Abu al-ʿArab, quoting an informant, said: “Those who attended Sahnun’s gathering from among the devoted worshippers were more numerous than the students; they came to him from the far reaches of the earth.

When Sahnun was finally appointed to the judiciary, he was reproached. He replied, ‘I have been engaged in adjudication for forty years—what is a legal opinion if not a judicial ruling?’ (1)

It is said that the number of transmitters from Sahnun reached nine hundred.

The origin of the Mudawwana was a series of questions that Asad b. al-Furat put to Ibn al-Qasim.

When Sahnun travelled with that compilation, he presented it to Ibn al-Qasim, who corrected much in it and omitted some parts. Sahnun then arranged it and divided it into chapters.

For many of its issues he cited textual evidence from the reports he had transmitted, even though it also contains matters whose proofs are inadequate—nothing but pure opinion.

They relate that, toward the end of his life, Sahnun marked those passages and intended to eliminate them and refine the Mudawwana, but death overtook him—may Allah have mercy on him.

The senior Maliki jurists recognise those disputed issues: they affirm what can be substantiated and deem weak whatever lacks supporting evidence.

Thus the Mudawwana is treated no differently from the other legal compendia.

Everyone’s statement may be accepted or rejected—except the statement of the one who rests in that grave, peace and blessings be upon him.

Knowledge is a shoreless sea, dispersed throughout the community and accessible to whoever seeks it.

As for the name “Sahnun,” it is explained as the name of a bird in the Maghreb (2) noted for its sharpness and wariness; it may be pronounced with the sīn opened or rounded.