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circumstantial details, makes 'Umar censure the practice of mut'a vehemently.¹ The isnāds of these two traditions, and of most of the Medinese traditions directed against mut'a, have a common link in Zuhrī,² and this shows that the explicit rejection of mut'a in Medina is not older than the time of Zuhrī at the earliest. There is no reason for singling out the tradition on 'Umar's prohibition of mut'a³ and considering it any more authentic than the other counter-traditions.

In the generation preceding Mālik, both doctrines were outwardly harmonized and the prohibition of mut'a maintained by making the Prophet allow and subsequently forbid it. These harmonizing traditions or fragments taken from them, were incorporated in the biography of the Prophet, where they were difficult to reconcile with one another.⁴ Nothing of this is authentic historical information.

Shāfi'ī takes the upholders of mut'a seriously and discusses the problem with them in Ikh. 255 ff. In his creed, he declares mut'a to be forbidden.⁵ His opponents are not necessarily Shiites,⁶ and it was only natural for him to take sides in his creed on a problem concerning the law of marriage, a subject which had gained a considerable religious importance in his time.

The Zaidīs, the first Shiite sect to secede from the Sunni community, rejected mut'a, but the 'Twelver' Shiites recognized it, for no better reason than that its prohibition had been attributed to 'Umar.

Qunūt. Ibrāhīm Nakha'ī knew that the qunūt, the imprecation against political enemies during the ritual prayer, was introduced by the rivals 'Alī and Mu'āwiya in their war against each other.⁷ In the time of Mālik there had come into circulation traditions from the Prophet and from Companions, either rejecting qunūt altogether, or restricting it to certain prayers, or stating that the Prophet had said it only during a certain period