and among them were those who considered raising the hands [in prayer] recommended and those who did not, and among them were those who considered ablution nullified by touching a woman and those who did not. Despite this, they all prayed together behind one imam, and none of them refrained from praying behind the imam due to a difference in school of thought. As for the followers of the schools, their differences were entirely the opposite of that. One of the consequences was that Muslims became divided in the greatest pillar after the two testimonies, which is prayer. They refuse to pray together behind one imam on the pretext that the imam's prayer is invalid or at least disliked according to the one who disagrees with his school. We have heard and seen this, as have others. How could it not be so when the books of some well-known schools have stated the dislike or invalidity [of such prayers]? As a result, you find four prayer niches in the congregational mosque where four imams pray in succession, and you find people waiting for their imam while another imam is already praying. Indeed, the disagreement reached even more severe levels among some followers, such as the prohibition of marriage between a Ḥanafī and a Shāfiʿī. Then a fatwá was issued by one of the well-known figures among the Ḥanafīs—who was titled "Muftī al-Thaqalayn"—permitting the marriage of a Ḥanafī to a Shāfiʿī woman, justifying it by saying: "considering her akin to the People of the Book." The implication of this—and the implications of the books are considered by them—is that the reverse is not permissible, meaning a Shāfiʿī man marrying a Ḥanafī woman, just as it is not permissible for a man from the People of the Book to marry a Muslim woman. These are two examples among many that illustrate to the discerning person the negative impact that was