the Dajjāl will not enter it.”
In the well-known account, ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd, the leader of the Muʿtazilah, passed a man who was speaking privately with Sufyān al-Thawrī, without realizing that it was Sufyān. ʿAmr asked the man, “Who is this?”
He replied, “This is Sufyān al-Thawrī,” or said, “He is from Kufa.”
ʿAmr said, “Had I known that, I would have invited him to adopt my views. But I thought he was one of those Medinans who come at you from above.”
Knowledge and faith continued to flourish there until the time of Mālik’s students, who belonged to the fourth generation. That generation learned from Mālik and his contemporaries, such as al-Thawrī, al-Awzāʿī, al-Layth ibn Saʿd, Hammād ibn Zayd, Hammād ibn Salamah, Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, and others like them. These scholars had learned from various groups of Successors, who in turn had learned from the Companions whom they had met.
The discussion concerns the consensus of the people of Medina during those eras.
A precise assessment of “the question of the consensus of the people of Medina” is that some aspects are agreed upon among Muslims, others represent the position of the majority of Muslim imams, and still others are upheld by only some of them. The consensus of the people of Medina falls into four levels.
“The first” is that which amounts to transmission from the Prophet, may Allah Most High bless him and grant him peace.