(1) Shaykh al-Islam states in his Fatawa (35/219): “The scholars of the Muslims, Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamaah, have differed on this question and have produced two opinions. The first is the view held by the majority of Muslims, both early and later. It is the madhhab of Abu Hanifa and Malik and one of the two reports from Ahmad—in fact, it is his explicitly stated view. The second is the opinion of al-Shafii and a group among Ahmad’s disciples. The origin of the debate is that Ali and Ibn Abbas disagreed over the meat slaughtered by the tribe of Banu Taghlib … A report conveying Ibn Abbas’s view is also related from Umar ibn al-Khattab. Some scholars preferred the view of Umar and Ibn Abbas, and this is the view of the majority—Abu Hanifa, Malik, and Ahmad in one of the two narrations from him. A number of Ahmad’s companions judged it to be the sounder position; indeed it was the last of his two reported positions. In fact, the great mass of Muslims among the Companions, the Followers, and their successors are on this view. Abu Bakr al-Athram said, ‘I do not know of any Companion of the Prophet—peace be upon him—who disapproved of it except Ali.’ This is likewise the view of the vast majority of jurists of the Hijaz and Iraq—both the scholars of hadith and of raʾy—such as al-Hasan, Ibrahim al-Nakhaʿi, al-Zuhri, and others. It is the opinion that most of Ahmad’s students relay from him. Ibrahim ibn al-Harith said, ‘Ahmad’s last view was that he saw no objection to their slaughtered animals.’ Some scholars, however, preferred the opinion of Ali; this is the stance of al-Shafii and of Ahmad in the other narration from him … The correct view is that of the majority, represented by Abu Hanifa …"