yours?”

“Yours,” he replied.

Al-Shāfi‘ī said, “Then nothing remains between us and you except analogical reasoning. We too accept analogical reasoning, but whoever knows the foundational sources better will reason more soundly by analogy.”

Imam Ahmad was asked, “Who is more knowledgeable about the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah Most High bless him and grant him peace: Mālik or Sufyān?”

He replied, “Mālik.”

He was asked, “Who is more knowledgeable about the reports from the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: Mālik or Sufyān?”

He replied, “Mālik.”

He was asked, “Who is more ascetic: Mālik or Sufyān?”

He replied, “On that point, I concede to you.”

It is well known that Sufyān al-Thawrī was the most knowledgeable scholar in Iraq at that time in jurisprudence and hadith. Abū Hanīfah, al-Thawrī, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Abī Laylā, al-Hasan ibn Sālih ibn Hayy, and Sharīk ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Nakha‘ī, the judge, were roughly contemporaries and were the leading jurists of Kufa in that period.

Abū Yūsuf initially studied jurisprudence under Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Abī Laylā, the judge. He then met Abū Hanīfah and, finding him more knowledgeable in jurisprudence, became his devoted student. He compiled the book “The Differences between Abū Hanīfah and Ibn Abī Laylā.” Muhammad ibn al-Hasan received it from him, and al-Shāfi‘ī transmitted it from Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, recording his own preferred views in it. This is the work known as “The Differences between the Iraqi Scholars.”