And among the people of Kufa were both truthful narrators and liars. Among the people of Syria there were not many liars, nor were there great leading authorities in Quranic recitation and hadith.

The same applies to the leading jurists: Mālik was the scholar of Medina; al-Thawrī, Abū Hanīfa and others were from Kufa; Ibn Jurayj and others were from Mecca; Hammād ibn Salama and Hammād ibn Zayd were from Basra; and al-Awzā'ī and his contemporaries were in Syria. It has been said that Mālik modelled his Muwatta' on the book of Hammād ibn Salama; it has also been said that Ibn Jurayj’s book preceded that.

Then came al-Shāfi'ī. Although he had Meccan origins, he studied jurisprudence according to the approach of the scholars of hadith, without confining himself to his own city. Likewise, although Imam Ahmad’s forebears were from Basra, he studied jurisprudence according to the approach of the scholars of hadith, without confining himself to the scholars of Basra or any other group. The same applies to 'Abd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, Ishāq ibn Ibrāhīm, Muhammad ibn Ismā'īl al-Bukhārī and other scholars from Khurasan.

Likewise, the leading ascetics and devoted worshippers came from these centres, as Abū al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī mentioned in Safwat al-Safwa (The Choicest of the Choice).

Thus, knowledge and devotion sanctioned by the religion are derived from the Companions of Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. As for what has come down from those after them, it should not be made