This judgment involves two issues on which scholars have differed. The first concerns livestock straying into cultivated fields at night. Most scholars, including Mālik, al-Shāfi'ī and Ahmad, hold that compensation is due for the damage, whereas Abū Hanīfa did not. The second concerns compensation in kind and compensation based on value. There is disagreement over this within the schools of al-Shāfi'ī and Ahmad, and among others. Reports from most of the early generations concerning such cases indicate that equivalent compensation should be provided whenever possible, as Solomon ruled. Many jurists, however, require compensation only on the basis of value, as is the well-known position in the schools of Abū Hanīfa, al-Shāfi'ī and Ahmad.
The point here is that the practice of the people of Medina that amounts to transmitted evidence constitutes authoritative proof by the agreement of the Muslims. Thus, when Abū Yūsuf asked Mālik about the sā' and mudd measures, Mālik instructed the people of Medina to bring their sā' measures. They explained that these had been transmitted to them from their forebears. Mālik then asked, “Do you think these people are lying, Abū Yūsuf?”
He replied, “No, by Allah, they are not lying.” Mālik said, “I have carefully checked these sā' measures and found them to equal five and one-third ratls (units of weight) by your standard, people of Iraq.”
He then said, “I have adopted your view, Abū 'Abd Allāh. Had my companion seen what I have seen, he would have changed his view as I have.”
He also asked him about zakāh on vegetables. He replied, “These are the vegetable plots of the people of Medina. No zakāh was collected from them during the time of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, nor during the times of Abū Bakr or 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both.” He meant that vegetables grow in these plots.
He also asked him about endowments. He replied, “This is the endowment of so-and-so, and this is the endowment of so-and-so,” citing these to illustrate the Companions’ practice. Abū Yūsuf said concerning each of these two matters: