292 – I asked, “So, did you approve of anything he claimed?”
293 – He replied, “No.”
294 – I said, “Then how have you ended up indulging—far more than those you criticized—in the very practice you condemned? From your own line of reasoning, should you not conclude that true consensus is precisely to refrain from alleging consensus? Why do you not reflect more carefully? The moment you declare, ‘This is consensus,’ you find scholars around you saying, ‘God forbid that this be consensus; on the very point you claim to be settled there is disagreement in every respect—whether in one region or in several—among all whose opinions have reached us from the various lands.’
295 – He spoke, and I then turned to one of those present at the discussion and said, “Let us move on with you to the next question—what this obligates for both you and us.”
296 – He asked, “And what is that?”
297 – I said, “Tell me: by what means is the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ established?”
298 – He answered, “I hold to the first view our colleague already mentioned to you.”
299 – I asked, “And what is that view?”
300 – He said, “He claimed that the Sunnah is confirmed by one of three means.”
301 – I said, “Name the first of them.”
302 – He replied, “By a report conveyed by the masses to the masses.”
303 – I asked, “Is that like your earlier example that the Zuhr prayer consists of four units?”
304 – He said, “Yes.”
305 – I responded, “No one that I know of disputes you on that point. What, then, is the second means?”
306 – He answered, “By the successive, multiply attested transmission of reports—tawātur.”
307 – I said to him, “Define for me what qualifies as tawātur: the smallest number that renders a report established, and set…"