Imām Aḥmad said (1): “Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar narrated to us; Shuʿbah narrated to us, from Abū ʿAwn, from al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAmr—the nephew of al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah—from a group of Muʿādh’s Companions who were residents of Ḥimṣ, from Muʿādh:
When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent him to Yemen, he asked him,
‘How will you act when a matter for judgment is presented to you?’
He replied, ‘I will judge according to the Book of Allah.’
He said, ‘And if you find nothing in the Book of Allah?’
He answered, ‘Then by the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.’
He said, ‘And if it is not in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?’
He replied, ‘I will exercise ijtihād, using my own reasoning, sparing no effort.’
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then struck my chest and said, ‘Praise be to Allah who has guided the envoy of the Messenger of Allah to that which pleases the Messenger of Allah.’”
Imām Aḥmad also transmitted this ḥadīth through Wakīʿ (3) and through ʿAffān (4), both from Shuʿbah with the same chain and wording. Abū Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī (5) likewise recorded it through Shuʿbah; al-Tirmidhī said, “We know it only by this route, and in my view its isnād is not continuous.” Ibn Mājah reported it by another route, but through Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd (6) ibn Ḥassān—the crucified liar—from ʿUbādah ibn Nusayy (7), from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān [ibn Ghunaym], from Muʿādh in similar terms.
Imām Aḥmad further narrated (8) through Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar and Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from Shuʿbah, from ʿAmr ibn Abī Ḥakīm, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Buraydah, from Yaḥyā ibn Yaʿmar (9), from Abū al-Aswad al-Dīlī. He said:
“Muʿādh was in Yemen when a case was brought before him concerning a Jew who had died leaving a Muslim brother. Muʿādh said, ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ says, “Islam increases and does not diminish,”’ and he therefore awarded the inheritance to the Muslim.”
Abū Dāwūd (10) also reported it from Ibn Buraydah with this wording.
This juristic view has likewise been attributed to Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān, and it was transmitted (11) by the judge Yaḥyā ibn Yaʿmar (8) and a group of the early scholars; it was also adopted by Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh. The majority, however—among them the four Imams and their disciples—disagreed with them,