Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā

Muḥammad ibn Naṣr ibn Sulaymān al-Harawī related to us. He said: Mūsā ibn Naṣr related to us. He said: I heard al-Ḥasan al-Laʾʾāl say: I heard Abū Yūsuf say: Abū Ḥanīfa and Ibn Abī Laylā met in a place. Abū Ḥanīfa discussed a question with him and pressed him. Ibn Abī Laylā said: ‘I do not retract a view I have stated.’ Abū Ḥanīfa said: ‘Even if its error becomes clear?’ He said: ‘If its error becomes clear, I do not hold it.’ Abū Ḥanīfa, may God be pleased with him, said: ‘I have shown the error in your view, so retract it and adopt what is correct.’ He said: ‘Let me consider it.’ Abū Ḥanīfa said: ‘You may not do that.’ He said: ‘You know better.’

Muḥammad ibn Naṣr related to us. He said: Mūsā ibn Naṣr related to us. He said: I heard al-Ḥasan say: I heard Abū Yūsuf say: Ibn Abī Laylā was wary of Abū Ḥanīfa on legal questions. Al-Ḥasan said: I also heard Abū Yūsuf say: One day I witnessed Abū Ḥanīfa discussing a question of divorce with Ibn Abī Laylā. Ibn Abī Laylā held that if a man said, ‘Every woman I marry is divorced,’ she would not be divorced when he married her. If he specified a woman, or mentioned a tribe or a town, she would be divorced if he married her. Abū Ḥanīfa made statements that left him bewildered, and Ibn Abī Laylā fell silent.

Aḥmad ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ related to us. He said: Mūsā ibn Ḥizām related to us. He said: Khalaf ibn Ayyūb related to us. He said: I heard Abū Yūsuf say: I used to attend Ibn Abī Laylā, and I held a place in his esteem. When a legal question or judgment puzzled him, he sought its answer from Abū Ḥanīfa’s direction. I wanted to attend Abū Ḥanīfa, but embarrassment before him held me back. Something arose between us that made me burdensome to him. I seized the opportunity, stopped attending him, and began visiting Abū Ḥanīfa and keeping close to him.

ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥulwānī related to us. He said: Aḥmad ibn Ṭarīf ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Hāshimī related to us. He said: I heard ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd say: I heard Abū Yūsuf say: At first I used to attend Ibn Abī Laylā. He treated me coldly, so I stopped visiting him and began attending Abū Ḥanīfa. Ibn Abī Laylā met me and said: ‘Yaʿqūb! How is your companion?’ I said: ‘Good.’ He said: ‘Keep close to him. You have never seen his like in jurisprudence and knowledge.’

ʿAmr ibn ʿĀṣim al-Marwazī related to us. He said: ʿAlī ibn Khashram related to us. He said: I heard al-Mushrif ibn ʿAbd Allāh say: I heard Abū Yūsuf say: I was a companion of Ibn Abī Laylā and used to attend him. Ibn Abī Laylā married off his daughter. They brought sugar and scattered it, and I snatched some. Ibn Abī Laylā looked at me and said: ‘Stop! Snatching is disapproved of.’ I said: ‘Snatching was disapproved of in armies; at weddings there is no harm.’ His attitude toward me changed, and I moved to Abū Ḥanīfa.

Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Mūsā ibn Sallām related to us. He said: Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Sallām related to us. He said: My father informed us. He said: I heard Abū Muʿāwiya say: Our shaykhs used to give legal opinions with fear. When their opinion agreed with Abū Ḥanīfa’s, they rejoiced. I asked him: ‘Who were they?’ He said: ‘Among them was Ibn Abī Laylā.’

ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Saʿd al-Bazzāz al-Hamdānī related to us. He said: Aḥmad ibn Budayl al-Kūfī related to us. He said: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us. He said: Ibn Abī Laylā envied Abū Ḥanīfa and was not one of his men.

Muḥammad ibn Sahl al-Marwazī related to us. He said: Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm related to me. He said: ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā related to us. He said: Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, the teacher—who was imam of Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan’s mosque—informed us. He said: There was a woman who had lost her reason and had a nickname. When called by it, she would curse. A man called her by it, and she accused his parents of illicit intercourse, while both were alive. She was brought before Ibn Abī Laylā, who imposed two prescribed punishments in one sitting, flogged her in the mosque, and imposed both punishments while she was standing. This reached Abū Ḥanīfa, may God have mercy on him. He said: ‘He erred in several respects. He imposed two punishments for the man’s parents, although they were alive and were the parties entitled to complain; this man was not such a party. He imposed two punishments in one place, though two punishments are not combined [until one has abated]. He imposed two punishments, although someone who accuses many people is subject to only one prescribed punishment. He punished her standing, although a woman is not subjected to a prescribed punishment standing. He punished her although she had lost her reason, and such a woman is not punished, for the pen is lifted from her. He stretched her out, although a woman is not stretched out. He flogged her in the mosque, although prescribed punishments are not carried out in the mosque.’ ʿAlī said: Bishr ibn Yaḥyā informed me of the final point.

The bracketed qualification [حتى يخف أحدهما] is retained in its brief form; no additional procedural condition has been supplied.

Muḥammad ibn Sahl related to us. He said: Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Tawba al-Hamdānī related to me. He said: I heard Layth ibn Naṣr say: When Abū Ḥanīfa was pressed to accept judicial office and refused, he was beaten, brought out of the palace, and paraded around. Ibn Shubruma saw him and said: ‘What harm would it have done this poor man to accept?’ Ibn Abī Laylā said to him: ‘He is a poor man in your eyes and mine, but tomorrow he will be better than you and me.’

Qays ibn Abī Qays related to us. He said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Rizma related to us, from his father, who said: al-Naḍr ibn Muḥammad said: A man came to Ibn Abī Laylā and said: ‘Abū Ḥanīfa has used so-and-so’s money and given it to his son to trade with.’ He sent a messenger to summon him and mentioned the matter. He said: ‘It is not as they say. The money is with me under its original seal.’ He said: ‘I consider you more truthful; the matter is as you say.’ Abū Ḥanīfa, may God be pleased with him, said: ‘No, you must send a messenger with me to inspect it, or take possession of it yourself.’ Ibn Abī Laylā said: ‘I will not.’ He said: ‘It must be done.’ Ibn Abī Laylā sent a messenger with him. Abū Ḥanīfa searched among the deposits until he found that deposit, still sealed as before. The messenger returned to Ibn Abī Laylā and said: ‘I saw the very deposit, sealed. He has so much money and so many deposits that he has no need of this one.’

Muḥammad ibn al-Layth ibn Saʿīd, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Sarakhsī, imam of the congregational mosque, related to us. He said: Muḥammad ibn al-Muhallab al-Sarakhsī related to us. He said: Mughīth ibn Budayl related to us. He said: Khārija related to us. He said: Abū Jaʿfar, Commander of the Believers, summoned Abū Ḥanīfa. He was brought before him while Ibn Shubruma and Ibn Abī Laylā were present. Ibn Abī Laylā [was] judge of Kufa, and Ibn Shubruma judge of Baghdad. Abū Jaʿfar asked: ‘Abū Ḥanīfa! What is your view of the Khārijites when they take Muslim lives and property?’ He said: ‘Ask these two who are with you.’ He said: ‘I have.’ He said: ‘What did they say?’ He said: ‘One said they are held accountable for all of it; the other said they are held accountable for none of it.’ Abū Ḥanīfa, may God have mercy on him, said: ‘Both erred.’ He said: ‘That is why I summoned you. How is it, Abū Ḥanīfa?’ Abū Ḥanīfa, may God have mercy on him, said: ‘What the Khārijites did while Muslim rulings did not apply to them is waived, even if you do not waive it. What they did while Muslim rulings applied to them, they are held accountable for.’ The other scholars present said: ‘The correct view is what Abū Ḥanīfa said, may God have mercy on him.’

Muḥammad ibn Sahl al-Marwazī related to us. He said: Muḥammad ibn Hāniʾ related to us. He said: ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā related to us. He said: Yaḥyā ibn Naṣr ibn Ḥājib related to us. He said: Ibn Hubayra wanted to write a document between himself and the Khārijites resembling a truce, or a peace agreement. He told Ibn Abī Laylā and Ibn Shubruma: ‘Write it.’ They asked him for a month’s delay and wrote it, but Ibn Hubayra was not satisfied. He was told: ‘In Kufa there is a man skilled in examining such matters.’ He summoned him. When he arrived, he gave him the document Ibn Shubruma and Ibn Abī Laylā had written, with people present. Abū Ḥanīfa, may God have mercy on him, read it and said: ‘It is all mistaken except the names of God Most High mentioned in it.’ Ibn Hubayra said: ‘Will you write it?’ He said: ‘Yes, if you wish.’ He said: ‘I do wish it.’ He said: ‘When do you want me to write it?’ Ibn Hubayra said: ‘Now.’ Abū Ḥanīfa said: ‘Call a scribe.’ He called one, and Abū Ḥanīfa dictated a good document that satisfied those present. That was the first day on which Abū Ḥanīfa was preferred over Ibn Abī Laylā and Ibn Shubruma.