Notability	Islamic scholar
Era	Islamic Golden Age
Name	Abū ʿAbdullāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shafiʿī
Title	Imam of the Abode of Emigration
Birth date	767 CE/135 AH Gaza, Palestine
Death date	820 CE/188 AH (aged 52-53)Fustat, Egypt
Ethnicity	Arab
Maddhab	Sunnah
School tradition	Sunni Islam
Main interests	Fiqh
Notable ideas	Shafi'i madhhab
Works	Kitabul-Athar, Fiqh al-Akbar
Influences	Imam Malik, Sufyan ibn `Uyaynah, Muhammad al-Shaybani
Influenced	Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abu Yusuf, Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tahawi, Ahmad Sirhindi, Shah Waliullah }}

Abū ʿAbdullāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shafiʿī () was a Muslim jurist, who lived from 767 CE to 820 CE. He was active in juridical matters and his teaching eventually led to the Shafi'i school of fiqh (or Madh'hab) named after him. Hence he is often called Imam al-Shafi'i. He is considered the founder of Islamic jurisprudence.

Introduction

The biography of al-Shafi'i is difficult to trace. The oldest surviving biography goes back to Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi (died 327H/939) and is no more than a collection of anecdotes, some of them fantastic. The first real biography is by Ahmad Bayhaqi (died 458H/1066) and is filled with pious legends. The following is what seems to be a sensible reading.

Family

Al-Shafi'i belonged to the Qurayshi clan Banu Muttalib which was the sister clan of the Banu Hashim to which Muhammad and the Abbasid caliphs belonged. Hence he had connections in the highest social circles, but he grew up in poverty.

767 – 786: Al-Mansur to Al-Hadi's era

Early life, studies with Imam Malik

He was born in Gaza and moved to Mecca when he was about two years old. He is reported to have studied with the "School of Mecca" (which might not even have existed, although some scholars are reported to have been active there). Then he moved to Madinah to teach others of the message of Islam and be taught by Malik ibn Anas.

786 – 809: Harun al-Rashid's era

After that he lived in Mecca, Baghdad and finally Egypt.

Among his teachers were Malik ibn Anas and Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī, whom he studied under in Madinah and Baghdad.

He was appointed as a judge in Najran in the time of Harun ar-Rashid. Sunnis portray that his devotion to justice, even when it meant criticizing the governor, caused him some problems, and he was taken before the Caliph, falsely accused of aiding the Alawis in a revolt. al-Shaybānī was the chief justice at the time, and his defense of ash-Shafi'i, coupled with ash-Shafi'i’s own eloquent defense, convinced Harun ar-Rashid to dismiss the charge, and he directed al-Shaybānī to take ash-Shafi'i to Baghdad. He was also a staunch critic of Al-Waqidi's writings on Sirah.

In Baghdad, he developed his first madh'hab, influenced by the teachings of both Imam Abu Hanifa and Imam Malik. Thus, his work there is known as “al Madhab al Qadim lil Imam as Shafi’i,” or the Old School of ash-Shafi'i.

809 – 813: Al-Amin's era

Muhammad ibn Harun al-Amin (787–813) (Arabic: محمد الأمين بن هارون الرشيد‎), Abbasid Caliph. He succeeded his father, Harun al-Rashid in 809 and ruled until he was killed in 813.

813 – 820: Al-Ma'mun's era

Death

He died at the age of 54 on the 30th of Rajab in 204 AH (820 AD). He was buried in al-Fustat, Egypt.

Legacy

Saladin built a madrassa and a shrine on the site of his tomb. Saladin's brother Afdal built a mausoleum for him in 1211 after the defeat of the Fatamids. It remains a site where people petition for justice.

Shafi'i developed the science of fiqh unifying 'revealed sources' - the Quran and hadith - with human reasoning to provide a basis in law. With this systematization of shari'a he provided a legacy of unity for all Muslims and forestalled the development of independent, regionally based legal systems. The four Sunni legals schools or madhhabs- keep their traditions within the framework that Shafi'i established.

Shafi'i gives his name to one of these legal schools Shafi'i fiqh - the Shafi'i school - which is followed in many different places in the Islamic world: Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Somalia, Yemen and southern parts of India.

Today, many English speaking Muslims are introduced to the madh'hab of Imam Shafi’i through the translated works Umdat as Salik (Reliance of the Traveller) and al Maqasid, both done by Sheikh Nuh Ha Mim Keller.

Among the followers of Imam Shafi’i’s school were:

Muhammad al-Bukhari

Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj Abu Da'ud Al-Tirmidhi

Izz bin Abdul Salaam

Al-Nasa'i Ibn Majah Imam Bayhaqi Hakim al-Nishaburi ibn Hibban Jalaluddin Suyuti Al-Dhahabi

al Ghazali

Al-Nawawi

Ibn Hajar Asqalani

Hafidh ibn Kathir

Imām an-Nawawi

Imam Al-Mawardi

Works

He authored more than 100 books.

Al-Risala — The best known book by al-Shafi'i in which he examined usul al-fiqh (sources of jurisprudence): the Qur'an, the Sunnah, qiyas (analogy), and ijma' (scholarly consensus). There is a good modern translation.

Kitab al-Umm - his main surviving text on Shafi'i fiqh

Musnad ash-Shafi'i (on hadith) - it is available with arrangement, Arabic 'Tartib', by Ahmad ibn Abd ar-Rahman al-Banna

Sunni view

Many stories are told about the childhood and life of ash-Shafi'i, and it is difficult to separate truth from myth:

Tradition says that he memorized the Qur’an at the age of seven; by ten, he had memorized the Muwatta of Imam Malik; he was a mufti (given authorization to issue fatwa) at the age of fifteen. He recited the Qur’an every day in prayer, and twice a day in Ramadan. Some apocryphal accounts claim he was very handsome, that his beard did not exceed the length of his fist, and that it was very black. He wore a ring that was inscribed with the words, “Allah suffices Muhammad ibn Idris as a reliance.” He was also known to be very generous.

He was also an accomplished archer, a poet, and some accounts call him the most eloquent of his time. Some accounts claim that there were a group of Bedouin who would come and sit to listen to him, not for the sake of learning, but just to listen to his eloquent use of the language. Even in latter eras, his speeches and works were used by Arabic grammarians. He was given the title of Nasir al Sunnah, the Defender of the Sunnah.

He loved Muhammad very deeply. Al Muzani said of him, “He said in the Old School: ‘Supplication ends with the invocation of blessings on the Prophet, and its end is but by means of it.’” Al-Karabisi said: “I heard al-Shafi’i say that he disliked for someone to say ‘the Messenger’ (al-Rasul), but that he should say ‘Allah’s Messenger’ (Rasul Allah) out of veneration for him.” He divided his night into three parts: one for writing, one for praying, and one for sleeping.

Apocryphal accounts claim that Imam Ahmad said of ash-Shafi'i, “I never saw anyone adhere more to hadith than al-Shafi’i. No one preceded him in writing down the hadith in a book.” Imam Ahmad is also claimed to have said, “Not one of the scholars of hadith touched an inkwell nor a pen except he owed a huge debt to al-Shafi’i.”

Imam Muhammad al-Shaybani said, “If the scholars of hadith speak, it is in the language of al Shafi’i.”

stated :

According to many accounts he was said to have a photographic memory. One anecdote states that he would always cover one side of a book while reading because a casual glance at the other page would commit it to memory.

He claimed that the game of chess was an image of war, and it was possible to play chess as a mental exercise for the solution of military tactics. Chess could not be played for a stake, but if a player was playing for a mental exercise, he was not doing anything illegal. Provided the player took care that his fondness for chess did not cause him to break any other rule of life, he saw no harm in playing chess. He played chess himself, defending his practice by the example of many of his companions.

Sayings

He who seeks pearls immerses himself in the sea.

See also

Fiqh

Shafi'i

References

Ruthven Malise, Islam in the World. 3rd edition Granta Books London 2006 ch. 4

"al-Shafi'i's Risala: Treatise on the Foundation of Islamic Jurisprudence" Majid Khadduri. Original 1961, reprinted 1997. ISBN 0-946621-15-2.

al-Shafi'i,Muhammad b. Idris,"The Book of the Amalgamation of Knowledge" translated by Aisha Y. Musa in Hadith as Scripture: Discussions on The Authority Of Prophetic Traditions in Islam, New York: Palgrave, 2008

External links

Detailed Biography of Imam Shafi'i

Short Biography of Imam Shafi'i

Concise Summary of Imam Shafi'i

Diagram of teachers and students of Imam Shafi'i

Category:767 births Category:820 deaths Category:Shafi'is Category:Sunni fiqh scholars Category:Sunni imams Category:Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Category:People from Gaza Category:Mujaddid

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The Shafi'i ( ) madhhab is one of the four schools of fiqh, or religious law, within the Sunni branch of Islam. The Shafi'i school of fiqh is named after Imām ash-Shafi'i. The other three schools of Islamic law are Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali.

Principles

The Shafi'i school of thought stipulates authority to four sources of jurisprudence, also known as the Usul al-fiqh. In hierarchical order, the usul al-fiqh consist of: the Quran, the Sunnah of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, ijmā' ("consensus"), and qiyas ("analogy").

The Shafi'i school also refers to the opinions of Muhammad's companions (primarily Al-Khulafa ar-Rashidun). The school, based on Shafi'i's books ar-Risala fi Usul al-Fiqh and Kitab al-Umm, which emphasizes proper istinbaat (derivation of laws) through the rigorous application of legal principles as opposed to speculation or conjecture.

Shafi'i's treatise ar-Risala fi Usul al-Fiqh is not to be mistaken or confused with the al-Risala of Imam Malik.

Imam Shafi'i approached the imperatives of the Islamic Shariah (Canon Law) distinctly in his own systematic methodology. Imam Shafi'i, Imam Malik and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal almost entirely exclude the exercise of private judgment in the exposition of legal principles. They are wholly governed by the force of precedents, adhering to the Scripture and Traditions; they also do not admit the validity of a recourse to analogical deduction of such an interpretation of the Law whereby its spirit is adopted to the circumstances of any special case.

Shafi'i is also known as the "First Among Equals" for his exhaustive knowledge and systematic methodology to religious science.

The Imam

Shafi'i's [150 – 206 AH] full name is Abū ‘Abdu l-Lāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs ibn al-Abbās ibn ‘Uthmān ibn Shāfi‘ ibn as-Sa'ib ibn ‘Ubayd ibn ‘Abd al-Yazīd ibn al-Muttalib ibn ‘Abd Manaf. ‘Abd Manaf was the great grandfather of Muhammad. Based on this lineage, he is from the Quraish tribe. He was born in 150 AH (760 CE) in Gaza in the same year Imam Abu Hanifa died. Al-Nawawī, a prominent Shāfiʻī scholar, cited Sufyan ibn `Uyaynah, one of al-Shafi`i's teachers, as being from "the grandfathers of the Shāfiʻī scholars in their methodology in jurisprudence".

As a member of the school of Medina, ash-Shafi'i worked to combine the pragmatism of the Medina school with the contemporary pressures of the Traditionalists. The Traditionalists maintained that jurists could not independently adduce a practice as the sunnah of Muhammad based on ijtihad "independent reasoning" but should only produce verdicts substantiated by authentic hadith.

Based on this claim, ash-Shafi'i devised a method for systematic reasoning without relying on personal deduction. He argued that the only authoritative sunnah were those that were both of Muhammad and passed down from Muhammad himself. He also argued that sunnah contradicting the Quran were unacceptable, claiming that sunnah should only be used to explain the Quran. Furthermore, ash-Shafi'i claimed that if a practice is widely accepted throughout the Muslim community, it cannot be in contradiction of sunnah.

Ash-Shafi'i was also a significant poet. His poetry is noted for its beauty, wisdom, despite the fact that during his lifetime he stood off becoming a poet because of his rank as an Islamic scholar. He said once:

:و لولا الشعر بالعلماء يزري :لكنت اليوم أشعر من لبيد :''For scholars, if poetry did not degrade, :I would have been a finer poet than Labīd.''

However, the beauty of his poetry made people collect it in one famous book under the name Diwān Imām al-Shafi'i. Many verses are popularly known and repeated in the Arab world as proverbs:

:نعيب زماننا و العيب فينا :و ما لزماننا عيب سوانا :و نهجو ذا الزمان بغير ذنب :و لو نطق الزمان لنا هجانا :''We blame our time though we are to blame. :No fault has time but only us. :We scold the time for all the shame. :Had it a tongue, it would scold us.''

The al-Quran has brought a transformation to the Arab language especially in Arabic poetry,prose,etc thus shaping the from and essence of modern/contemporary Arabic poetry.

Importance of the Shafi'i School

Demographics

The Shafi'i school is followed throughout the Ummah and is the official school of thought of most traditional scholars and leading Sunni authorities. It is also recognized as the official school of thought by the governments of Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia. In addition, the government of Indonesia uses this madhab for the Indonesian compilation of sharia law.

It is the dominant school of thought in the Palestinian Territories, the United Arab Emirates, majority of the North Caucasus (notably in Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia), Kurdistan (East Turkey, North west Iran, North Iraq, Northern Syria), Egypt, Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Maldives, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia.

It is also practised by large communities in Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia (in the Hejaz and Asir), Israel, the Swahili Coast, Mauritius, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan (by Chechens) and Indian States of Kerala (most of the Mappilas), Karnataka (Bhatkal, Mangalore and Coorg districts), Maharashtra (by Konkani Muslims) and Tamil Nadu.

The second largest school of the Sunni branch of Islam in terms of followers, the Shafi`i madhhab, is followed by approximately 29% of Muslims worldwide.

Historical

Early European explorers speculated that T'ung-kan (Hui people, called "Chinese Mohammedan") in Xinjiang originated from Khorezmians who were transported to China by the Mongols, and that they were descended from a mixture of Chinese, Iranians, and Turkic peoples. They also reported that the T'ung-kan were Shafi'ites, which the Khorezmians were as well.

Famous Shafi'i's

Imam Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, Imam of Ash'ari Aqida

Imam Jalaluddin Al-Mahally, Sunni authority in Quranic Tafsir (exegesis)

Shaykh 'Alee Jawhar aSumali, Sunni authority in Hadith

Imam Suyuti, Sunni authority in history, Quran, Fiqh, Tafsir, and Hadith

Imām al-Bayhaqi, Sunni authority in Hadith; Shafiite authority in Fiqh

Imām ibn Majah, Sunni authority in Hadith

Imām al-Hakim, Sunni authority in Hadith

Imam Abu Dawud Al-Tayalisi, Sunni authority in Hadith

Imām Tirmizi, Sunni authority in Hadith

Imam Nasa'ie, Sunni authority in Hadith.

Imam Daraqutni, Sunni authority in Hadith

Imam Tabrani, Sunni authority in Hadith

Imam Al-Mawardi, Sunni authority in Legal ordinances, history and Islamic governance.

Ibn al-Salah, hadith specialist

Imām Dhahabi, Sunni authority in Hadith

Al-Hāfidh ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Sunni's foremost authority in Hadith, author of the authoritative commentary of Sahih Bukhari.

Imām an-Nawawi, Sunni's second highest authority in Hadith, principal Shafi'i jurist; author of the Sahih Muslim commentary.

Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, A renowned Sunni expert in Hadith methodology and jurisprudence

Imam Al-Baghawi, Also known as "Reviver of Sunnah", well-known for his Ma'alim Al-Tanzil in Tafsir.

Imam Al-Bayhawi, A major Shafiite exegete and legal expert.

Imam Muhammad Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Sunni most respected exegete

Imam Bukhari, Sunni's most prominent Hadith authority in verification

Imam Muslim ibn Hajjaj, student of Imam Bukhari.

Ibn Kathir, top-notch Sunni expert in Tafsir, Hadith, Biography and Fiqh.

Al-Sakhawi

Sheikhul Islam Zakariyya Al-Ansari, a notable Sunni expert in jurisprudence.

Imam Daqiequl-Eid, Sunni specialist scholar in Fiqh and Theology

Sultan Al-Ulama' Izzuddin Abdul-Salam, renowned Sunni authority in legal law.

Zainuddin Makhdoom I and II, The Jurist and Historian (respectively) of Kerala

Sheikh Safi al-Din Is'haq Ardabili

Imam Al-Ghazali, The Early authority in Principles of Fiqh (Jurisprudence), well-known for his Al-Wasit Fi Al-Madzhab" Author of the Incoherence of The Philosophers and "Ihya Ulum Al-din" The revival of the religious sciences.

Contemporary Shafi'i Scholars

Shaykh Taha Karaan, "Imam Shaf'i Saghir" South Africa's Leading Shafi'i Scholar

Abdullah al-Harari (1910 – September 2, 2008) Started the Ahbash or Habashi movement, also known as the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects at AICP.org

Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar, A. P. Sunni leader in Kerala and General Secretary of the Sunni Scholars’ Organisation of India.

Mufti 'Ali Gomaa' – Grand Mufti of Egypt

Shaykh Nuh Keller – Translator of Imam Nawawi's Al-Maqasid and Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri's Umdat al-Salik wa Uddat al-Nasik

Shaykh Nuh 'Ali Salman al-Qudat – Former Mufti of the Jordanian Armed Forces

Shaykh Al-Habib Umar bin Muhammad bin Salim bin Hafidh – Descendant of The Prophet, Dean, Dar Al-Mustafa

Shaykh Al-Habib Ali Mashhour bin Muhammad bin Salim bin Hafidh – Imam of the Tarim Mosque and Head of Fatwas Council, Tarim, Yemen

Shaykh Ali Zain Al-Abidin Al-Jifri – Descendant of The Prophet, Founder of the 'Tabah Foundations for Islamic Studies and Research', lecturer at Dar al Mustafa, Tarim, Yemen

Shaykh Amjad Rasheed – Islamic scholar from Tarim, Mufti at Sunnipath.com

Shaykh Hamza Karamali – Teacher at Sunnipath.com

Shaykh AbdulKarim Yahya - Teacher at Sunnipath.com

Shaykh Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti - University Research Lecturer in Islamic Studies at University of Oxford

KH. DR. Muhammad Achmad Sahal Mahfudz (President,Nahdhatul Ulama.Indonesia)

Shaykh Abu Zakarriya Muhammad Wardare - Mufti of the Salafi Ikhwa of the Sirat Mujtama' based in North London. Currently a student of knowledge at Brook House College.

Dr. Bahauddin Muslyar – Vice Chancellor or Darul Huda University, Kerala

See also

Islamic schools and branches

Notes

References

Yahia, Mohyddin (2009). Shafi'i et les deux sources de la loi islamique, Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, ISBN 978-2-503-53181-6

Rippin, Andrew (2005). Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 90–93. ISBN 0-415-34888-9.

Calder, Norman, Jawid Mojaddedi, and Andrew Rippin (2003). Classical Islam: A Sourcebook of Religious Literature. London: Routledge. Section 7.1.

Schacht, Joseph (1950). The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence. Oxford: Oxford University. pp. 16.

Khadduri, Majid (1987). Islamic Jurisprudence: Shafi'i's Risala. Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society. pp. 286.

Abd Majid, Mahmood (2007). Tajdid Fiqh Al-Imam Al-Syafi'i. Seminar pemikiran Tajdid Imam As Shafie 2007.

al-Shafi'i,Muhammad b. Idris,"The Book of the Amalgamation of Knowledge" translated by A.Y. Musa in Hadith as Scripture: Discussions on The Authority Of Prophetic Traditions in Islam, New York: Palgrave, 2008

External links

Shafi'i Fiqh Legal Resource with Questions and Answers etc.

Detailed Biography of Imam Shafi'i

Short Biography of Imam Shafi'i

Concise Summary of Imam Shafi'i

Contribution of Imam Shafi'i

Urdu Translation of Imam Shafi'is Kitaab-ur-Risala by Mubashir Nazir

Review of Imam Shafi'i's al-Risala

Category:Sunni Islam

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