school and its founder was by no me

school and its founder was by no means limited to the Shafi ites. It
is not uncommon, for instance, to find Hanbalite opinions that have
been derived through takhrij from exclusively Hanafite, Malikite and/or
other sources.21 But if the activity of takhrij routinely involved dipping
into the doctrinal reservoir of other schools, the Shafi ites could
be considered the prime innovators, for, as Tufi testifies, they were
particularly given to this activity.22
But the Hanafites were not far behind. In the hierarchical taxonomy
of Hanafite law, there exist three levels of doctrine, each
level consisting of one or more categories. The highest level of authoritative
doctrine, known as zahir al-riwayah or masa il al-usul, is found
in the works of the three early masters, Abu Hanifah, Abu Yusuf
and Shaybani.23 What gives these works the authority they enjoy is


326 WAEL B. HALLAQ
the perception that they were transmitted through a large number
of channels by trustworthy and highly qualified jurists. A marginal
number of cases belonging to this category of doctrine are attributed
to Zufar and al-Hasan b. Ziyad. The second level is termed
masa'il al-nawadir, a body of doctrine also attributed to the three masters
but without the sanctioning authority either of highly qualified
transmitters or a large number of channels of transmission.24 The
third level consists of what is termed waqiat or nawazil, cases that
were not addressed by the early masters and that were solved by
later jurists. These cases were new and the jurists who were "asked
about them" and who provided solutions for them "were many".25
Of particular significance here is the fact that the great majority of
these cases were solved by means of takhnj.26 Among the names associated
with this category of Hanafite doctrine are lsam b. Yusuf (d.
210/825), Ibrahim Ibn Rustam (d. 211/826), Muhammad b. Sama ah
(d. 233/848), Abu Sulayman al-Juzajani (d. after 200/815), Ahmad
Abu Hafs al-Bukhan al-Kabir (d. 217/832), Muhammad b. Salamah
(d. 278/891), Muhammad b. Muqatil (d. 248/862 ?), Nasir b. Yahya
(d. 268/881), and al-Qasim b. Sallam (d. 223/837).27
That takhnj was extensively practised over the course of several
centuries is a fact confirmed by the activities and writings of jurists
who flourished as late as the seventh/thirteenth century.28 Although
the activity itself was known as takhnj, its practitioners in the
Shafi ite school became known as ashab al-wujuh.29 In the Hanafite,


TAKHRIJ AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF JURISTIC AUTHORITY 327
Malikite and Hanbalite schools, however, the designation ashab altakhrij
persisted, as attested in the terminological usages of biographical
dictionaries and law manuals. In addition to the names we have
already mentioned, the following is a list of jurists who are described
in these dictionaries as having seriously engaged in takhrij:
1. The Shafi ite Ibrahim al-Muzani, whose takhnj was so extensive
that the later Shafi ite jurists distinguished between those of his
opinions that conformed to the school's hermeneutic (and were thus
accepted as an important part of the school's doctrine), and those
which were not.30 These latter, however, were still significant enough
to be considered by some jurists sufficient, on their own, to form
the basis of an independent madhhab?31
2. Ali Ibn al-Husayn Ibn Harbawayh (d. 319/931), claimed by
the Shafi ites, but a student of Abu Thawr and Dawud Ibn Khalaf
al-Zahiri.32
3. Muhammad b. al-Mufaddal Abu al-Tayyib al-Dabbl (d. 308/920),
a student of Ibn Surayj and a distinguished Shafi ite.33
4. Abu Sa id al-Istakhri (d. 328/939), a major jurist of ashdb alwujuh.
34
5. Zakariya b. Ahmad Abu Yahya al-Balkhi (d. 330/941), "one
of the distinguished Shafi ites and of the ashab al-wujuh".35
6. The Hanbalite Umar b. al-Husayn al-Khiraqi (d. 334/945),
who engaged extensively in takhrij but whose writings containing his
most creative reasoning were destroyed when his house was reportedly
consumed by fire.36 His Mukhtasar, however, which survived him
long enough to have an influence, contained many cases of his takhrij
which he nonetheless attributed to Ibn Hanbal.37


328 WAEL B. HALLAQ
7. The Shafi ite Ali b. Husayn Abu al-Hasan al-Juri (d. ca.
330/941), considered one of the ashab al-wujuh.38
8. Zahir al-Sarakhsi (d. 389/998), a major Shafi itejurist. Yet,
despite being one of the ashab wujuh., little of his doctrine, according
to Nawawi, was transmitted.39
9. The Hanafite Muhammad b. Yahya b. Mahdi Abu Abd Allah
al-Jurjani (d. 398/1007), the teacher of Quduri and Natifi, who was
deemed one of the ashab al-takhrij.40
10. Abd Allah b. Muhammad al-Khawarizmi (d. 398/1007), one
of the ashab al-wujuh and considered a leading jurist of the Shafi ite
school.41
11. Yusuf b. Ahmad Ibn Kajj (d. 405/1014), a prominent Shafi ite
jurist who is considered one of the most exacting of the ashab alwujuh
(min ashab al-wujuh al-mutqinin).42
12. Abd al-Rahman Muhammad al-Furani Abu al-Qasim al-
Marwazi (d. 461 /1068), who is described as having articulated "good
wujuh" in the Shafi ite madhhab (wa-lahu wujuh jayyidah fi al-madhhab}.43
13. al-Qadl Husayn b. Muhammad al-Marwazi (d. 462/1069), a
major figure in the Shafi ite school and one of ashab al-wujuh.44
14. Abd al-Rahman Ibn Battah al-Fayrazan (d. 470/1077), a
Hanbalite jurist who is said to have engaged in takhrij in a variety
of ways (kharraja al-takhanj).45
15. Abu Nasr Muhammad Ibn al-Sabbagh (d. 477/1084), considered
by some as an absolute mujtahid and a towering figure of
ashab al-wujuh in the Shafi ite school.46
16. The Malikite Abu Tahir b. Bashir al-Tanukhi (d. after 526/1131),
whose takhrij was said by Ibn Daqiq al- ld to be methodologically
deficient.47


TAKHRIJ AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF JURISTIC AUTHORITY 329
17. The famous Hanafite jurist and author Burhan al-Din al-
Marghfnanf (d. 593/1196), the author of the widely known al-Hidayah
and one of the ashab al-takhrij.48
The biographical works took special notice not only of those who
engaged in takhrij, but also of those who specialized in or made it
their concern to study and transmit the doctrines and legal opinions
derived through this particular juristic activity. We thus find that
Ahmad b. Alf al-Arani (d. 643/1245), a distinguished Shafi ite,
excelled in the transmission of the wujuh that had been elaborated
in his school.49 Similarly, the biographers describe the Shafi ite Uthman
b. Abd al-Rahman al-Nasri (d. 643/1245) as having had penetrating
knowledge (basiran) of the doctrines elaborated through takhrij?50
Tuft's remark that the Shafi ites engaged in takhrij more than did
the other schools is confirmed by our general survey of biographical
works. In Ibn Qadi Shuhbah's Tabaqat, for instance, there appear
some two dozen major jurists who engaged in this activity, only a
few of whom we have listed above.51 Our survey of the biographical
dictionaries of the four schools also shows that the Shafi ites and
Hanbalites could each boast a larger number of jurists who engaged
in this activity than the other two schools combined.52 On the other
hand, of all four schools, the Malikites are said to have engaged in
this activity the least.53
The Shafi ite involvement in takhrij seems to have reached its zenith
in the fourth/tenth and fifth/eleventh centuries, the last jurists associated
with it, according to Ibn Abi al-Damm, having been Mahamili