Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad

The 
fatwas
of the Companions and 
Tabi‘un
and the practice of the people of 
Madina 
 
 
Both the people of 
hadith
and the people of opinion were inclined to accept the 
fatwas
of the Companions, 
because following is better than innovating and because the Companions had been present with the Prophet 
and so their position was more likely to be correct. They are the Imams who are followed. Most of the 
fuqaha’
preferred their opinions. It is reported that Abu Hanifa used to say, “When I do not find a ruling in the Book 
of Allah or the 
Sunna
of the Messenger of Allah then I can take the statement of his Companions if I wish and 
leave those of other people. But I do not disregard their words for the words of anyone else. But when it is a 
question of Ibrahim an-Nakha‘i, ash-Sha‘bi, al-Hasan, Ibn Sirin, or Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyab, then I can exercise 

---

ijtihad
in the same way that they did.” Since this was the position of Abu Hanifa, the Imam of the people of 
Iraq, on the opinions and positions of the Companions, others must have been still more inclined to accept 
their 
fatwas
and what is reported from them. 
Many 
fatwas
of the Companions were transmitted at that time. The minds of the 
fuqaha’
were focused on 
these 
fatwas
and they used them as a model when exercising their 
ijtihad
. They followed the same path as the 
Companions, respected their opinions and relied on them when there was nothing in the Book or 
Sunna
. When 
the Companions agreed on an opinion, the 
mujtahids
after them were obliged to accept it. If one of them 
stated an opinion not known to be opposed, the majority of the 
fuqaha’
accepted it. If there was a 
disagreement between them, many of the 
mujtahids
chose from their opinions that which agreed with their 
own inclination, and they did not leave the framework of those opinions for any others.
The 
fuqaha’
in the time of the 
Tabi‘un
and 
mujtahids
acted in the same way, even if they did not consider 
those 
fatwas
to be an independent principle or a legal rule in the 
Deen
. Perhaps they did so because they saw 
that the Companions had witnessed the descent of Revelation of the Qur’an to the Messenger and must have 
derived their opinions from their knowledge of the actions of the Messenger of Allah, and no one is permitted 
to exercise 
ijtihad
about a matter ascribed to the Messenger. So they did not consider the Companions’ 
opinion to be mere legal 
ijtihad
: it was closer to the 
Sunna
than to 
ijtihad
. The Companions are followed 
because they were the first teachers who spread Islamic 
fiqh
in all directions. They were stars shining with the 
primal light of Islam. 
In this period, Abu Hanifa studied with the shaykhs of opinion and some of the people of tradition. He 
preferred them and put them ahead of his own opinion. Ash-Shafi‘i reported that he used to say about their 
opinions, “Their opinions are better for us than our opinion for ourselves.” We read in
 I‘lam al-Muwaqqi‘in
, 
“Ash-Shafi‘i said in the first version of the 
Risala
, ‘They are above us in every science, 
ijtihad
, 
scrupulousness and intellect.’”