and those who agree with them. When we discuss the arguments drawn from supplication and the like by those who affirm this, we shall, Allah willing, mention matters worthy of reflection. Every scholar versed in the doctrines of the early generations of the Muslim community and its imams who has written on the subject has stated that they all held this view, without disagreement. Thus, the shaykh and hadith master Abū Nasr al-Sijzī said in his book al-Ibānah:

“Our imams, such as Sufyān al-Thawrī, Mālik ibn Anas, Sufyān ibn ‘Uyaynah, Hammād ibn Salamah, Hammād ibn Zayd, ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, and Fudayl ibn