166 THE EVIDENCE OF ISNĀDS

Abū 'Āṣim Nabīl, and Ibn Wahb give it with a full isnād through Abū Huraira instead of Jābir, and so it occurs in Ṭaḥāwī, ii. 265: Abū 'Āṣim Nabil—Mālik—Zuhrī—Ibn Musaiyib and Abū Salama—Abū Huraira—Prophet. But Ṭaḥāwī remarks that the most reliable of Mālik's companions, including Qa‘nabī and Ibn Wahb, relate it with an imperfect isnād, that is, mursal.

Muw. iv. 35 and Muw. Shaib. 239: Mālik—Zuhrī—Ibn Musaiyib—Prophet; this tradition is mursal. Shāfi‘ī (Tr. VIII, 14) has it with a complete isnād through ‘a reliable man’ (identified by Rabī‘ as Yaḥyā b. Ḥassān)—Laith b. Sa‘d—Zuhrī—Ibn Musaiyib—Abū Huraira—Prophet. The name of Abū Huraira was inserted in the period between Mālik and Shāfi‘ī and taken from the isnād of a parallel version with a sensibly different text (Muw. and Muw. Shaib., loc. cit.). In the same context, Shāfi‘ī records the doubts of some Medinese regarding isnāds in general.

Muw. iv. 44: Yaḥyā b. Sa‘īd—‘Amr b. Shu‘aib—‘Umar gives a decision, referring to an inconclusive statement of the Prophet.¹ Ibn Māja (Abwāb al-farā’iḍ, Bāb mīrāth al-qātil), however, has a tradition with the isnād Muḥammad b. Sa‘īd or ‘Umar b. Sa‘īd—‘Amr b. Shu‘aib—his father [Shu‘aib b. Muḥammad]—his grandfather ‘Abdallah b. ‘Amr—Prophet: a wordy, explicit statement, part of a composite speech.

Ris. 45: Shāfi‘ī does not remember having heard a certain tradition with a reliable isnād and doubts whether it is well authenticated. But it exists in Bukhārī and Muslim with a first-class isnād (see ed. Shākir, p. 315).

Ibid. 59: Mālik—Rabī‘a—several scholars—‘Umar; Shāfi‘ī states that this isnād is ‘interrupted’. But it has become complete in Ibn Ḥanbal, Bukhārī, and Muslim (see Zurqānī, iv. 200 and ed. Shākir, p. 435).

Ibid. 64: Shāfi‘ī states that a tradition is mursal and generally not acted upon, implying that it is not confirmed by any version with a complete isnād. But it appears with a different, full isnād in Ibn Ḥanbal (see ed. Shākir, p. 467) and Ibn Māja (see Graf, Wortelen, 63, n. 1).²

Parallel with the improvement and backward growth of isnāds goes their spread, that is the creation of additional authorities or transmitters for the same doctrine or tradition. The spread of isnāds was intended to meet the objection which used to be made to ‘isolated’ traditions.³