from ʿAsim ibn Yusuf. He was told, “You disagree with Abu Hanifa rather often.” He replied, “Abu Hanifa was granted something we were not granted; his understanding reached what ours did not. We have only been given the portion of insight that Allah has allotted us, and it is not permissible for us to issue verdicts on the basis of his opinion until we comprehend the grounds upon which he spoke.”

I state all of this while fully recognizing that Allah’s mercy is far too expansive to confine virtue and knowledge to the Four Imams alone. Allah is certainly able to create, after them, someone even more learned than they were. One must also remember that a person of lesser rank may possess a quality that the superior lacks—an established, undisputed fact among the scholars. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “My community is like the rain; it is not known whether its good is at the beginning or at the end of it.” Reported by al-Tirmidhi, who declared it sound, and likewise by al-ʿUqayli and others. ⦗95⦘