22 TRADITIONS IN THE ANCIENT SCHOOLS OF LAW

the unifying idea behind this seeming inconsistency in Chapter 7; for the moment, we are concerned with the actual treatment of traditions from the Prophet and others in the ancient schools.

The first striking fact is that the traditions from the Prophet are greatly outnumbered by those from Companions and Successors. As regards the Medinese, Malik's Muwatta' contains, according to one of the lists quoted by Zurqāni (i. 8), 822 traditions from the Prophet as against 898 from others, that is, 613 from Companions and 285 from Successors. The edition of the Muwatta' by Shaibani contains, according to the Commentary (pp. 36 ff.), 429 traditions from the Prophet as against 750 from others, that is, 628 from Companions, 112 from Successors, and 10 from later authorities. In Tr. III, where Shafi'i discusses the points on which the Egyptian Medinese diverge from traditions transmitted by themselves, §§ 1-61 deal with traditions from the Prophet, §§ 63-147 with traditions from others, mostly from Companions (§§ 101 and 105-8 deal with traditions from Successors and later authorities). As regards the Iraqians, the references of Ibn Abi Laila, Abu Hanifa, and Abu Yusuf to the Prophet in Tr. I, where Shafi'i discusses the inter-Iraqian differences of doctrine, are much less numerous than those to Companions and Successors. The Kitab al-Athar of Abu Yusuf contains 189 traditions from the Prophet, 372 from Companions, 549 from Successors. In the (incomplete) Kitab al-Athar of Shaibani we find 131 traditions from the Prophet, 284 from Companions, 550 from Successors, and 6 from later authorities. Only the Syrian Auza'i, in the fragments which are preserved in Tr. IX and in Tabari, refers to the Prophet much more frequently than to Companions, but mostly in general terms and without a proper isnad; also the subject-matter sets these historical traditions apart from the legal traditions proper.

A. THE MEDINESE

Malik enjoins that traditions be followed (Tabari, 81); the details of his doctrine show that he harmonizes an old-established tradition from the Caliph Abu Bakr with historical traditions from the Prophet (Mud. iii. 7 f.). The Egyptian Medinese 'reproach others immoderately with diverging from traditions from the Prophet, blame them for rejecting them or interpreting them arbitrarily', but, Shafi'i adds, they do the