32. TRADITIONS IN THE ANCIENT SCHOOLS OF LAW

Beside 'Ali and Ibn Mas'ud stands 'Umar as an Iraqian authority, and this triad was still known to Khwarizmi who says (ii. 41): 'Abū Hanifa learned law from Hammad, Hammad from Ibrahim Nakha'i, Ibrahim from the Companions of Ibn Mas'ud, and they in their turn from the specialists on law among the Companions of the Prophet, Ibn Mas'ud, 'Ali, and 'Umar.'

'Ali as an authority of the Iraqians is opposed to 'Umar as an authority of the Medinese in Tr. iii, 87. Ibn Mas'ud is the authority of the Kufians, as opposed to the Basrians (Ikh. 62), and he is still known as such to Maqrizi (ii. 332). There are traditions opposing his opinion to that of 'Umar, or showing 'Umar as asking for his decision and agreeing with him, and his personal authority is claimed for the doctrine of the school which goes under his name. We have seen that the opinion of Ibn Mas'ud was supposed to coincide with the decision of the Prophet; but this is only a justification ex post facto, and the two of Abu Yusuf and Shaibani, which give the traditional basis of the Iraqian doctrine, contain hardly any traditions through Ibn Mas'ud from the Prophet. As to 'Umar as an Iraqian authority, Shafi'i states that Abū Hanifa often follows 'Umar (by taqlid) and makes him his only authority (Tr. I, 184). The few cases where Ibn 'Umar appears as an Iraqian authority seem all copied from the Medinese model.

Traditions from Successors are often adduced by the Iraqians on the same level as traditions from Companions, and even more frequently by themselves alone. In the time of Shaibani and Shafi'i, however, it was recognized that the opinions of Successors as such were not authoritative; this theoretical position contrasts strangely with the extensive use that had been, and still was being, made of them. In Tr. VIII, 13, the Iraqian opponent calls Sa'id b. Jubair 'a certain Successor whose opinion carries no weight'; in § 6 Shaibani objects to Shafi'i (who in this early treatise still uses the old-fashioned argument from authorities other than the Prophet) that the opinions of Ibn Musaiyib, Hasan Basri, and Ibrahim Nakha'i are not authoritative; Shafi'i replies that Shaibani himself sometimes falls into error by following their opinions, and in § 15 he says: 'If Shaibani's argument is that Ibrahim Nakha'i has said so, then he says himself that Ibrahim and other Successors are no authority.'

But the main authority for the Kufian Iraqian doctrine is this