or their affirmation in the statements of any of the Companions, those who followed them in righteousness, or any of the Muslim scholars recognized as leading authorities in religion, such as the four imams—Abū Hanīfah, Mālik, al-Shāfi‘ī, and Ahmad—or Sufyān al-Thawrī, al-Layth ibn Sa‘d, al-Awzā‘ī, Hammād ibn Zayd, Sufyān ibn ‘Uyaynah, ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, and others.