with which our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sent. Whoever understands his concise, comprehensive words knows that they encompass the vast majority of subsidiary rulings and provide the principles that govern them. And Allah knows best.

The third point is that the scriptural texts indicate the rulings for the vast majority of cases that actually arise, as anyone who diligently examines them and seeks to issue fatwas according to the Quran and Sunnah and what they indicate will know. This is apparent to anyone who reflects on the matter—for example, someone who issues a hundred, two hundred, or three hundred fatwas a day, or more or fewer. I have experienced this myself. Whoever considers the matter carefully will see that those who adhere to the scriptural texts are consistently more capable of issuing fatwas, and more beneficial to Muslims in this respect, than those who follow newly introduced opinion. What we have consistently observed is that the adherents of the opinion-based approach of Kufa are among the least knowledgeable about issuing fatwas and the least beneficial to Muslims, despite their great numbers, the authority they wield, and the abundance of funds they receive from endowments, rulers, and other sources. Yet in issuing fatwas they are among the least beneficial: they seldom give an answer, and when they do, it is rarely satisfactory. As for answering with supporting evidence, they are among the furthest from doing so.

The reason for this is that Muslims need knowledge of the scriptural texts to deal with situations that actually arise. These people, moreover, have many principles that contradict those texts. As for the subsidiary rulings they possess that are not found among others, these not only conflict with the scriptural texts—which no other jurists have contradicted more than they have—but are, for the most part, either hypothetical rulings for cases that do not actually occur or rulings founded upon unsound principles. Thus, when they wish to