Al-Shāfiī against the Kufan School

Abstract

One of the short works of al-Shāfiī (d. 204/820) is Ikhtilāf Alī wa-Abd Allāh ibn Masūd ("the disagreements of Alī and Abd Allāh ibn Masūd"). It comprises first quotations of the Companions Alī and Ibn Masūd advocating rules that the Kufans reject, secondly counter-reports supporting the rules that al-Shāfiī advocates. It seems to be one of the earliest of al-Shāfiī's works. It argues mainly by authority against an undifferentiated Kufan school. It testifies to a time when regional schools were predominant and legal reasoning primitive, also when divisions within Kufa, especially between adherents of ray and hadith, were less important than they seemed later. Its argument tends to imply that al-Shāfiī's doctrine is better than the Kufans' because it is eclectically based on the learning of all centers, suggesting that loyalty to a regional tradition was becoming an embarrassment.