The Epistle on Legal Theory

Another Instance of Legal Disagreement

١٩٩ 199 Another Instance of Legal Disagreement Al-Shāfiʿī said: Someone said to me: “There is a legal disagreement over the wording of the prayer-formula.270 Ibn Masʿūd narrated from the Prophet that he used to teach people the prayer-formula, just the way he would teach them suras from the Qurʾan. He would say, ‘It begins with three words: “Salutations to God.”’ Which version of the prayer-formula have you adopted?” I said: Mālik reported to us from Ibn Shihāb, from ʿUrwah, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd al-Qārī, that he heard ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb say while on the pulpit, teaching people the prayer-formula: “Say ‘Salutations, pious works, good words, and prayers, all to God. Peace be upon you O Prophet, and God’s mercy and blessings. Peace be upon us and upon God’s pious servants . I testify that there is no god but God, and I testify that Muḥammad is His servant and His Emissary.’” Al-Shāfiʿī said: That is what those jurists who preceded us in religious knowledge taught us when we were young. Then we learned it with the chain of transmitters, but we also learned something that differed from it, and we know of no more authentic chain of transmitters for the prayer-formula than that—whether differing from it or conforming to it—even though others might be confirmed as equally authentic. The conclusion we reached is that ʿUmar would not have taught it to people, while on the pulpit, before the Companions of God’s Emissary, unless it accorded with what the Prophet had taught them. But when a hadith-report from one of our colleagues reached us that confirmed this in a form that came from the Prophet, we adopted that and found it preferable. “What is it?” he asked. I replied: A trustworthy person—namely, Yaḥyā ibn Ḥassān—reported to us from al-Layth ibn Saʿd, from Abū Zubayr al-Makkī, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and Ṭāwūs, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: “God’s Emissary used to teach us the prayer-formula, just as he taught us the Qurʾan. He would say, ‘Salutations , blessings, prayers, and good words, all to God. Peace be upon you O Prophet; and God’s mercy and His blessings and peace upon us and upon God’s pious servants. I testify that there is no god but God and that Muḥammad is His Emissary.’” 325 326 327 328 ٢٠٠ 200  0   23 4
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