the Sunnah, despite opposing the Muʿtazilah in their principal doctrines, came to agree with them on this point.

When one of these men affiliates himself with an imam of learning, such as Mālik, Abū Hanīfa, al-Shāfiʿī, or Ahmad, and writes a book on this subject in which he says, “Our fellow scholars have said,” or “Our fellow scholars have differed,” he means his associates who engage in this theological discourse. In that capacity, they are not adherents of that imam. His associates who share his adherence to that imam’s school and his associates who share his engagement in this discourse form overlapping, but not identical, groups: a man may belong to one group but not the other, or vice versa, or combine both affiliations.

This is very common among the followers of all the imams. Thus, one of the followers of Abū Hanīfa, Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, or Ahmad may say, “Our fellow scholars have differed concerning the first obligation,” or something similar. His statement is valid only when understood in this sense.

[The Words of Abū al-Faraj al-Maqdisī]

An example is what Abū al-Faraj al-Maqdisī al-Hanbalī says in his Tabsira (Exposition), where he writes: