Al-Shafi’i
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Imam-ul-Fiqh Abū ʿAbdillāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfi‘ī |
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Abu ʿAbdillah Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i with Islamic calligraphy
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| Title | Shaykh al-Islām |
| Born | August 767 CE Gaza, Palestine, the Levant |
| Died | 19th of January 820 CE (aged 52) al-Fustat, Egypt |
| Ethnicity | Arab |
| Era | Islamic Golden Age |
| Religion | Islam |
| Jurisprudence | Ijtihad |
| Main interest(s) | Fiqh |
| Notable idea(s) | Shafi'i madhhab |
| Notable work(s) | Risalah: Usul al Fiqh, Kitab al-Umm |
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Influenced
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Abū ʿAbdullāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī (Arabic: أبـو عـبـد الله مـحـمـد ابـن إدريـس الـشـافـعيّ) was a Palestinian-Arab Muslim theologian, writer, and scholar, who was the first contributor of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence (Uṣūl al-fiqh). Often referred to as 'Shaykh al-Islām', al-Shāfi‘ī was one of the four great Imams, whose legacy on juridical matters and teaching eventually led to the Shafi'i school of fiqh (or Madh'hab). He was the most prominent student of Imam Malik ibn Anas and he also served as the Governor of Najar.
The biography of al-Shāfi‘i is difficult to trace. Dawud al-Zahiri was said to be the first to write such a biography, but the book has been lost. The oldest surviving biography goes back to Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi (died 327 AH/939 CE) and is no more than a collection of anecdotes, some of them fantastic. A biographical sketch was written by Zakarīya b. Yahya al-Sājī was later reproduced, but even then, a great deal of legend had already crept into the story of al-Shāfi‘i's life. The first real biography is by Ahmad Bayhaqi (died 458 AH/1066 CE) and 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.
Al-Shāfi‘ī belonged to the Qurayshi clan of Banu Muttalib, which was the sister clan of the Banu Hashim, to which the Islamic Nabi (Arabic: نَـبِي, Prophet) Muhammad and the ‘Abbasid caliphs 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. However, al-Shāfi‘ī grew up in poverty, in spite of his connections in the highest social circles.
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