ABSTRACT
From prior to the first quarter of the second century to the mid-third century AH (eighth–ninth century AD), reports and transmitted legal opinions reflected variant legal rulings. The Companions issued legal opinions in accordance with what they had heard from the Prophet, and the Successors followed their example by relating what they had heard from the Companions. 1 This practice, conducted through various methods of interpretation, was based on the principle of tolerance, because no fixed methodological interpretations existed at that time, only the doctrine of ʿAtaʾ b. Yasir (d. 103/721), the doctrine of the Medinan jurists, and similar groupings. 2 Thus both generations utilized what existed: the statements and opinions of the Prophet and the early Companions, as well as their own Ijtihād. Differences of opinions naturally arose, for not all of them possessed the same level of knowledge and conservation, the same method of reasoning/diligence and consideration, or the same model of understanding and elicitation. 3
