ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST TRADITIONS 55

dilemma to Rabi'a, mentioning that Ibn Abi Dhi'b was reliable, Rabī'a replied: 'You have used your discretion (ijtihād) and your judgment is given for good'; but Sa'd said: 'Am I to execute my judgment and reverse the judgment of the Prophet? I will rather reverse my judgment and execute the judgment of the Prophet'; he called for the written document, tore it up, and gave judgment to the contrary.

(b) Shafi'i-Abū Hanifa b. Simak Shihabi-Ibn Abi Dhi'b-Maqburi-Abū Shuraih Ka'bi—the Prophet in the year of the conquest of Mecca declared that the avenger of a murdered man can choose between weregeld and retaliation; Abū Hanifa Shihabi asked Ibn Abi Dhi'b: 'Do you accept this?' Thereupon Ibn Abi Dhi'b 'pushed my breast, shouted loudly, abused me and said: "I relate to you a tradition from the Prophet and you ask whether I accept it! Yes, I accept it, and this is my duty and the duty of whosoever hears it; Allah has chosen Muhammad from all mankind and guided mankind through him and by him, and has decreed for it what he decreed for him and through him; men have only to follow him with good or bad grace, and no Muslim can escape from that." And he did not cease until I implored him to be silent.' This Ibn Abi Dhi'b is a prominent traditionist. It is obvious that Shafi'i has taken over the traditionists' argument.

The blame which Ibn Abi Dhi'b and Shafi'i attached to those who did not subordinate their legal doctrine to traditions from the Prophet was projected back into the early period. For example, a tradition informs us that Mu'awiya concluded a certain contract, and that Abul-Darda' informed him that the Prophet had forbidden this kind of contract. Mu'awiya replied that he considered his transaction unexceptionable, but Abul-Darda' said: 'I give him information from the Prophet, and he informs me of what he thinks (ra'y); I will not live together with you in the same country.' Abul-Darda' then informed 'Umar, and 'Umar forbade Mu'awiya to conclude this kind of contract.¹ A similar story on the same contract about Mu'āwiya and 'Ubāda b. Șamit is reported in the classical collections of traditions.²

Information coming from the Prophet is opposed to informa-