Al-Shāfiʿī

It is recounted that, in the time of Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ al-Kabīr, a dispute arose between the followers of Abū Ḥanīfa and those of al-Shāfiʿī, God have mercy upon them. Al-Shāfiʿī’s followers spoke against Abū Ḥanīfa. Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ḥafṣ said: “Count al-Shāfiʿī’s teachers: how many are there?” They counted eighty. Then they counted Abū Ḥanīfa’s teachers among the scholars and Successors and reached four thousand. Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: “This is among the least of Abū Ḥanīfa’s merits.” He then named some of the teachers from whom Abū Ḥanīfa had heard.

Al-Shāfiʿī said: In jurisprudence, they are all dependent upon Abū Ḥanīfa.