is obligatory, exactly as we say concerning rising over.

As for an early authority who was not a Companion, we examine his interpretation. If the recognized leading scholars among the transmitters of hadith and the Sunnah followed him in it, and trustworthy, reliable authorities agreed with him, we follow him, accept his interpretation, and concur with him. Although this is not strictly a consensus, it resembles consensus, for it represents the way of the believers and the concurrence of those who do not collectively agree upon misguidance. Moreover, had the leading scholars not known that this came from the Messenger and the Companions, they would not have followed him in it.

An interpretation in which the leading scholars did not follow its proponent, however, is unacceptable, even if it came from a well-known imam rather than an unknown person. An example is the interpretation attributed to Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn Khuzayma of the hadith, “Allah created Adam in his image.” He explains it according to that interpretation, but the hadith scholars who preceded him did not share it, as shown by what we have narrated from Ahmad—may Allah Most High have mercy on him. Nor did those who came after him follow him in it. Indeed, I even found in The Book of Jurists