such as Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī (1) and others of his peers. If this is the verdict on one who follows the Imam of the Two Sanctuaries, the respected and obeyed master (2), then what should be said of someone who, without debate, follows another who is unquestionably his inferior? For taqlīd (uninformed imitation) in the subsidiary branches—let alone in the fundamentals—may be accorded only to a scholar who is well-versed in the sources of legal rulings drawn from the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the consensus. Abū al-Maʿālī (4) did not belong to that class, for his acquaintance with the Qur’an and the Sunnah was slight (5). In most legal matters he relied on consensus regarding decisive questions, on analogy, and on taqlīd (6) in matters that were merely conjectural; the same applied to him in issues of creed as well,
= See: Tabaqat al-Shafi‘iyya, vol. 5, p. 188ff.
(1) He is Abu al-Qasim ‘Abd al-Karim ibn Hawzan ibn ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Talha ibn Muhammad al-Qushayri al-Naysaburi, Shafi‘i jurist and exemplary imam, author of al-Risāla al-Qushayriyya on the figures of the ṭarīqa, and of the al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr, which al-Dhahabi praised as “one of the finest Qur’ānic commentaries.” He was born in 375 AH and died in 465 AH.
See: Tarīkh Baghdād (al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī), vol. 11, p. 83; Tabyīn Kaḏb al-Muftarī (Ibn ‘Asākir), pp. 271–276; Wafayāt al-A‘yān (Ibn Khallikān), vol. 3, pp. 205–208; Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’ (al-Dhahabi), vol. 18, pp. 227–233.
(2) In the autograph it read “for the professor,” a reading confirmed by both the autograph and the printed edition.
(3) In the printed edition: “dūn” (without).
(4) In the autograph: “Abū al-‘Ālī,” which is an error; both the autograph and the printed edition read “Abū al-Ma‘ālī.” His biography appears above, p. 198.
(5) Yāqūt al-Ḥamawī, after mentioning Abū al-Ma‘ālī, states: “...and he was sparing in transmission, turning away from hadith....”
See: Mu‘jam al-Buldān, vol. 2, p. 193.
Al-Dhahabi adds: “Despite his keen intellect, his imamate in both furū‘ and uṣūl, and his strong dialectical skill, he did not master ḥadīth as befitted him, neither its text nor its chains....”
See: Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’, vol. 18, p. 471.
(6) In both the autograph and the printed edition: “or al-taqlīd.”