Imam As-Shafa'i, a member of the Quraish tribe, was born A.H. 150. He passed his youth at Mecca but finally settled in Cairo where he died (A.H. 204). Ibn Khallikan relates of him that he was unrivalled for his knowledge of the Quran, the Sunnat, and the sayings of the Companions. "Never," said Imam Ibn Hanbal, "have I passed a night without praying for God's mercy and blessing upon As-Shafi'i." "Whosoever pretends," said Abu Thaur, "that he saw the like of As-Shafi'i for learning is a liar." Having carefully studied the systems of the two preceding Imams he then proceeded on an eclectic system to form his own. It was a reaction against the system of Abu Hanifa. As-Shafi'i follows rather the traditional plan of Ibn Malik. The Hanifite will be satisfied if, in the absence of a clear and a direct statement, he finds one {22} passage in the Quran, or one Tradition from which the required judgment may be deduced. The Shafi'ite in the same circumstances, if Tradition is the source of his deduction, will require a considerable number of Traditions from which to make it. Imam Ibn Hanbal was the last of the four Orthodox Imams. He was born at Baghdad (A.H. 164). His system is a distinct return to Traditionalism. He lived at Baghdad during the reign of the Khalif Mamun, when Orthodox Islam seemed in danger of being lost amid the rationalistic speculations, (that is, from an Orthodox Muslim stand-point), and licentious practices of the Court. The jurists most in favour at Court were followers of Abu Hanifa. They carried the principle of analogical deduction to dangerous lengths in order to satisfy the latitudinarianism of the Khalif. Human speculation seemed to be weakening all the essentials of the Faith. Ibn Hanbal met the difficulty by discarding altogether the principle of analogical deduction. At the same time he saw that the Maliki system, founded as it was on the "Customs of Madina," was ill-suited to meet the wants of a great and growing Empire. It needed to be supplemented. What better, what surer ground could he go upon than the Traditions. These at least were inspired, and thus formed a safer foundation on which to build a system of jurisprudence than the analogical deductions of Abu Hanifa did. The system of Ibn Hanbal has almost ceased to exist. There is now no Mufti of this sect at Mecca, though the other three are represented there. Still his influence is felt to this day in the importance he attached to Tradition. The distinction between the four Imams has been put in this way. Abu Hanifa exercised his own judgment. Malik and Hanbal preferred authority and precedent. As-Shafi'i entirely repudiated reason. They differ, too, as regards the value of certain Traditions, but to each of them an authentic Tradition is an incontestable authority. Their {23} opinion on points of doctrine and practice forms the third basis of the Faith.