We have already come to know that the Shi`as, following in the footsteps of the Imams among Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them, never followed their own views nor analogy, nor did they prohibit anyone from doing so. This is due to the fact that the Prophet's statements had the final word and the conclusive verdict in as far as they are concerned; they have inherited such written statements sons from fathers, and we have already referred to al-saheefa al-jami`a, the length of which is seventy yards, and which contains all what Muslims need till the Hour. 

We have also come to know that "Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`ah" felt forced to follow their own views as well as the principle of qiyas (analogy) due to the absence of the Prophet's texts with them and their need for the same simply because their prominent men and masters rejected them, burned them, and prohibited anyone from recording them. 

The supporters of ijtihad resorted to the suggestion that they needed to coin hadith in the wording of the Messenger of Allah in order to support their sect and make wrong look right. They, hence, claimed that the Messenger of Allah dispatched Ma`ath ibn Jabal to Yemen and asked him, "What if you do not find it [i.e. the answer to a problem] in the Book of Allah?" He said, "Then I will judge according to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah." He then asked him, "What if you do not find it in the Sunnah of His Messenger?" Ma`ath ibn Jabal, they claim, said, "If I do not find it, I will then follow my own ijtihad." The Prophet, the story goes on, then said, "All Praise is due to Allah Who has enabled the messenger of the Messenger of Allah to please Allah and His Messenger." 

This "tradition" is false, and it can never be attributed to the Messenger of Allah, for how can the Prophet say to Ma`ath, "What if you do not find it in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger?" while Allah Himself says the following to His Messenger, "And We revealed unto you the Book explaining everything" (Holy Qur'an, 16:89), and also, "We have not neglected anything in the Book" (Holy Qur'an, 6:38), and also, "Whatever the Messenger gives you, accept it, and from whatever he forbids you, stay away therefrom" (Holy Qur'an, 59:7)?