the hadith, and a devout, upright worshipper who does not keep in memory what he relates.

Asbagh said: Ibn Wahb narrated to us from Malik—who was asked about offering prayer behind the innovators among the Qadariyyah and others—and he replied, “In my view one should not pray behind them.”

He was asked, “What about the Friday prayer?”

He answered, “Friday is an obligation, and a man may have something ascribed to him that is not actually true of him.”

It was said to him, “Suppose I am certain of it, or someone I trust informs me—then should I not pray Friday behind him?”

He said, “If you are certain.”

It is as though he were saying: if one is not certain of that, he has room to pray behind him.

Abu Yusuf Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Saydalani said: I heard Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Shaybani say:

“I was with Malik when he looked at his companions and said, ‘Consider the people of the East; treat them, when they narrate to you, as you would the People of the Scripture: neither confirm them nor reject them.’

“Then he turned, saw me, and seemed embarrassed. He said, ‘O Abu ʿAbd Allah, I would hate for this to be backbiting. This is simply what I found our predecessors saying.’”

I say: The Imam spoke thus because he had not made a study of the condition of some of that group, nor was he informed about their biographies; and that is an aspect of pious caution. Do you not see that when he did learn the case of Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani of Iraq, he used his reports as proof? The same goes for Humayd al-Tawil and more than one of those from whom he transmitted (1).

The people of Iraq are like others: among them are the trustworthy authorities, the truthful, the jurists, the Qur’an-reciters, and the worshippers; and among them are the weak, the abandoned, and the suspected. Both Sahih collections contain a very large number of reports transmitted by Iraqis.

Among their Successors are, for instance, ʿAlqamah, Masruq, ʿUbaydah, and al-Hasan.