Each one of them was an authority in themselves...

Each one of them was an authority in themselves, like Muhammad bin Muslim, Zarārah ibn A‛yan and Abī Basīr. Imām Sādiq (a) said: “Burīd bin Mu‛āwīyah al-‛Ajalī, Abī Basīr Layth al-Bakhtarī al-Murādī, Muhammad bin Muslim and Zarārah will be given the glad tidings of Heaven. They believe in Allah about the obligatory actions and forbidden ones.

The line of prophethood would have discontinued if it were not for them.”[^3] The Imām considered them mujtahids who had the capability of deriving verdicts from the Qurān and prophetic traditions. Sometimes he (a) would order them practice it, for example he (a) said: “It is upon us to tell you the principles and it is upon you to branch them out.”[^4] He (a) also told people to refer to some of his companions in religious rulings, like Yūnis bin ‛Abd al-Rahmān.

Someone asked the Imām: “It is not possible for me to come to you and ask everything that I need about religious sciences. Is Yūnis bin ‛Abd al-Rahmān trustworthy; can I take whatever I need from him?” The Imām answered: “Yes.”[^5] He (a) also ordered some of his companions to give religious verdicts, such as Abān bin Taghlib. The Imām (a) told him: “Sit in Medina's mosque and give religious verdicts to the people.

Verily I love to see my Shia to be like you.”[^6] The Second Stage This stage started at the Minor Occultation in 260 A.H., and lasted until the days of Shaykh Tūsī who lived between 385 A.H. and 460 A.H. In this stage the Ahlul-Bayt (a) jurisprudential sect transformed from merely relating traditions without organizing them into different sections into writing jurisprudential books without adding anything to the traditions or changing their terminology.

This is clear in the book Sharāyi ‛ which was written by ‛Alī bin Bābūway for his son Muhammad. It is said that when someone needed a tradition they would find it in this book. Other similar books are al-Maqna ‛ and al-Hidāyah by Shaykh al-Sadūq, Muhammad bin ‛Alī bin Bābūway and al-Nihāyah by Shaykh al-Tūsī. We are not saying that there weren’t scholars who were spreading traditions, but we are saying that now the traditions are organized into different subjects similar to the practice today.

This is clearly seen in the books al-Kāfī by Shaykh al-Kulaynī and Man Lā Yaduruhu al-Faqīh by Shaykh al-Sadūq. This is what generally took place in this stage.