Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal remarked that Mohammad Ibn Idris Al ‘Abbas Ibn ‘Uthman Ibn Shafi‘ Al Shafi‘i (767-820) “was like the sun over the world and good health for people”, and wondered whether “these two had replacements or successors”. It was a superlative compliment to Al Shafi‘i, who was born in ‘Asqalan, Gaza (today in Palestine), and who became one of the four foremost legal theorists of Islam. A pupil of Imam Malek, Al Shafi‘i earned the title of Nasir Al Sunnah, the “Supporter of the Sunnah”, as he excelled in intellectually solving doctrinal and legal problems that preoccupied theologians. As one of the four Sunni Imams who laboured to strengthen Islam’s juridical ethos, Al Shafi‘i became the father of an entire school in Usul Al Fiqh (principles of jurisprudence).
Life and times
Born into Makkah’s Banu Muttalib clan, itself associated with a sister group — the Banu Hashim from which the Prophet (PBUH) emerged — that, in turn was part of the larger Quraish tribe, Al Shafi‘i’s great great grandfather, Shafi‘, and the latter’s father, Al Sa’ib, were companions of the Prophet (PBUH). His mother, Fatima Bint ‘Abdullah Ibn Al Hassan Ibn ‘Ali Ibn Abi Taleb, established additional family links with the Prophet (PBUH).
When he was barely two years old, Al Shafi‘i’s mother took the child to Makkah after her husband died in Damascus — presumably while on a business visit. It was in the Hijaz that the precocious pupil grew up among his Yemeni relatives from whom he most probably learnt the skills associated with archery, which he perfected, while the Mufti of Makkah, Muslim Ibn Khalid Al Zanji, taught him language and poetry. Later on in life, Al Shafi‘i would mesmerise many with his command of the language, which made him stand out from most. At the time, however, because of his mother’s limited financial means, the young boy could not afford paper — an expensive item which was only accessible to the wealthy — which forced him to memorise the Quran by the age of 7. He was still a teenager when he moved to Madinah in search of knowledge, perhaps, to become a student of the renowned Malek Ibn Anas. Various sources affirm that his innate capabilities were so good that he could remember Malek’s “Muwatta‘” (the first written collection of hadiths comprising the subjects of Muslim law) by 10, which prompted his teacher to deputise him to teach in his absence. One source asserted that he received permission to issue fatwas (decrees) when he was barely 15, which, by any measure, was an extraordinary feat.
In time, several of his Quraishi relatives recommended the budding scholar to the new governor of Yemen, Al Muttalibi, who welcomed Al Shafi‘i to Sana’a. It was in Yemen that the young scholar met and studied with such figures as Mutarrif Ibn Mazin, Hesham Ibn Yousuf Al Qadi and others, all of whom shared their insights. Given his prowess for social justice and command of legal texts then under development, Al Shafi‘i was offered a judgeship in Najran, whose functions he discharged with impeccable skill and hardly any reproach from its inhabitants. Regrettably, his sense of fairness was not shared by the local governor along with leading ‘Alawi citizens, who lodged a formal complaint against the judge to the Caliph Harun Al Rasheed. Summoned to Raqqa [in today’s Syria and the scene of a pseudo Caliphate] in chains, Al Shafi‘i and several others were tried by the Caliph, and most were executed. Mercifully, Al Shafi‘i had his superior intellect to rely on when he confronted the Caliph, to whom he is said to have told the following parable:
“Oh Amir Al-Mu’minin [Commander of the Faithful]! What do you say about a man [ie a ‘Abbasi] who has two paternal cousins [ie Muttalibi and a ‘Alawi], one of whom [the Muttalibi] deems him his intimate family, places him in his own lineage, and affirms that his property is taboo to him except by his permission, that his daughter is unmarriageable to him except by his betrothal, and that he considers him to own the same rights over him as he would over himself. The other [the ‘Alawi], however, claims that the man is beneath him, that he is higher than him in lineage, that he is his slave, his daughter his bondswoman, that she belongs to him without his permission, and that his property is his booty. Which of them should you rightly patronise, Commander of the Faithful? You are that man and here are your two paternal cousins!”
This eloquent defence was made in the presence of Mohammad Ibn Al Hassan Al Shaybani, who grasped the parable and convinced Harun Al Rasheed to dismiss all charges against him. The Caliph apparently directed Shaybani, a leading scholar of Hanafi theology, to take the young Al Shafi‘i to Baghdad, where he developed his first school that was clearly influenced by both the Hanafi and Maleki traditions. Early references to some of his work, about 20 lessons, became known as the Old School of Al Shafi‘i and could be traced to his sojourn in the Iraqi city. After Hanafi followers complained to Shaybani that Al Shafi‘i was increasingly critical of the school during their disputations, and following several theological debates with Shaybani, Al Shafi‘i deemed it best to return to Makkah. It was in the holy city that Ibn Hanbal apparently heard him lecture that further highlighted nascent differences. Al Shafi‘i eventually returned to Baghdad in 810, and though the Caliph Al Ma’mun wanted him to stay as a judge, the scholar declined.
In 814, he left Baghdad for Cairo, where he composed his “Risala”, an unprecedented opus that transformed dogma into law. Al Shafi‘i actually dictated the text to students and, upon hearing several readings of the text, made the necessary recommendations. All of the text that survived, except for about 20 lessons attributed to his Baghdad sojourn, was penned in Cairo.
Al Shafi‘i died at the age of 54 on January 20, 820, in Al Fustat, Egypt, and was buried in the vault of the Banu ‘Abdul Hakam, near Mount Al Muqattam. How he passed away is still a mystery. At least one authority claimed that Al Shafi‘i died because of injuries sustained when Maleki supporters attacked him. The story goes like this: A Maleki follower by the name of Fityan engaged the scholar in a debate which he could not possibly win, leading him to resort to some form of abuse. Given Al Shafi‘i’s stature in the community, and perhaps to make an example of him, the Governor ordered that Fityan be punished by parading him through the streets of the city carrying a plank and stating the reason for his punishment. This enraged Fityan’s supporters, which allegedly led them to retaliate against Al Shafi‘i after one of his lectures. The erudite man died a few days later, although this version of events is not universally accepted, given that he was known to suffer from intestinal problems that dogged him most of his life.
Exceptional scholarship
Al Shafi‘i, whose command of the Arabic language was astounding, is the only Quraishi among the four Imams, and the “only one of the four to be raised in Makkah, the cradle of the chief Quranic dialect”. If his poetry earned him accolades, with the Imam Al Bayhaqi saying that Al Shafi‘i “was an Arab in his soul and an Arab in his speech”, his legal erudition was equally astonishing.
Besides the Makkahan Mufti Al Zanj, who encouraged him to issue fatwas on account of his analytical skills and impeccable social credentials, and Imam Malek Ibn Anas, who was truly impressed by his compassion and scholarship, Al Shafi‘i benefited from Mohammad Al Shaybani’s mentorship in Baghdad. In fact, Al Shaybani once said, “If the scholars of hadith speak, it is in the language of Al Shafi‘i,” which must be one of the greatest compliments ever bestowed on a fellow jurist. Interestingly, while in Baghdad, Al Shafi‘i studied Hanafi fiqh under Al Shaybani, whose views on issues such as ghasb (robbery) changed because of arguments put forth by his student. In the event, the two men forged close ties and Al Shafi‘i went so far as to purchase Al Shaybani’s books for 60 dinars.
Whether these teaching sessions caused Al Shafi‘i to distance himself from the Imam Malek is difficult to affirm, although the young scholar never ceased to defend Malek’s ideas. According to one source, Al Shafi‘i often stated that he did not differ from Malek “other than the way colleagues would”. In time, however, after followers of the two pointed out doctrinal differences, Al Shafi‘i resolved to pen his views for the record. Yet, even after his collection earned him the rightly deserved spot of a leading Imam, he would still insist that “this is what the Teacher said — ‘hadha qawl al-ustadh’” — meaning Malek.
To his credit, Al Shafi‘i reconciled the schools of hadith and fiqh and used the former to establish informed “jurisprudence among the Salaf, gathering under one roof the superlative insight of Abu Hanifa and Malek’s legal opinion (ra’i) on the one hand and, on the other, [relying on] the extensive knowledge of narrators” to transmit evidence. Both Al Bukhari and Ahmad relied on his paradigm and the latter acknowledged that Muslims “did not cease to curse the people of legal opinion and they would curse us, until Al Shafi‘i came and reconciled our differences”. In fact, Ibn ‘Abdul Salam, the Sultan of Scholars who left his mark albeit a few centuries later, once declared that there was not a single hadith that did not reach Al Shafi‘i in one form or another, whether musnad (authentic or supported by a full transmission chain), mursal [authentic but whose chain stops with the companions of the Prophet (PBUH)], or munqati’ (broken). Few others can boast such a legacy.
Legacy to Arabs and Muslims
Al Shafi‘i developed the science of unifying the revealed sources in Islam — the Quran as well as the hadiths attributed to the Prophet (PBUH) — with human reasoning to devise a functioning legal system. Three other Sunni Imams attempted a similar systematisation of Sharia, which created the institutions that united Muslims. It is interesting to note that all four Sunni legal schools kept their traditions within the framework that Al Shafi‘i established, and while he gave his name to one of them, he did not disparage the other three. Muslims in Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Maldives, the Philippines, Brunei, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania, as well as in Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Turkey (where both Tatars and Kurds pray according to his traditions) and Yemen, all followed his legal norms, as did the vast majority of hadith scholars, including Al Nasa’i, Al Bukhari, Ibn Khuzaymah, Al Hakim, Al Daraqutni, Al Bayhaqi, and others. Over the centuries, leading scholars of the creed, including Abul Hassan Al Asha’ri, Al Junayd and Al Muhasibi, followed the Shafi‘i school, anxious to perpetuate his meticulous approach.
While Al Shafi‘i’s legacy is well established throughout the Muslim world, leading institutions in Europe and North America espouse its vibrancy too, as Muslim jurists struggling to adapt legal formulas to solve modern problems find practical solutions in his time-tested approach.
Dr Joseph A. Kéchichian is the author of the forthcoming “‘Iffat Al Thunayan: An Arabian Queen”, London: Sussex Academic Press, 2015.
This article is the twenty-eighth of a series on Muslim thinkers who greatly influenced Arab societies across the centuries.
