The "fuqaha" congregated at Kairouan, then the legal center of the entire al-Maghrib. The more liberal Hanafi school of Muslim law at first predominated in Ifriqiyah. Soon, however, a strict form of the Maliki school came to prevail, which in fact became the only widespread madhhab, not only in Kairouan, but throughout North Africa. The Maliki school of law persisted (despite several major interruptions) in being the legal norm throughout the Maghrib and continues so today. The Maliki madhhab was introduced to Ifriqiya by the jurist Asad ibn al-Furat (759-829), yet he was known to waver somewhat between the prior Hanafi and the Maliki. The influential law book called "Mudawanna", written by his disciple Sahnun ('Abd al-Salam b. Sa'id) (776-854), provided a "vulgate of North-African Malikism" for practical use during the period when Maliki legal doctrines won the field against its rival, the Hanafi. Abu Hanifa (700-767) (founder of the Hanafi school) drew out fiqh that was perhaps better suited to its origin in Baghdad, a sophisticated imperial capital; while Malik ibn Anas (716-795) initiated the school bearing his name in the smaller, rural city of Medina. By choosing the then more marginal Maliki school, the jurists of Kairouan probably obtained more discretion in defining Maghriban legal culture. The Maliki jurists were often at odds with the Aghlabids, over the Arab rulers' disappointing personal moral conduct, and over the fiscal issue of taxation of agriculture (i.e., of a new fixed cash levy replacing the orthodox tithe in kind). The offending tax on crops payable in cash being the act of the second amir, 'Abdullah ibn Ibrahim (812-817). Further, the Maliki "fuqaha" was commonly understood to act more in favor of local autonomy, hence in the interests of the Berbers, by blocking potential intrusions into Ifriqiya affairs and filtering out foreign influence, which might originate from the central Arab power in the East. Besides jurists there was a second community of Muslim ulema, the scholars and ascetics. Foremost among these "ābid" was Buhlul b. Rashid (d. 799), who reputedly despised money and refused the post of grand judge; his fame accordingly spread throughout the Islamic world.