ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST TRADITIONS 45

mitter, and the existence of another tradition to the contrary. Our thesis is that what is possible with one tradition is possible with all of them'—in other words, that the recognized traditions are no more reliable than the rejected ones. Shāfi'ī justifies his attitude by the parallel of a judge who will accept the evidence of a witness whom he knows to be reliable, will reject that of one whose character has been challenged, and will reserve his judgment on the evidence of a third whose status he does not know. Shāfi'ī denies his opponents the right of rejecting traditions to which no direct objection can be made. The same argument recurs in Ibn Qutaiba, 10 f., in the mouth of the ahl al-kalām.

Criticism of traditions on material grounds, which is not unknown even to Shāfi'ī,¹ is pushed to the extreme by the ahl al-kalām. They point out that many traditions are contrary to reason (nazar) and observation ('iyān), absurd and ridiculous.² It is worth noticing that this kind of reasoning which occurs continuously in Ibn Qutaiba, is not discussed by Shāfi'ī.³

An argument frequently used by the adversaries of traditions from the Prophet, is that they contradict the Koran which ought to be the main object of study in preference to traditions, and the standard by which traditions are accepted or rejected. Shāfi'ī calls this 'rejecting the traditions by comparing them with the Koran' (Tr. IX, 5). This reasoning is put into the mouth of Companions such as 'A'isha, 'Ali, Ibn 'Abbas, 'Umar, and even, illogically enough, of the Prophet himself. In Ris. 32, the opponent refers to a tradition which makes the Prophet say: 'Compare what is related on my authority, with the Koran; if it agrees with it, I have said it, and if it does not agree, I have not said it.'⁴ Shāfi'ī, however, does not consider this tradition well authenticated. Another tradition to the same effect makes the Prophet say: 'People ought not to shelter behind my authority (lā yamsikan al-nās 'alayia bi-shai'); I allow only what Allah allows, and forbid only what Allah forbids.'⁵ Shāfi'ī