In Baghdad...

In Baghdad, Dawud ibn 'Ali attended the lectures of many eminent jurists, the most prominent of whom was Abu Thaur (d. 246/860); a friend and follower of Shafi'i.

The trend of education he received from them made him shift from the Hanafite rite to that to which his father belonged,[^10] the Shafi'ite, apparently because most of his professors ( shuyukh ) were more inclined to the Traditionists ( ahl al‑hadith ) school to which Shafi'is belonged than to the school of the upholders of opinion ( ashab al‑ra'i ) who were the followers of Abu Hanifah par excellence . Dawud perfected his education by an academic trip to Nishapur to meet Ishaq ibn Rahawaih (d.

237/851 or 238/852),[^11] who also was a friend and follower of Shafi`i. Afterwards, he returned to Baghdad where he wrote his books. Perhaps it is not very strange that a close and profound study of the Shafi'ite school of jurisprudence led Dawud ibn 'Ali finally to be dissatisfied with it. He forsook it and founded a new school, the Zahirite school, which recognized the Qur'an and the Hadith as the only sources of jurisprudence.

He accepted, at any rate, consensus ( ijma `) of the of the Prophet, but he rejected analogy ( qiyas ), opinion ( ra’i ), personal approval ( istihsan ), and decisions on the authority of older generations ( taqlid ) altogether.[^12] Dawud ibn 'Ali was accomplished, trustworthy, learned, God‑fearing, pious, and ascetic; he was also versed in logic and proficient in the art of dispu­tation.[^13] It was said that he believed that the Qur'an was created and not eternal, but it seems that this was only an accusation.[^14] He died in 270/884 in Baghdad.

Dawud ibn 'Ali was a prolific writer. Ibn al‑Nadim enumerates about one hundred and fifty titles from him.[^15] It seems that many of these titles were only chapters of some of his books. But there are also titles which represent bulky works of two thousand, three thousand, and even four thousand folios[^16] each. A few of these books touched the fundamentals of religion, e.

g., “On the Usul,” “On the Caliphate,” “Consensus and the Refutation of Qiyas,” and “On the Refutation of Taqlid.”[^17] Most of his other books treated of branches ( furu `) or minor aspects of Fiqh concerning worship and legal transactions Unfortunately no book has reached us from him. Ibn Hazm, nevertheless refers to him frequently. Muhammad al‑Shatti (d.