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{{Short description|Muslim scholar, jurist, and traditionist (767–820)}}
{{Redirect|Imam Shafi'i|the village in Iran|Emam Safi}}
{{for|the Egyptian surname with the same Arabic spelling|El-Shafei}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox religious biography
| honorific_prefix   = [[Imam]]
| name               = Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Idris Al-Shafi'i<ref name="islamicfinder" />
| native_name        = أبو عبد الله محمد بن إدريس الشافعيّ
| native_name_lang   = ar
| title              = {{flatlist|
*[[Shaykh al-Islām]]<ref name="islamicfinder">{{cite web|title=Short biography of Imam Al-Shafi'ee|url=https://www.islamicfinder.org/knowledge/biography/story-of-imam-alshafiee|website=www.islamicfinder.org|publisher=IslamicFinder|access-date=21 Jan 2024}}</ref>
*Offspring of the House of the Prophet
*Peerless One
*Scrupulously Pious Ascetic
*Friend of God<ref name=haddad>{{cite web|url=https://spa.qibla.com/issue_view.asp?HD=3&ID=1582&CATE=389|title=Imam Shafi'i|last=Haddad|first=G. F.|website=spa.qibla.com|publisher=As-Sunnah Foundation of America|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205040512/https://spa.qibla.com/issue_view.asp?HD=3&ID=1582&CATE=389|archive-date=5 February 2024|access-date=21 Jan 2024|url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref>
}}
| image              = Chester Beatty T 414 fol 130r al-Shāfiʿī.jpg
| religion           = [[Islam]]
| birth_date         = 767 CE (150 AH)
| birth_place        = [[Gaza City|Gaza]], Palestine, Abbasid Caliphate
| death_date         = 820 CE (204 AH; aged 53–54)<ref name=haddad/>
| death_place        = [[Fustat]], Egypt, Abbasid Caliphate
| era                = [[Islamic Golden Age]] (early [[Abbasid]])
| main_interests     = {{flatlist|
*[[Fiqh|Jurisprudence]]
*[[hadith]]
*[[aqidah|theology]]
*[[asceticism#Islam|asceticism]]
}}
| notable_ideas      = {{plainlist|
*Shafi'i school
*[[Principles of Islamic jurisprudence]]
}}
| works              = {{plainlist|
*''[[Al-Risala (al-Shafi‘i book)|Al-Risala]]''
*''[[Al-Umm]]''
*''[[Musnad al-Shafi'i|Al-Musnad]]''
}}
| occupation         = {{flatlist|
*[[Ulama|Scholar]]
*[[faqīh|jurist]]
*[[muhaddith|traditionist]]
*[[theologian]]
}}
| module1            = {{infobox Arabic name|embed=yes
|ism=Muḥammad
|ism-ar=مُحَمَّد
|nasab=Ibn Idrīs ibn al-ʿAbbās
|nasab-ar=ٱبْن إِدْرِيس بْن ٱلْعَبَّاس
|kunya=Abū ʿAbd Allāh
|kunya-ar=أَبُو عَبْد ٱللَّٰه
|nisba=Al-Shāfiʿī al-Ḥijāzī al-Qurashī al-Muṭṭalibī
|nisba-ar=ٱلشَّافِعِيّ ٱلْحِجَازِيّ ٱلْقُرَشِيّ ٱلْمُطَّلِبِيّ
}}
| influences         = {{flatlist|
*[[Ja'far al-Sadiq]]<ref name="HistoryOfIslam"/>
*[[Muhammad al-Shaybani]]<ref name=haddad/>
*[[Malik ibn Anas]]<ref name=haddad/><ref name="Dutton"/>
*[[Sufyan ibn Uyaynah|Sufyan ibn Uyayna]]
*[[al-Layth ibn Sa'd]]
*[[Sayyida Nafisa|al-Sayyida Nafisa]]<ref name="sunnah"/><ref name="KassamBlomfield"/><ref name="Alia2015"/>
}}
| influenced         = All subsequent Sunni Scholars
| denomination       = [[Sunni]]
| jurisprudence      = [[Mujtahid|Independent]] (eponym of the [[Shafi'i|Shafi'i school]])
| birth_name         = Muḥammad ibn Idrīs ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Shāfiʿī al-Ḥijāzī al-Qurashī al-Hāshimī al-Muṭṭalibī
| resting_place      = [[Mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi'i]], [[Cairo]]
}}

'''Al-Shafi'i'''{{efn|Full name '''Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Idrīs ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Shāfiʿī al-Ḥijāzī al-Qurashī al-Hāshimī al-Muṭṭalibī''' ({{langx|ar|أَبُو عَبْد ٱللَّٰه مُحَمَّد بْن إِدْرِيس بْن ٱلْعَبَّاس ٱلشَّافِعِيّ ٱلْحِجَازِيّ ٱلْقُرَشِيّ ٱلْهَاشِمِيّ ٱلْمُطَّلِبِيّ}});<ref name=haddad/> he is also known by the titles '''Shaykh al-Islam''',<ref name="islamicfinder" /> '''Offspring of the House of the Prophet''', '''Peerless One''', '''Scrupulously Pious Ascetic''', and '''Friend of God'''.<ref name=haddad/>}} ({{langx|ar|الشَّافِعِيّ|translit=al-Shāfiʿī}}; {{IPA|he|a(l) ʃaːfiʕiː|IPA|Imam-Al-Shafi i-Short-ar.ogg}};767–820 CE) was a [[ulama|Muslim scholar]], [[faqīh|jurist]], [[Hadith studies|muhaddith]], [[Ahl al-Hadith|traditionist]], [[Aqidah|theologian]], [[asceticism#Islam|ascetic]], and eponym of the [[Shafi'i school]] of [[Sunni]] [[Islamic jurisprudence]]. He is known to be the first to write a book upon the  [[principles of Islamic jurisprudence]], having authored one of the earliest work on the subject: ''[[al-Risala (al-Shafi‘i book)|al-Risala]]''. His legacy and teaching on the matter provided it with a systematic form, thereby "fundamentally influencing the succeeding generations which are under his direct and obvious impact,"<ref name="IJ" />{{rp|270}} and "beginning a new phase of the development of legal theory."<ref name="IJ">{{cite journal|last=Hasan|first=Ahmad|date=Sep 1966|title=AL-S̱H̱ĀFI'Ī'S ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAMIC JURISPRUDENCE|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20832846|publisher=Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University|journal=Islamic Studies|volume=5|issue=3|jstor=20832846|access-date=21 Jan 2024}}</ref>{{rp|239–273}}

Born in [[Gaza City|Gaza]], Palestine, to the [[al-Muttalib ibn Abd Manaf|Banu Muttalib]] clan of the [[Quraysh]] tribe,<ref name=haddad/> he relocated at the age of two and was raised in [[Mecca]].<ref name=haddad/> He later resided in [[Medina]], [[Yemen]], [[Baghdad]] in [[Iraq]], and [[Egypt]], and also served as a [[mufti|judge]] for some time in [[Najran]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Day|first=Stephen W.|date=25 June 2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7dqsHiTOr_YC&dq=shafi'i+najran+yemen&pg=PA30|title=Regionalism and Rebellion in Yemen: A Troubled National Union|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-02215-7|page=30}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Islam|first1=M. R.|last2=Zatzman|first2=Gary M.|last3=Islam|first3=Jaan S.|date=13 November 2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=15YYAgAAQBAJ&dq=shafi'i+najran+judge&pg=PT331|title=Reconstituting the Curriculum|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-86790-7}}</ref>

==Introduction==
The biography of al-Shafi'i is difficult to trace. It was said [[Dawud al-Zahiri]] (d. 884 CE) was the first to write one, but the work has been lost.<ref>{{cite book|last=Al-Nawawi|author-link=Al-Nawawi|title=Tahdhib al-Asma' wa-l-Lughat|volume=1|page=82}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani|author-link=Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani|title=Tawalli al-Ta'sis li-Ma'ali Muhammad ibn Idris|volume=1|page=26}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ibn Asakir|author-link=Ibn Asakir|title=Tarikh Dimashq}}</ref>{{pageneeded|date=February 2016}} The oldest surviving biography goes back to Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi (d. 938/939 CE), but is only a collection of anecdotes, some of them fantastical. Similarly, a biographical sketch written by Zakariyya ibn Yahya al-Saji was later reproduced, but even then, a great deal of legend had already crept into the story of al-Shafi'i's life.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|last=Khadduri|first=Majid|title=Al-Shāfi'i's Risāla: Treatise on the Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence|publisher=Islamic Texts Society|year=2011|isbn=978-0946621-15-6|pages=8, 11–16}}</ref> The first real biography was written by [[al-Bayhaqi]] (d. 1065/1066 CE), but is filled with what a modernist eye would qualify as pious legends. The following is what seems to be a sensible reading, according to a modern reductionist perspective.

==Biography==
===Ancestry===
Al-Shafi'i belonged to the [[Quraysh]]i clan of [[Muttalib ibn Abd Manaf|Banu Muttalib]], which was the sister clan of the [[Banu Hashim]], to which [[Muhammad]] and the [[Abbasid]] [[caliph]]s belonged. This lineage may have given him prestige, arising from his belonging to the tribe of Muhammad, and his great-grandfather's kinship to him.<ref name=":1" /> However, he grew up in poverty, in spite of his connections to the highest social circles.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

===Early life===
Born in Gaza, Palestine, near the town of [[Ashkelon]] in 767/768 CE/150 AH.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title = The Four Imams and Their Schools|last = Haddad|first = Gibril Fouad|publisher = Muslim Academic Trust|year = 2007|isbn = 978-1-902350-09-7|location = United Kingdom|pages = 189, 190, 193}}</ref> His father died in [[Syria (region)|Sham]] while he was still a child. Fearing the waste of his [[sharif]] lineage, his mother decided to move to [[Mecca]] when he was about two years old. Furthermore, his maternal family roots were from [[Yemen]], and there were more members of his family in Mecca, where his mother believed he would better be taken care of. Little is known about al-Shafi'i's early life in Mecca, except that he was brought up in poor circumstances and that from his youth he was devoted to learning.<ref name=":1" /> An account states that his mother could not afford to buy his paper, so he would write his lessons on bones, particularly shoulder-bones.<ref name=":2" /> He studied under [[Muslim ibn Khalid az-Zanji|Muslim ibn Khalid al-Zanji]], the then-[[mufti|judge]] of Mecca, who is thus considered to be his first teacher.<ref>Ibn Kathir, Tabaqat Ash-Shafi'iyyin, Vol 1. Page 27 Dār Al-Wafa’</ref> By the age of seven, al-Shafi'i had memorised the [[Quran]]. At ten, he had committed [[Malik ibn Anas]]'s ''[[Muwatta Imam Malik|Muwatta]]'' to heart, at which time his teacher would deputise him to teach in his absence. Al-Shafi'i was authorised to issue [[fatwa|ruling]]s at the age of fifteen.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Manāqib al-Shāfi'ī wa-Ābāduh|last = Ibn Abī Hātim|publisher = Dar Al Kotob Al-Ilmiyyah|pages = 39}}</ref>

===Apprenticeship under Malik ibn Anas===
Al-Shafi'i moved to [[Medina]] in desire for further legal training,<ref name=":1" /> as was the tradition of acquiring knowledge. Accounts differ on the age in which he set out to Medina; an account placed his age at thirteen,<ref name=":0" /> while another stated that he was in his twenties.<ref name=":1" /> There, he was taught for many years by the famous [[Malik ibn Anas]],<ref name="jacb1">{{cite book|last1 = A.C. Brown|first1 = Jonathan|title = Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy|date = 2014|publisher = [[Oneworld Publications]]|isbn = 978-1780744209|page = [https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/35 35]|url-access = registration|url = https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/35|author1-link = Jonathan A.C. Brown}}</ref> who was impressed with his memory, knowledge, and intelligence.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shafiifiqh.com/the-biography-of-imam-ash-shafii/ |title=The Biography of Imam Ash Shafii &#124; Shafii Fiqh.com &#124; Shafii Institute |access-date=2012-02-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120420061442/http://www.shafiifiqh.com/the-biography-of-imam-ash-shafii/ |archive-date=2012-04-20 }}</ref> By the time of Malik's death in 179 AH (795 CE), al-Shafi'i had already gained a reputation as a brilliant jurist.<ref name=":1" /> Even though he would later disagree with some of the views of Malik, al-Shafi'i accorded the deepest respect to him by always referring to him as the "Teacher".<ref name=":0" />

===Yemeni ''Fitnah''===
At the age of thirty, al-Shafi'i was appointed as the [[Abbasid]] governor in the Yemeni city of [[Najran]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="jacb1"/> He proved to be a just administrator but soon became entangled with factional jealousies. In 803 CE, al-Shafi'i was accused of aiding the [[Alids]] in a revolt, and was thus summoned in chains with a number of Alids to the [[caliph]] [[Harun al-Rashid]] at [[Raqqa]].<ref name=":1" /> Whilst other conspirators were put to death, al-Shafi'i's own eloquent defence convinced the caliph to dismiss the charge. Other accounts state that the famous [[Hanafi]] jurist, [[Muhammad al-Shaybani]], was present at the court and defended al-Shafi'i as a well-known student of the sacred law.<ref name=":1" /> What was certain was that the incident brought al-Shafi'i in close contact with al-Shaybani, who would soon become his teacher. It was also postulated that this incident impelled him to devote the rest of his career to legal studies, never again to seek government service.<ref name=":1" />

===Apprenticeship under al-Shaybani, and exposure to Hanafi jurists===
Al-Shafi'i traveled to [[Baghdad]] to study with [[Abu Hanifah]]'s acolyte al-Shaybani and others.<ref name="jacb1"/> It was here that he developed his first school, influenced by the teachings of both Abu Hanifah and Malik.{{citation needed|reason=This statement requires proof of an existence of an independent school of thought at this juncture of his life |date=October 2015}}  His work thus became known as "''al-madhhab al-qadim li-l-imam al-shafi'i''", or the "old school of al-Shafi'i".{{citation needed|reason=This statement requires proof of the existence of such a work, and its name|date=April 2023}}

It was here that al-Shafi'i actively participated in legal arguments with the [[Hanafi]] jurists, strenuously defending the [[Maliki]] school of thought.<ref name=":1" /> Some authorities stress the difficulties encountered by him in his arguments.<ref name=":1" /> Al-Shafi'i eventually left Baghdad for Mecca in 804 CE, possibly because of complaints by Hanafi followers to al-Shaybani that al-Shafi'i had become somewhat critical of al-Shaybani's position during their disputes. As a result, al-Shafi'i reportedly participated in a debate with al-Shaybani over their differences, though who won the debate is disputed.<ref name=":1" />

In Mecca, al-Shafi'i began to lecture at the [[Masjid al-Haram|Sacred Mosque]], leaving a deep impression on many students of jurisprudence, including the founder of the [[Hanbali school]], [[Ahmad ibn Hanbal]].<ref name=":1" /> Al-Shafi'i's legal reasoning began to mature, as he started to appreciate the strength in the legal reasoning of the Hanafi jurists, and became aware of the weaknesses inherent in both the Maliki and Hanafi schools of thought.<ref name=":1" />

===Departure to Baghdad and Egypt===
[[File:Schafi'i-Mausoleum in Kairo.jpg|250px|thumb|The [[Mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi'i|Imam al-Shafi'i Mausoleum]] in [[Cairo]], [[Egypt]]]]

Al-Shafi'i eventually returned to Baghdad in 810 CE. By this time, his stature as a jurist had grown sufficiently to permit him to establish an independent line of legal speculation. The caliph [[al-Ma'mun]] is said to have offered al-Shafi'i a position as a judge, but he declined the offer.<ref name=":1" />

====Connection with the family of Muhammad====
{{See also|Ahl al-Bayt|Banu Hashim}}

In 814 CE, al-Shafi'i decided to leave Baghdad for Egypt. The precise reasons for his departure from Iraq are uncertain, but it was in Egypt that he would meet another tutor, [[Sayyida Nafisa|al-Sayyidah Nafisah]], who would also financially support his studies,<ref name="sunnah">{{cite web|url=http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/nafisa_at_tahira.htm|title=Nafisa at-Tahira|website=www.sunnah.org|access-date=19 October 2016|archive-date=26 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626065514/http://www.sunnah.org/history/Scholars/nafisa_at_tahira.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="KassamBlomfield">{{citation |author1=[[Zayn Kassam]] |author2=Bridget Blomfield |chapter=Remembering Fatima and Zaynab: Gender in Perspective |title=The Shi'i World |editor=Farhad Daftory |publisher=[[I.B Tauris]] Press |year=2015}}</ref><ref name="Alia2015">{{cite web |last=Aliyah |first=Zainab |title=Great Women in Islamic History: A Forgotten Legacy |url=http://www.youngmuslimdigest.com/study/02/2015/great-women-islamic-history-forgotten-legacy/ |website=Young Muslim Digest |access-date=18 February 2015 |date=2 February 2015}}</ref> and where he would dictate his life's works to students. Several of his leading disciples would write down what al-Shafi'i said, who would then have them read it back aloud so that corrections could be made. Al-Shafi'i biographers all agree the legacy of works under his name are the result of those sessions with his disciples.<ref name=":1" />

Through Muhammad's grandson [[Hasan ibn Ali]], Nafisah was a [[sayyid|descendant]] of Muhammad, and she married another descendant of Muhammad, Ishaq al-Mu'tamin. Ishaq was the son of [[Ja'far al-Sadiq]], a teacher of al-Shafi'i's teachers Malik ibn Anas,<ref name="Dutton">{{citation |title=The Origins of Islamic Law: The Qurʼan, the Muwaṭṭaʼ and Madinan ʻAmal |last=Dutton |first=Yasin |author-link=Yasin Dutton |page=16}}</ref><ref name="Haddad2007">{{cite book |last=Haddad |first=Gibril F. |title=The Four Imams and Their Schools |location=[[London]], the [[United Kingdom|U.K.]] |publisher=Muslim Academic Trust |year=2007 |pages=121–194}}</ref>{{rp|121}} as well as Abu Hanifah.<ref name="sunnah" /><ref name="KassamBlomfield" /><ref name="Alia2015" /> Thus, all of the four major imams of Sunni jurisprudence—Abu Hanifah, Malik, his student al-Shafi'i, and his student Ahmad—are connected to Ja'far al-Sadiq, who was from the [[Ahl al-Bayt|household]] of Muhammad, whether directly or indirectly.<ref name="HistoryOfIslam">{{cite web |url=http://historyofislam.com/contents/the-classical-period/imam-ja%E2%80%99afar-as-sadiq/ |title=Imam Ja'afar as Sadiq |work=History of Islam |access-date=2012-11-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721215837/http://historyofislam.com/contents/the-classical-period/imam-ja%E2%80%99afar-as-sadiq/ |archive-date=2015-07-21 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Death===
[[File:Imam Shafii Tomb.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Al-Shafi'i's tomb in Cairo, Egypt]]

At least one authority states that al-Shafi'i died as a result of injuries sustained from an attack by supporters of a Maliki follower named Fityan. The story goes that al-Shafi'i triumphed in the argument over Fityan, who, being intemperate, resorted to abuse. The then-governor of Egypt, with whom al-Shafi'i had good relations, ordered Fityan punished by having him paraded through the streets of the city carrying a plank and stating the reason for his punishment. Fityan's supporters were enraged by this treatment and attacked al-Shafi'i in retaliation after one of his lectures, causing him to die a few days later.<ref>Khadduri, pp. 15–16 (Translator's Introduction). Khadduri cites for this story Yaqut's ''Mu‘jam al-Udabā'', vol. VI pp. 394–95 (ed. Margoliouth, London: 1931), and Ibn Hajar's ''Tawālī al-Ta'sīs'', p. 86.</ref> However, [[Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani]] casts doubt on this story, claiming it is not "from a reliable source".<ref>Ibn Hajar's ''Tawālī al-Ta'sīs'', p.185 DKi 1986 edition</ref> Al-Shafi'i was also known to have suffered from a painful intestinal illness and hemorrhoids,<ref>Ibn Hajar's ''Tawālī al-Ta'sīs'', p.177 DKi 1986 edition</ref> which kept him frail and ailing during the later years of his life. Thus, the precise cause of his death is unknown.<ref>Khadduri, p. 16 (Translator's Introduction).</ref>

Al-Shafi'i died at the age of 54 on 20 January 820 CE/30 Rajab 204 AH, in [[al-Fustat]], Egypt. He was buried in the vault of the Banu Abd al-Hakam, [[City of the Dead (Cairo)|City of the Dead]] near [[Mokattam]].<ref name=":1" /> The ''[[qubbah|dome]]'' was built in 1212 CE/608 AH by the [[Ayyubid]] [[sultan]] [[al-Kamil]]. [[Mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi'i|Al-Shafi'i's mausoleum]] remains an important site today.<ref name=Archnet>{{cite web|url=http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=3417 |title=Archnet |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215102706/http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=3417 |archive-date=2013-12-15 }}</ref><ref name=TourEgypt>{{cite web|url=http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/shafii.htm|title=Tour Egypt :: The Mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
{{Main article|Shafi'i}}

The [[Shafi'i]] school, one of the four Sunni schools of [[Islamic jurisprudence]], known as [[madhhab]]s, is named for Al-Shāfi'ī, who is also credited setting up the framework of Islamic jurisprudence by establishing the relative importance order of its different sources as follows:
#The [[Qur'an]];
#[[Hadith]]. i.e. collections of the words, actions, and silent approval of [[Muhammad]]. (Together with the Qur'an these make up "revealed sources");
#[[Ijma]]. i.e. the consensus of the (pure traditional) Muslim community;
#[[Qiyas]]. i.e. the method of analogy.<ref name=Schacht-OoMJ-1959-1>{{cite book |title=The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence |last1=Schacht |first1=Joseph |publisher=Oxford University Press |orig-year= 1950 |year= 1959 |page=1 }}</ref><ref>Snouck Hurgronje, C. ''Verspreide Geschriften''. v.ii. 1923-7, page 286-315</ref><ref>''Étude sur la théorie du droit musulman'' (Paris : Marchal et Billard, 1892–1898.)</ref><ref>Margoliouth, D.S., ''The Early Development of Mohammedanism'', 1914, page 65ff</ref><ref>Schacht, Joseph in ''Encyclopedia of Islam'', 1913 v.IV, sv ''Usul''</ref>

Scholar John Burton goes farther, crediting Al-Shafi'i not just with establishing the science of fiqh in Islam, but its importance to the religion. "Where his contemporaries and their predecessors had engaged in defining Islam as a social and historical phenomenon, Shafi'i sought to define a revealed Law."<ref name=JBSILITA1990:14>[[#JBSILITA1990|Burton, ''Islamic Theories of Abrogation'', 1990]]: p.14</ref>

Al-Shāfi‘ī emphasised the final authority of a [[hadith]] of [[Muhammad]] so that even the Qur'an was "to be interpreted in the light of traditions (i.e. hadith), and not vice versa."<ref>J. SCHACHT, ''An Introduction to Islamic Law'' (1964), supra note 5, at 47</ref><ref name="Forte-1978-13">{{cite journal|last1=Forte|first1=David F.|title=Islamic Law; the impact of Joseph Schacht |journal=Loyola Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review |date=1978|volume=1|page=13 |url=http://www.soerenkern.com/pdfs/islam/IslamicLawTheImpactofJosephSchacht.pdf |access-date=19 April 2018}}</ref> While traditionally the Quran is considered above the Sunna in authority, Al-Shafi'i "forcefully argued"  that the sunna stands "on equal footing with the Quran", (according to scholar Daniel Brown) for – as Al-Shafi'i put it – "the command of the Prophet is the command of Almighty Allah."<ref>al-Shafii ‘’Kitab al-Risala’’, ed. Muhammad Shakir (Cairo, 1940), 84</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Brown |first1=Daniel W.|title=Rethinking tradition in modern Islamic thought |date=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521570778|page=8 |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/116836545/Rethinking-Traditions-in-Modern-Islamic-Thought-Daniel-w-Brown |access-date=10 May 2018}}</ref>

The focus by the Muslim community on ahadith of Muhammad and disinterest in ahadith of Muhammad's companions (whose ahadith were commonly used before Al-Shāfi‘ī since most of whom survived him and spread his teachings after his death) is thought (by scholar Joseph Schacht) to reflect the success of Al-Shāfi‘ī's doctrine.<ref name=Schacht-OoMJ-1959-4>{{cite book |title=The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence |last1=Schacht |first1=Joseph |publisher=Oxford University Press |orig-year= 1950 |year= 1959 |page=4 }}</ref>

Al-Shāfi‘ī influence was such that he changed the use of the term Sunnah,  "until it invariably meant only the Sunnah of the Prophet" (according to John Burton this was his "principle achievement").<ref name=JBSILITA1990:15>[[#JBSILITA1990|Burton, ''Islamic Theories of Abrogation'', 1990]]: p.15</ref> While earlier, sunnah had been used to refer to tribal manners and customs,<ref name=JBSILITA1990:12>[[#JBSILITA1990|Burton, ''Islamic Theories of Abrogation'', 1990]]: p.12</ref> (and while Al-Shāfi‘ī distinguished between the non-authoritative "sunnah of the Muslims" that was followed in practice, and the "sunnah of the Prophet" that Muslims ''should'' follow),<ref name=JBSILITA1990:14/> sunnah came to mean the Sunnah of Muhammad.<ref name=JBSILITA1990:15/>

In the Islamic sciences, Burton credits him with "the imposition of a formal theoretical distinction" between ‘the Sunnah of the Prophet’ and the Quran, "especially where the two fundamental sources appeared to clash".<ref name=JBSILITA1990:15/> 

; Mu'tazalites
Al-Shafi'i was part of those early traditionalist theologians who strongly opposed ''[[Mu'tazilism|i'tizal]]'' and criticised the speculative theologians for abandoning the ''[[Qur'an]]'' and ''[[Sunnah|sunna]]'' through their adoption of Greek philosophy in metaphysics.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abrahamov |first=Binyamin |title=Islamic Theology: Traditionalism and Rationalism |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-7486-1102-9 |location=George Square, Edinburgh |pages=28–29 |chapter=Chapter 3: Traditionalism Against Rationalism- The Traditionalists' Criticism of the use of Rational Methods |quote="Al-Shafi'ī's attitude towards the Mutazilites was no less severe. His judgement of them is that they should be smitten with palm branches and shoes in the presence of many people and then it will be said: this is the punishment of those who abandoned the Qur'an and the Sunna and turned to the Greeks."}}</ref>

;Structures
[[Saladin]] built a ''[[madrasa]]'' 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 [[Fatimid]]s. It remains a site where people petition for justice.<ref>Ruthven Malise, ''Islam in the World''. 3rd edition Granta Books London 2006 ch. 4, page 122</ref>
;Followers
Among the followers of Imam al-Shāfi‘ī's school were:
*[[Ahmad Bayhaqi|Bayhaqi]]<ref>The Levels of the Shafiee scholars by Imam As-Subki طبقات الشافعية للسبكي</ref>
*[[Al-Suyuti]]<ref>Nahyan Fancy, ''Science and Religion in Mamluk Egypt'' (2013, {{ISBN|1136703616}}), page 23: "... highlighted by the latter-day Shafi'i authority, Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti."</ref>
*[[Al-Dhahabi]]<ref>Scott C. Lucas, ''Constructive Critics, Ḥadīth Literature, and the Articulation of Sunni Islam'' (2004, {{ISBN|9004133194}}), page 72: "It is somewhat astonishing that al-Dhahabi, ''a purported adherent'' to the Shafi'i madhhab, does not honor al-Shafi'i with the sobriquet Shayk al-Islam." (Emphasis added.)</ref>
*[[Al-Ghazali]]
*[[Ibn Hajar Asqalani]]
*[[Ibn Kathir]]
*[[Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi]]
*[[Al-Mawardi]]
* [[Al-Muzani|Al Muzani]]

=== Works ===
He authored more than 100 books, but few survived to this day.<ref>David Waines, ''An Introduction to Islam'', Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 68</ref> The extant works of his which are accessible today are:

*[[Al-Risala (book)|Al-Risala]] – The best-known book by al-Shafi'i in which he examined [[usul al-fiqh|principles of jurisprudence]]. The book has been translated into English.
*[[Kitab al-Umm]] – his main surviving text on [[Shafi'i]] [[fiqh]]
*[[Musnad al-Shafi'i]] (on [[hadith]]) – it is available with arrangement, Arabic 'Tartib', by Ahmad ibn Abd ar-Rahman al-Banna
*[https://shamela.ws/book/9348 Ikhtilaf al-Hadith]
*[https://shamela.ws/book/13033 Al-Sunan al-Ma’thour]
*[https://shamela.ws/book/3197 Jima’ al-’Ilm]
In addition to this, al-Shafi'i was an eloquent poet, who composed many short poems aimed at addressing morals and behaviour. The most famous of which is his Al-Diwan.{{fact|date=January 2024}}

=== Anecdotal stories ===
[[Ahmad ibn Hanbal]] considered al-Shafi'i to be the ''"imam'' most faithful to tradition" who led the people of tradition to victory against the exponents of ''ra'y''.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book|last=Glodziher|first=Dr. Ignaz|title=The Zahiris, Their Doctrine and their History: A Contribution to the History of Islamic Theology|publisher=Brill Publishers|year=2008|isbn=978-90-04-16241 9|location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands|page=23|chapter=Chapter 3}}</ref> In the words of Ibn Hanbal, "at no time was there anyone of importance in learning who erred less, and who followed more closely the sunnah of the Prophet than al-Shafi'i."<ref name="auto" />
{{check quotation}}
{{PresentScholar|Shah Waliullah Dehlawi|18th|Sunni}} stated:<ref>Izalat al-Khafa p. 77 part 7</ref> "A ''[[mujaddid]]'' appears at the end of every century: the ''mujaddid'' of the 1st century was the [[Imam#Sunni imams|''imam'']] of ''[[Sunni Islam|ahl al-sunna]]'', [[Umar II|Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz]]; the ''mujaddid'' of the 2nd century was Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i; the ''mujaddid'' of the 3rd century was [[Abu Hasan al-Ash'ari|Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari]]; the ''mujaddid'' of the 4th century was [[al-Hakim al-Nishapuri]]."

=== Quotations ===
* He who seeks pearls immerses himself in the sea.<ref>Diwan al-Imam al-shafi'i, (book of poems – al-shafi'i) p. 100; Dar El-Mrefah Beirut – Lebanon 2005. {{ISBN|9953-429-33-2}}</ref>
* He said to the effect that no knowledge of Islam can be gained from books of ''[[kalam]]'', as it "is not from knowledge"<ref>Dhammul-Kalaam (Q/213)</ref><ref>[[Dhahabi]], [[Siyar A'lam al-Nubala']] (10/30)</ref> and that "it is better for a man to spend his whole life doing whatever [[Allah]] has prohibited—besides [[Shirk (polytheism)|shirk]] with Allah—rather than spending his whole life involved in ''kalam''."<ref name=":2">Ibn Abi Hatim, Manaaqibush-Shaafi'ee, pg. 39</ref>{{efn|Siyar A'lam Nubala recorded the words of al-Shafi'i as following: {{sic|Do not be preoccupied with ''Kalam'', since I (have) learned that the ''Kalam'' scholars inclined to ''Ta'thil''(rejection of [[Names of God in Islam]])}}<ref name="Philosophy; Suyuti; 60">{{cite book |author1=Jalal al-Din Abdul Rahman bin Abi Bakr |author1-link=al-Suyuti |editor1-last=Farid Al-Mazidi |editor1-first=Ahmad |title=صون المنطق والكلام عن فن المنطق والكلام ويليه جهد القريحة |date=January 2007 |publisher=Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyah |page=60 |isbn=978-2-7451-5236-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bodxDwAAQBAJ |access-date=2 May 2024 |language=Ar}}</ref><ref name="Imam Asy Syafi’i dan Ilmu Filsafat   |trans-title=Imam Ash Shafi'i and Philosophy">{{cite web |author1=Yulian Purnama |title=Imam Asy Syafi'i dan Ilmu Filsafat  |trans-title=Imam Ash Shafi'i and Philosophy |url=https://muslim.or.id/58326-imam-asy-syafii-dan-ilmu-filsafat.html |website=Muslim |location=[[Yogyakarta]], Indonesia |publisher=Yayasan Pendidikan Islam Al Atsari: YPIA /Al Atsari Islamic Education Foundation |access-date=2 May 2024 |language=Id |date=2021}}</ref>}}
* If a ''hadith'' is authenticated as coming from the Prophet, we have to resign ourselves to it, and your talk and the talk of others about why and how, is a mistake.<ref name="Schacht-OoMJ-1959-13">{{cite book |title=The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence |last1=Schacht |first1=Joseph |publisher=Oxford University Press |orig-year= 1950 |year= 1959 |page=13 }}</ref>

== Islamic scholars ==
{{Islam scholars diagram}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Islam}}
*[[Fiqh]]
*[[Mujaddid]]
*[[Shafi'i]]
*[[Mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi'i]]

== Footnotes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===

* {{Cite book | first1=John | last1=Burton | title=The Sources of Islamic Law: Islamic Theories of Abrogation | publisher=Edinburgh University Press | year=1990 | isbn=0-7486-0108-2 | url=http://www.almuslih.org/Library/Burton,%20J%20-%20The%20Sources%20of%20Islamic%20Law.pdf | access-date=21 July 2018 | ref=JBSILITA1990 | archive-date=4 January 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200104171116/http://www.almuslih.org/Library/Burton,%20J%20-%20The%20Sources%20of%20Islamic%20Law.pdf | url-status=dead }}
* Ruthven Malise, ''Islam in the World''. 3rd edition Granta Books London 2006 ch. 4
* [[Majid Khadduri]] (trans.), "al-Shafi'i's Risala: Treatise on the Foundation of Islamic Jurisprudence". Islamic Texts Society 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
Helal M Abu Taher, Char Imam(Four Imams), Islamic Foundation, Dhaka,1980.

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wikisourcelang|ar|مؤلف:محمد بن إدريس الشافعي|Shafi`i}}
* [http://www.muslimscholars.info/manage.php?submit=scholar&ID=20002 Biodata at MuslimScholars.info]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120420061442/http://www.shafiifiqh.com/the-biography-of-imam-ash-shafii/ The Biography of Imam ash-Shafi'i]
*
[A concise guide to Arkan ul Iman and Arkan ul Islam:https://archive.org/details/Salah_Guide]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20171214064844/http://lostislamichistory.com/imam-al-shafii-the-father-of-usul-al-fiqh/ The Life of Imam al-Shafi'i at Lost Islamic History]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190113035858/http://www.haqislam.org/biographies/imam-shafiee.htm Short Biography of Imam Shafi'i]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080507170603/http://www.al-inaam.com/library/shaafiee.htm Concise Summary of Imam Shafi'i]
*[https://archive.today/20130420215645/http://www.happy-books.co.uk/muhammad-ibn-abdullah-lineage-and-family-tree/students-sheikhs-and-teachers-of-famous-muslim-imams-and-scholars-in-muslim-history.php?id=418 Diagram of teachers and students of Imam Shafi'i]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131215102706/http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=3417 The Mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi'i]
{{Shafi'i scholars}}
{{Arabic literature}}
{{Islamic Theology}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shafii}}
[[Category:767 births]]
[[Category:820 deaths]]
[[Category:8th-century Arabic-language writers]]
[[Category:9th-century Arabic-language writers]]
[[Category:9th-century clergy]]
[[Category:9th-century Muslim scholars of Islam]]
[[Category:8th-century jurists]]
[[Category:9th-century jurists]]
[[Category:Scholars from the Abbasid Caliphate]]
[[Category:Maliki fiqh scholars]]
[[Category:Mujaddid]]
[[Category:People from Gaza City]]
[[Category:Shafi'is]]
[[Category:Sunni imams]]
[[Category:Arab Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam]]
[[Category:8th-century Arab people]]
[[Category:9th-century Arab people]]

[[ace:Syafi'iy]]