that—according to Aḥmad—is ordinarily inadmissible as proof, for he said: “Among all the mursal reports, none are weaker than those of al-Ḥasan and ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ,” as cited by al-ʿAlāʾī in Jāmiʿ al-Taḥṣīl (p. 102). In this regard al-Ḥasan is on the same footing as Qatādah. Even so, Imām al-Shāfiʿī strengthened al-Ḥasan’s mursal report—“No marriage is valid without a guardian and two upright witnesses”—by some of the very supports with which we have reinforced Qatādah’s report. Thus, in his work Aḥkām al-Qurʾān, immediately after quoting that mursal, he wrote:

“Although it is disconnected (i.e., mursal), the majority of scholars act upon it and say that the distinction between lawful marriage and fornication is the presence of witnesses; in addition, it is authentically transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās and other Companions.” (1)

Al-Bayhaqī said:
“Al-Shāfiʿī—may Allah be pleased with him—confirmed al-Ḥasan’s mursal on two grounds:
First, that most scholars rely on it;
Second, that it is authentically traced to Ibn ʿAbbās as his own statement.” (2)

I say: The very considerations by which Imām al-Shāfiʿī corroborated al-Ḥasan’s mursal apply perfectly to the mursal of Qatādah, for the majority of scholars—including the Imām himself—have acted upon it.