IN THE GROWTH OF TRADITIONS 155

from the Prophet. Ṭaḥāwī (i. 120) still takes the old doctrine seriously.

Tr. III, 56: Shāfi‘ī quotes a tradition through Ibn Zubair from the Prophet; as he is at pains to establish that Ibn Zubair, who was only a child, could have heard and remembered the words of the Prophet, it is certain that Shāfi‘ī did not yet know the parallel versions through ‘Ā’isha and through Umm Faḍl in Muslim (see Zurqānī, iii. 87). On the other hand, Mud. v. 87 gives a tradition through Umm Faḍl from the Prophet to the contrary. The version in Muslim turned this into its opposite.

Tr. IX, 1, 5: these purely negative statements on the Prophet are obviously counter-traditions.

Most of the traditions in which conflicting doctrines are ascribed to the same authority, are to be explained in this way.

A favourite device in the creation of counter-traditions consists of borrowing the name of the main authority for, or transmitter of, the opposite doctrine.¹

Muw. ii. 152 and Ikh. 290: the first stage is represented by an opinion ascribed to Sālim; in the second stage, Sālim appears in the isnād of a version of a tradition from ‘Umar, who blames Mu‘āwiya for his failure to conform; both traditions represent a pious reaction against the practice, current in Umayyad times, of using perfume before entering the state of ritual consecration for the pilgrimage. But Sālim appears also as the transmitter of a tradition from the Prophet favouring the less strict practice, and he is made to add: ‘The sunna of the Prophet has the better claim to be followed.’ But this reference to the sunna of the Prophet made no impression on the Medinese doctrine, and only Shāfi‘ī felt obliged to follow it.

Tr. II, 18 (r): Shāfi‘ī refers to the doctrine of Ibn ‘Abbās; during his lifetime, there came into circulation a tradition from the Prophet transmitted by Ibn ‘Abbās, so that he changed his doctrine as stated by Rabī‘.

Ikh. 259, 264: Jābir, who is the main authority for the exclusion of a neighbour from the right of pre-emption, is made to relate a tradition from the Prophet which gives a neighbour this right; Shāfi‘ī mentions that the specialists on traditions suspect it because of Jābir’s doctrine to the contrary.

The names of the Iraquian authorities Shuraiḥ and Sha‘bī were