The seventh leading jurisprudent: al-Layth b. Sa‘d al-Misri (175/791)
Abu al-Harith al-Layth b. Sa'd b. 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fahmi al-Misri (95—175/731—791), ‘the imam offiqh and hadith’, engaged in ifta’ while living in Egypt. He moved to the Hejaz in his twenties and studied jurisprudence with 'Ata’, Qatada, Nafi', and Malik b.
Anas. A disciple of Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, he met and debated with Rabi'at al-Ra’y on various issues and exchanged letters and consulted frequently with Malik. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350) preserved this correspondence, which is considered a great model of communication and intellectual discourse concerning evidentiary matters discussed among prominent scholars. Many leading jurists such as Ibn Wahb, al-Shafi'i, and Yahya b. Bakir considered al-Layth, who adhered to transmitted opinions more than Malik, to be more diverse than Malik. However, despite his high caliber in both fields, his legal school failed to attract enough followers to ensure its survival. Malik was more fortunate in this regard, as Ibn Bakir stated. Ibn al-Nadim reported that al-Layth authored such works as Kitab Masa'il fi al-Fiqh, and before starting his own legal school was one of Malik’s companions. He was offered — and declined — a governorship.47Those who studied under these leading scholars, the mujtahids of their legal schools, spread their teachers’ reasoning in jurisprudence. The second phase of this activity saw the emergence of disciples who preserved and spread these doctrines through the derivation of subsidiary rulings (tafnfi and codification (tadwin). Other mujtahids arose at this time as well, three of whom had their legal doctrine codified: Ahmad b. Hanbal, Abu Thawr, and Dawud b. 'Ali. Therefore, one must count these three individuals among the seven leading figures of this stage.