Ibn Abi Layla was born in 693 to a scholarly family. His father, Abd al-Rahman, who died when Ibn Abi Layla was young, was a prominent Kufan ''
tabi'i'' who fought alongside
Ali at the
Battle of the Camel and participated in the revolt of
Ibn al-Ash'ath; his grandfather, Abu Layla, was a
companion of
Muhammad. Ibn Abi Layla's principal teachers of
fiqh were
al-Sha'bi and , and for some time he audited the lectures of
Ata ibn Abi Rabah. He was appointed as the
qadi of Kufa by the
Umayyads, although exactly when is uncertain; 733 and 741 details 263 points of law on which Abu Hanifa and Ibn Abi Layla disagreed. In the treatise, Ibn Abi Layla rarely adduces
hadith or the opinions of Muhammad's companions to argue a case, instead largely relying on his own ''ra'y''. == See also ==