ibn Mas‘ūd, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yamān, ‘Ammār ibn Yāsir, ‘Imrān ibn Husayn, Salmān al-Fārisī, and others. Mu‘ādh ibn Jabal, ‘Ubādah ibn al-Sāmit, Abū al-Dardā’, Bilāl ibn Rabāh, and others like them went to Syria. Those who remained with ‘Umar included ‘Uthmān, ‘Alī, ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn ‘Awf, Ubayy ibn Ka‘b, Muhammad ibn Maslamah, Zayd ibn Thābit, and others.

Ibn Mas‘ūd—who was then the most knowledgeable of the Companions in Iraq—would issue a fatwa, then come to Medina and consult its scholars. They would persuade him to abandon his opinion, and he would adopt theirs. This happened, for example, concerning the mothers of one’s wives. Ibn Mas‘ūd thought that the condition of consummation applied both to them and to stepdaughters: if a man divorced his wife before consummating the marriage, he could marry her mother, just as he could marry her daughter. When he came to Medina and asked about this, the scholars among the Companions informed him that the condition applied to stepdaughters, not to mothers. He therefore adopted their opinion and instructed the man to separate from his wife, although she had already become pregnant.

The practice of the people of Medina was based either on a Sunnah transmitted from the Messenger of Allah—may Allah Most High bless him and grant him peace—or on the judgments of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb. It is said that Mālik received most of the Muwatta’ from Rabī‘ah, Rabī‘ah from Sa‘īd ibn al-Musayyib, and Sa‘īd ibn al-Musayyib from ‘Umar; and ‘Umar was a man granted inspiration.

In al-Tirmidhī’s collection, it is reported that the Messenger of Allah—may Allah Most High bless him and grant him peace—said:

“Had I not been sent among you, ‘Umar would have been sent among you.”

And in the two Sahīh collections, it is reported from him—may Allah Most High bless him and grant him peace—that he