except the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Hence, more than one of the imams said:

“Anyone’s statements may be accepted or rejected, except those of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.”

These four imams, may Allah be pleased with them, forbade people to follow them unquestioningly in everything they said. This was their duty.

Abū Hanīfa said:

“This is my opinion, and it is the best view I have reached. If anyone brings a better opinion, we will accept it.”

Thus, when his foremost student, Abū Yūsuf, met Mālik, he asked him about the sāʿ measure, zakat on vegetables, and the question of categories. Mālik explained to him what the Sunnah indicated concerning these matters, whereupon he said:

“I have adopted your position, Abū Abd Allāh. Had my teacher seen what I have seen, he would have adopted your position just as I have.”

Mālik used to say:

“I am only human: sometimes I am right and sometimes I am wrong. So test my statements against the Book and the Sunnah”—or words to that effect.

Al-Shāfiʿī used to say:

“If a hadith is authentic, discard my opinion. Whenever you find the proof plainly before you, that is my position.”

In al-Muzanī’s Compendium, after explaining that he had abridged al-Shāfiʿī’s school of thought for anyone wishing to learn it, he said:

“While informing the reader that al-Shāfiʿī forbade following him or any other scholar unquestioningly.”

Imam Ahmad used to say:

“Do not follow me unquestioningly, nor Mālik, nor al-Shāfiʿī