that he records are nowhere near this standard—let alone actually fulfilling it. Some of them concern issues in which open disagreement is well known, and in some of them he himself denies the existence of consensus and adopts the contrary view even though no explicit dissenter has appeared!

He said: “By ‘the scholars’ we mean only those from whom formal legal rulings have been preserved.” (1)

He also said: “They are unanimously agreed that it is impermissible to perform ablution with any liquid or substance other than water and nabidh.” (2)

I reply: The scholars have related from Ibn Abī Laylā—one of the leading authorities whose statements Ibn Ḥazm himself transmits—that ablution is valid with expressed liquids, such as rose water and the like. The same has been reported from al-Aṣamm, but Ibn Ḥazm does not count al-Aṣamm among those whose agreement constitutes consensus.

He further said: “As for running water, they are unanimously agreed that it may be used so long as no impurity becomes apparent in it.” (3)

I respond: According to al-Shāfiʿī in the later of his two opinions—and according to one of the two opinions in the Hanbali school—running water is treated like still water with regard to the measure of two qullahs; anything less than two qullahs is rendered impure by the mere fall of filth into it, even if no change can be detected.

He also said: “They are unanimous that washing the forearms up to the end of the elbows is obligatory in wuḍūʾ.” (4)

I say: Zufar contests the obligation to wash the elbows, and this has likewise been reported from Dāwūd and some Mālikīs—unless, of course, by “the end of the elbows” he means their limit on the side of the hand.

He went on: “They agree that cleansing oneself after relieving nature with stones or with any pure substance—so long as it is not food, dung, an impurity, hide, bone, charcoal, or cinder—is permissible.” (5)

I respond: Concerning the permissibility of performing istijmār with something other than stones there are two well-known views, both narrated from Aḥmad. One of them holds that it is valid only with a stone, and this is the preference of Abū