Akhbāriyya, adherents of a school of thought in late Imāmī law (fiqh) who favour ḥadīth (traditions) and akhbār (reports) over uṣūl al-fiqh (principles of jurisprudence). In contrast to them are the jurists who follow ijtihād (independent legal reasoning) and are known as Uṣūlīs. Quite apart from the technical terms akhbārī and uṣūlī, the contrasting attitudes to which these terms refer have their roots in the early centuries of Shiʿi jurisprudence, when there were factions who practised ijtihād and others who followed tradition.

During the 4th/10th century the traditionalist…