Responding to the Question of Why I Chose the Shafi’i School as Well as Statements From the Scholars Regarding Imām Ash-Shāfi’ī

Sidi Abdullah asked me in an email:

“I was noting that in the recent discussion about Shafi’i fiqh and the Maliki madhab, there was no actual articulation of exactly what people love about Shafi’i madhab.  So I am assigning it to you in, say, 250 words or less, insha’llah.”

My Response:

Wa’alaykum Salam my beloved Sidi Abdullah,

It is interesting that you have asked me this question as I have been working on an article I titled “What They Said about Imām Ash-Shāfi’ī”. I have decided to take this opportunity to utilize the quotes I translated for that article so that I can shed light on this important issue. Though I do not speak for every Shāfi’ī and their personal reasons for choosing this madh-hab to guide them along their path in seeking divine legal knowledge, what I am producing in this response is five objective reasons that do not, in themselves surpass 250 words, though their explanations unfortunately surpass 250 words. I am certain that many Shafi’is will echo the same reasons, and may even add more. The following are the five reasons I chose this school: Imam Ash-Shafi’i’s spectacular learning and teaching career, his authoring of the Risālah as well as other works that have come to us only in pieces, the fact that both Imāms Mālik and Ahmad attested to his immense understanding of law, his mastery of the language, and the overall strength of his school in relying upon hadith.

These five reasons I explain in further detail below:

1) Imām Ash-Shāfi’ī’s (radiya Allahu ‘anhu) career in learning:

His career in studying Islām and its sciences was life-long, thorough, and intensely well rounded. His exposure to the different schools available in his time assisted him in arriving at strong and proof-based verdicts.

Studying the Makkan School

He studied the Makkan school of law from Muslim Ibn Khālid Az-Zanjī, a sagacious and righteous faqīh well known to the people of his time, who studied fiqh beneath Ibn Jurayj who took fiqh from ‘Atā’ ibn Abī Rabāh who took from the companion Abdullah ibn ‘Abbās and Abdullah ibn Zubayr who took from Umar and others (radhiya Allahu ‘anhum). He also took fiqh from the Imām of the Muslims, Sufyān ibn ‘Uyayna, said to be unsurpassed in his time for understanding complex fiqh issues, who studied beneath ‘Amrū ibn Dīnār who took from Ibn ‘Abbās and Ibn ‘Umar (radhiya Allahu ‘anhum).

Studying the Medinite School

He studied Medinite fiqh from its Imām, Mālik ibn Anas, as well as others known well to the doctors of law in his era within the city of hijrah - Medinah. Mālik ibn Anas had taken fiqh from Nāfi’ from Ibn Umar and also took fiqh from Rabi’ah ibn Abdur-Rahmān who took from Anas ibn Mālik as well.

Exposure to the Yemeni Schools

He was later exposed to the verdicts and opinions of the Yemenite school, when he was a Judge there. This fact goes unmentioned when discussing his studious career, but it is obvious that such exposure could only strengthen his views and ijtihād.

Exposure to the ‘Iraqī Schools

Upon arriving in Baghdad in shackles, he later enjoyed the company of Muhammad Ash-Shaybānī the student of Abu Hanīfah and a solidifier of his school. Not only was he exposed to the Hanafī verdicts and ijtihād, but Ash-Shaybānī also was a mujtahid in his own right and disagreed on occasion with the Hanafis, giving Imām Ash-Shāfi’ī a more thorough view of the law.

Exposure to Layth ibn Sa’ad’s fiqh in Egypt

Imām Ash-Shafi’ī was exposed to the Laythī madh-hab as well, now a lost school of law. It was stated by him that Layth was superior to Imām Mālik in fiqh.

2) The Risālah

Abu Thawr (rahimahullah) said,

“Abdur-Rahman ibn Mahdi wrote to Imam Ash-Shafi’i, while he was a shaab (young, 40 or less in age) that he produce a book for him explaining to him in it the meanings of the Qur’an, and to gather in it the acceptable narrations, and to bring forth the proofs for Ijmaa’, and to clarify the rules of abrogating and abrogation in the Qur’an and the Sunnah. So Ash-Shafi’i produced the book “Ar-Risalah” for him.”¹

Abdur-Rahman ibn Mahdi later said, “I do not make Salah save that I pray to Allah for Ash-Shafi’i in it.”²

Ibn Abid-Dunya said, ‘I heard Abu Bakr Al-Khallad say: ‘I heard Ibn Mahdi say: ‘I pray to Allah at the end of every Salah for Ash-Shafi’i.”³

Ibn Mahdī concluded after reading the tome Ar-Risālah:

“When I looked into the book ‘Ar-Risaalah’ of Ash-Shafi’i it stunned me! That is because I saw the words of a man with intellect, eloquent (فصيح), sincere (ناصح), and so I made alot of du’aa for him.”⁴

3) Two Other Imāms of the Madh-habs Witnessed and Praised His Fiqh

Two of the Imams of the schools have praised him for his impeccable knowledge and understanding of the texts: Mālik his master, Ahmad his student. In fact Ahmad gave him precedence to his own fiqh while Shāfi’ī  was in Baghdad.

The previously mentioned Abdur-Rahmān Ibn Mahdi (radiyallahu ‘anhu) studied beneath Imam Malik in both fiqh and Hadith. Ibn Mahdi records from Imam Malik that he heard him saying that there was no Qurayshi that had come forth with as much understanding than this young man, Ash-Shafi’i⁵.

Imām Ahmad praised him immensely. Imam Al-Bayhaqi reports the following incident with the following chain:

Abu Abdullah Al-Hafith>>Abi Nasr Al-’Adl>>Abul Hasan>>Muhammad ibn Ayyub ibn Yahya ibn Habib in Egypt>>I heard Ahmad ibn Amru ibn Abdul Khaaliq Al-Bazzar  saying, I heard Abdul Malik Al-Maymuni saying I was with Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Imam Ash-Shafi’i was mentioned, and I heard Imam Ahmad praising him and he said,

“It is reported from the Nabi (’alayhis salaam) that he said,

‘Truly Allah will send forth from this Ummah every 100 years someone who will revive their religion for them’

And it was Umar ibn Abdul ‘Aziz who did such at the head of the first 100 years, and I hope it was Imam Ash-Shafi’i who was the reviver of the second 100 years.” [End quote: See Tabaqat Ash-Shafi'iyyin of Ibn Kathir page 34 ))

Al-Bayhaqi also records through another chain up to Al-Marurudhi that he said: "Ahmad ibn Hanbal said, 'If you ask me regarding an issue, wherein I do not know a report (khabr - from the Nabi ), then I say regarding it to take the statement of Imam Ash-Shafi'i. For he is an Imam, an 'Aalim of the Quraysh, and it is reported from the Prophet Muhammad that he said: 'The scholar of Quraysh will encompass the earth with his knowledge.' And it is reported, "Allah will bring forth at the head of every 100 years a man that will teach mankind their din."⁶

He also said,

واني لأدعو للشافعي منذ أربعين سنة في صلاتي

"I have been making du'aa for fourty years in my Salah for Ash-Shafi'i."⁷

Al-Hafith Ahmad ibn 'Adi reported from Zakariya As-Saaji from Dawud Al-Asbahaani (i.e. Ath-Thaahiri) who said he heard Is-haaq ibn Rahuwayh say,

"I met Ahmad ibn Hanbal in Makkah and he said 'Come with me so that you may see a man that your eyes has never seen the like of before!' So I went and sat with Ash-Shafi'i!"

Ibn Kathir says after this, "This is Sahih!"⁸

Al-Bayhaqi records from Muhammad ibn Al-Husayn As-Sulami who heard from Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Shaadhaan who said he heard Abil Qaasim ibn Mani' say he heard Ahmad ibn Hanbal say,

"Fiqh was difficult (or heavy - thaqeela) upon its people until Allah opened it up/conquered it (فتح) with Ash-Shafi'i."

He also said,

لولا الشافعي ما عرفنا فقه الحديث

"If it were not for Ash-Shafi'i, we would not know fiqh of Hadith."⁹

Al-Bayhaqi reports with his isnaad (chain) up to Muhammad ibn 'Awf who heard Ahmad ibn Hanbal say, "Ash-Shaf'i was a sage (فيلسوف) in four things: Language, disagreement amongst the scholars, Al-Ma'aani (the meanings), and Al-fiqh (Islamic law)."¹⁰

It should also be noted that other masters of law and hadīth held him in high regard. Imām Yahya ibn Qattān, described by Hafith Ibn Hajr as "The Master of Hadith!", loved him intensely. Ibn Abi Haatim reports from Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad As-Sabbaah that he said that Yahya ibn Sa'id Al-Qattan said: "I make du'aa for Ash-Shafi'i in every Salah!"

He also said, "I have never seen a man more intelligent ('aqal) or with more understanding [of religion - fiqh] than Imam Ash-Shafi’i!”¹¹

Abu ‘Ubayd Al-Qāsim ibn Salam said, “If the intelligence of an entire Ummah were gathered, he would have encompassed it!”

4) He was a master of the Language and Used Such Mastery in His Fiqh

Ash-Shāfi’ī was known as a master grammarian, so much so that Zakariya As-Saaji said reporting from Ja’afar ibn Ahmad from Ahmad ibn Hanbal that he said,

كلام الشافعي في اللغة حجة

“The words of Ash-Shafi’i regarding the language [of arabic] are a proof.”

Imām Al-Bayhaqī reports in his Manaqib Ash-Shāfi’ī the following incident from Al-Hasan Ibn Muhammad Az-Za’faranī, a student of Imām Ash-Shāfi’, the following incident:

“A group of Bedouins used to frequent Imām Ash-Shafi’īs gathering with us and sit in a corner. One day I said to their leader: ‘You are not interested in learning so why is it that you sit with us?’ They said: ‘We come to hear Ash-Shāfi’īs language!”

He was a master a poet, who studied language with those who preserved the language in his time, the Bedouins of Arabia. Many of his poems are still studied and can be purchased in book form as the “Diwān of Ash-Shāfi’ī”.

It is recorded in his Dīwān that he said: “Be both a Faqīh and a Sufī!”

5) The Strength of His School and its Enduring Ability

His views are authentically ascribed to him, and are established by great scholars that have few equals in stature - such as Ar-Rafi’i, An-Nawawi the saint, Al-Hāfith Ibn Hajr, Imām Al-Ghazzali, Bayhaqi, Muzani, Al-Juwaynī, Al-Khatīb, the Kalamite and scholar of creed Abul Hasan Al-Asha’rī  etc. His school was defended thoroughly by the master of hadīth such as Al-Hāfith Al-Bayhaqī in his Khilāfiyāt [abridged by Imām Shihābud-Dīn Abī Shāmah Ash-Shāfi'ī (d. 665 A.H)] as well as many other Huffāth that came after and before him.

Imām Ash-Shāfi’ī maintained two known schools referred to as the “Qadīm - old” and the “Jadīd - New”. This left an openness for his students and those who followed them, the masters of the law, to decipher the stronger view. The works of the school are numerous, all easily accessible to the seeker and student.

The Qadim and Jadid were briefly explained by Sidi G.F. Haddad when he wrote:

Two schools of legal thought or madhahib are actually attributed to al-Shafi`i, englobing his writings and legal opinions (fatâwa). These two schools are known in the terminology of jurists as “The Old” (al-qadîm) and “The New” (al-jadîd), corresponding respectively to his stays in Iraq and Egypt. The most prominent transmitters of the New among al-Shafi`i’s students are al-Buwayti, al-Muzani, al-Rabi` al-Muradi, and al-Bulqini, in Kitab al-Umm (”The Motherbook”). The most prominent transmitters of the Old are Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Karabisi, al-Za`farani, and Abu Thawr, in Kitab al-Hujja (”Book of the Proof”). What is presently known as the Shafi`i position refers to the New except in approximately twenty-two questions, in which Shafi`i scholars and muftis have retained the positions of the Old.

Al-Subki related that the Shafi`i scholars considered al-Rabi`s narration from al-Shafi`i sounder from the viewpoint of transmission, while they considered al-Muzani’s sounder from the viewpoint of fiqh, although both were established hadith masters. Al-Shafi`i said to al-Rabi`: “How I love you!” and another time: “O Rabi`! If I could feed you the Science I would feed it to you.” Al-Qaffal al-Shashi in his Fatawa relates that al-Rabi` was slow in his understanding, and that al-Shafi`i once repeated an explanation forty times for him in a gathering, yet he did not understand it then got up and left in embarrassment. Later, al-Shafi`i called him in private and resumed explaining it to him until he understood. This shows the accuracy of Ibn Rahuyah’s statement: “I consider the best part of me the time when I fully understand al-Shafi`i’s discourse.”¹²

It is for these five major reasons I have chosen this school over the schools of the other 3 Imāms. There are more reasons but I wanted to keep it brief, and as objective as possible. I recommend reading the article on Imam Ash-Shafi’i by Girbil Haddad here. All of the quotes that he has not referenced can be found in the Tabaqat of As-Subki and Ibn Kathir, both I have personally checked. It so happens that I found this article after I originally wrote and translated some of the quotes above, so you may find repetitive quotes with minor differences in translation. Whatever the case his article is more concise and of greater benefit I am sure.

I hope this answers your question.

Your Brother,

Abul Layth

Footnotes (Click ↩ at the end of the note to Go Back to Original Place in the article) :

1. ((See Tabaqat Ash-Shaafi’iyyin of Ibn Kathir Vol. 1 pg 35 [↩]
2. ibid [↩]
3. ibid [↩]
4. Reported by Ibn ‘Asākir as mentioned by Ibn Kathir in his Tabaqāt [↩]
5. See Tabaqat Ash-Shaafi’iyyin of Ibn Kathir Vol. 1 pg 35 [↩]
6. ibid. [↩]
7. ibid [↩]
8. Tabaqaat page 38 [↩]
9. Ibid, 38 [↩]
10. ibid, 39 [↩]
11. Both of these quotes come from Ibn Kathir’s Tabaqat Al-Fuquhaa Ash-Shaafi’in pages 35-36 [↩]
12. Source [↩]