Pendekatan yang berbeda antara ulama Ahl al-Hadits dan Ahl ar-Ra'yi dapat ditelusuri pada faktor-faktor politik tertentu yang berpadu dengan latar belakang sosial-budaya yang berbeda dari dua wilayah tempat aliran pemikiran mereka berkembang. Sejak masa Khalifah Al-Rasyidin yang terakhir, 'Ali bin Abi Thalib, ibu kota negara Islam dipindahkan terlebih dahulu ke Irak dan kemudian ke Syam. Dengan demikian, Hijaz 106

The Different approaches of the Ahl al-Hadeeth and Ahl arRa’I scholars may be traced to certain political factors combined with the differing socio-cultural backgrounds of the two areas in which their schools of thought flourished. From the time of the last Righteous Caliph, ‘Alee ibn Abee Taalib, the Cpital of the Islamic state was shifted first to Iraqand then to syria. Thus, the Hijaaz 106

Hijaz terhindar dari sebagian besar kekacauan dan masuknya budaya serta gagasan asing yang terjadi di pusat negara. Kehidupan di Hijaz tetap mudah dan sederhana karena keterasingannya. Hijaz juga merupakan tempat tinggal Nabi ﷺ dan tempat lahirnya negara Islam. Akibatnya, di wilayah ini terdapat banyak hadits serta kekayaan putusan hukum yang dibuat oleh tiga khalifah pertama, Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, dan ‘Utsman. Sebaliknya, Irak adalah negeri baru dan asing bagi kaum Muslimin. Ketika ibu kota Negara Islam berkedudukan di sana, Irak menjadi tempat peleburan berbagai budaya dan melahirkan banyak situasi serta peristiwa yang berada di luar pengalaman para ulama Muslim pada masa itu. Selain itu, karena jumlah Sahabat yang menetap di sana sedikit, hadits-hadits tidak sebanyak di Hijaz. Memang, Irak menjadi tempat lahirnya hadits palsu sekaligus lahan subur bagi kebanyakan sekte menyimpang pada masa awal. Karena tidak dapat mengandalkan keabsahan hadits yang dikutip, para ulama Irak cenderung bersandar pada hadits lebih sedikit dibandingkan para ulama Hijaz. Hadits-hadits yang dianggap sahih oleh ulama Irak tersebut hanya diterima setelah memenuhi syarat-syarat yang sangat ketat. Akibat alami dari perkembangan ini, mazhab Irak beserta para ulamanya lebih bergantung pada akal dan logika daripada pada Sunnah Nabi ﷺ yang diriwayatkan.107

was spared much of the turbulence and influx of foreign cultures and ideas which took place at the center of the state. Life in the Hijaaz continued to be easy-going and simple, due to its isolation. The Hijaaz was also the home of the Prophet (s.w.) and the birth-place of the Islamic state. Consequently, there was an abundance of Hadeeths in this region as well as a wealth of legal rulings made by the first three caliphs, Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthmaan. On the other hand, Iraq was a new and strange land for Muslims. When capital of the Islamic State was stationed there, it became a virtual melting pot of various cultures and gave rise to a great number of situations and events, which were outside the experience of Muslim scholars of the time. Furthermore, because the number of Sahaabah who settled there was small, Hadeeths were not nearly as available there as in Hijaaz. Indeed, Iraq became the birth-place of fabricated Hadeeth as well as the breeding ground for most of the early deviant sects. Not being able to rely on the validity of quoted Hadeeth, the scholars of Iraq tended to rely on Hadeeth, to a lesser extent than did the scholars of the Hijaaz. The few Hadeeths which these Iraqi scholars considered accurate were only accepted after the fulfillment of very strict conditions. The natural result of this development was that the Iraqi school of thought and its scholars depended more on reason and logic than on the narrated Sunnah of the Prophet (s.w.).107