinions of Mlik or al-Awz.
112)
Motzki found that approximately 19% of al-Tawrs contribution to the Muannaf
of Abd al-Razzq consisted of his personal opinions, which would equal 4% of the entire
Muannaf; Origins, 58-9.
113)
Te enormous Musnad of Ibn anbal, which contains about 27,600 reports, has been
debate was over the right of the post-Successor jurists to break new
ground and issue opinions on topics for which either no precedents
existed or which challenged the precedents set by the earliest genera-
tions of pious authorities. While the Companions of ray were
zealous champions of the earlier authorities and a few post-Successor
jurists, the 3
rd
/9
th
-century Companions of adth were split over
the authority of the post-Successor jurists.
Seen in this light, I propose that Ibn Ab Shayba is representative
of the strictest Companions of adth who addressed a wide array
of legal topics without any real input from post-Successor jurists,
while his contemporary, Ibn anbal, may have been the most suc-
cessful adth scholar to undergo adoption by factions from both
those Companions of adth who accepted him as a post-Successor
legal authority, along with a group of Companions of ray who
admired his opinions. Al-Sh (along with Ab anfa at a much
later date) was the greatest jurist to become a hero for another
segment of the Companions of adth who accepted his personal
opinions and decided not to join the emerging anbal or Mlik
schools.
114
Finally, Mlik (or perhaps Sufyn al-Tawr or al-Awz)
used as evidence that Iraq was awash in adths in the early 3
rd
/9
th
century; see, for example,
G.H.A. Juynboll, Muslim Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 24-
30. However, this enormous number of reports is seriously misleading with respect to legal
adths, since the Musnad is highly repetitive, contains many defective narrations, and,
according to Christopher Melchert, nearly half of its content is irrelevant to Muslim
jurisprudence; see Christopher Melchert, Te Musnad of Amad ibn anbal: How it
Was Composed and What Distinguishes It from the Six Books, Der Islam, 82 (2005):
32-51, at 45. A more accurate picture of the scale of legal adths comes from Ab Dwd
al-Sijistn, who claims that he could not nd more than 4800 reports (including those
concerning ritual practices and possibly matn repetitions) in his quest throughout the
Muslim lands for this material; Rislat Ab Dwd il ahl Makka f waf Sunanih, ed.
Muammad al-abbgh (Dr al-Arabiyya, 1975?), 32. An even more suggestive statistic
is that there are only 2161 adths in al-Rs (d. 623/1226) large commentary on al-
Ghazls al-Wajz; see Ibn ajar, Talkh al-abr f takhrj adth al-R al-kabr, ed.
dil Abd al-Mawjd and Al Muawwa, 4 vols. (Beirut: Dr al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1998).
Ibn ajars own collection of legal adths, Bulgh al-marm min adillat al-akm, contains
only 1235 adths in its legal chapters; Bulgh al-marm: Attainment of the Objective
according to Evidence of the Ordinances, 2
nd
edition (Riyadh: Darussalam, 2002).
114)
It took even longer for adth scholars to accept his adths, very few of which are
found in the great collections of the 3
rd
/9
th
century.
appears to be the rst major post-Successor jurist to have had
something to oer absolutely everyone: prophetic, Companion, and
Successor reports for the Companions of adth and the Com-
panions of ray; and a wide array of personal opinions that inspired
a core of loyal supporters among the Companions of ray to found
the law school bearing his name.
115

Over the course of the 4
th
/10
th
century, many, if not most, of the
Companions of adth assimilated to one of the crystallizing Sunni
legal schools. Christopher Melchert has oered some compelling
reasons as to why purely traditionalist jurisprudence failed to sustain
itself, ranging from the adth scholars reluctance to identify authori-
tative teachers of jurisprudence, to the impractical number of adths
one had to memorize to qualify as a jurist of this per suasion.
116
I
agree with Melchert that the Companions of adth suered from
a theoretical weakness, but I do not think it was the irresistible
elegance of Shs logic that subdued them. Te strict Companions
of adth, such as Ibn Ab Shayba and, to a lesser degree Ibn
anbal, were committed to the principles of juristic disagreement
(ikhtilf) and the essentially equal juridical authority of the Prophet,
Companions and Successors. It was inconceivable for them to sub-
scribe to the theoretical construct of a post-Successor absolute
mujtahid that Wael Hallaq has shown was a crucial feature of the
surviving doctrinal schools.
117
In contrast to this rst party, the
more adventuresome Companions of adth, like al-Tirmidh or
al-abar, were committed to the principle of juristic disagreement
yet also recognized the legal authority of the same post-Successor
jurists as those whom the Companions of ray admired. It was
perhaps inevitable for members of this latter group of adth scholars
to favor one of the famous post-Successor jurists over another, and
115)
It is a touch ironic that the Mlik school, founded by a few distinguished Companions
of ray in Egypt and Qayrawn, later cultivated one of the greatest adth scholars in
Islamic history, Ibn Abd al-Barr, who, as we have seen above, played a vital role in preserving
the very same Muannaf of Ibn Ab Shayba that the strictest Companions of adth had
failed to safeguard.
116)
Melchert, Formation, 22-7.
117)
Hallaq, Origins and Evolution, 157-64; also, idem, Authority, Continuity, Change in
Islamic Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 24-56.
many of the more prolic adth scholars developed a staunch loyalty
to al-Shs personality and jurisprudence.
118
Ibn Ab atim, Ibn
Khuzayma, Ab al-Abbs al-Aamm, Ibn Ad, al-Draqun, and
al-kim al-Naysbr, among others, all contributed in their own
ways to magnifying al-Shs reputation among Companions of
adth over what Jonathan Brown has dubbed the long 4
th
/10
th
-
century.
119
Further examina tion of the largely unexplored corpus
of 4
th
/10
th
century adth collections should yield valuable insights
into how and why so many gifted members of the Companions
of adth joined the Sh madhhab and why both Ibn Ab Shaybas
methodology and Muannaf failed to capture their imagination.
118)
Ahmed El Shamsy has recently argued that al-Buways Mukhtaar played a signicant
role in this process; see Te First Sh: Te Traditionalist Legal Tought of Ab Yaqb
al-Buway (d. 231/846), Islamic Law and Society, 14, no. 3 (2007): 301-41.
119)
Jonathan Brown has demonstrated the close link between adth scholars involved in
the canonization process of the aayn and the emerging Sh school from the late
3
rd
/9
th
century until the mid-5
th
/11
th
century in Nishapur, Jurjn, Baghdad, Central Asia,
and Isfahan; see chapter 4 of his monograph, Te Canonization of al-Bukhr and Muslim
(Leiden: Brill, 2007).

LUCAS - Legal Hadith

Enviado por

Dados do documento

Descrição original:

Título original

Direitos autorais

Formatos disponíveis

Compartilhar este documento

Compartilhar ou incorporar documento

Opções de compartilhamento

Você considera este documento útil?

Este conteúdo é inapropriado?

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

LUCAS - Legal Hadith

Enviado por

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008 DOI: 10.

Você também pode gostar