Muhammad ibn Idris ibn al-`Abbas, al-Imam
al-Shafi`i, Abu `Abd Allah al-Shafi`i al-Hijazi al-Qurashi al-Hashimi
al-Muttalibi (d. 204), the offspring of the House of the Prophet, the peerless
one of the great mujtahid imams and jurisprudent par excellence,
the scrupulously pious ascetic and Friend of Allah, he laid down the
foundations of fiqh in his Risala, which he said he revised and
re-read four hundred times, then said: "Only Allah’s Book is perfect and free
from error."
He is the cousin of the Prophet û
Allah’s blessings and peace upon him û
descending from al-Muttalib who is the brother of Hashim, `Abd al-Muttalib’s
father. Someone praised the Banu Hashim in front of the Prophet, whereby he
interlaced the fingers of his two hands and said: "We and they are but one and
the same thing." Al-Nawawi listed three peculiar merits of al-Shafi`i: his
sharing the Prophet’s lineage at the level of their common ancestor `Abd Manaf;
his birth in the Holy Land of Palestine and upbringing in Mecca; and his
education at the hands of superlative scholars together with his own
superlative intelligence and knowledge of the Arabic language. To this Ibn
Hajar added two more: the hadith of the Prophet, "O Allah! Guide Quraysh, for
the science of the scholar that comes from them will encompass the earth. O
Allah! You have let the first of them taste bitterness, so let the latter of
them taste reward." Another hadith of the Prophet says: "Truly, Allah shall
send forth for this Community, at the onset of every hundred years, someone who
will renew their Religion for them." The scholars agreed, among them Abu Qilaba
(d. 276) and Imam Ahmad, that the first narration signified al-Shafi`i, and the
second signified `Umar ibn `Abd al-`Aziz and then al-Shafi`i.
He was born in Ghazza or `Asqalan in 150, the year of Abu
Hanifa’s death, and moved to Mecca at the age of two, following his father’s
death, where he grew up. He was early a skillful archer, then he took to
learning language and poetry until he gave himself to fiqh, beginning
with hadith. He memorized the Qur’an at age seven, then Malik’s Muwatta’
at age ten, at which time his teacher would deputize him to teach in his
absence. At age thirteen he went to see Malik, who was impressed by his memory
and intelligence.
Malik ibn Anas and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani were among
his most prominent teachers and he took position against both of them in fiqh.
Al-Shafi`i said: "From Muhammad ibn al-Hasan I wrote a camel-load." Al-Hakim
narrated from `Abd Allah ibn `Abd al-Hakam: "Al-Shafi`i never ceased to speak
according to Malik’s position and he would say: ‘We do not differ from him
other than in the way of his companions,’ until some young men spoke
unbecomingly at length behind his back, whereupon al-Shafi`i resolved to put
his differences with Malik in writing. Otherwise, his whole life he would say,
whenever asked something: ‘This is what the Teacher said’
û hâdha qawl al-ustadh û
meaning Malik."
Like Abu Hanifa and al-Bukhari, he recited the entire Qur’an
each day at prayer, and twice a day in the month of Ramadan.
Al-Muzani said: "I never saw one more handsome of face than
al-Shafi`i. If he grasped his beard it would not exceed his fist." Ibn Rahuyah
described him in Mecca as wearing bright white clothes with an intensely black
beard. Al-Za`farani said that when he was in Baghdad in the year 195 he dyed
his beard with henna.
Abu `Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam said: "If the intelligence of an
entire nation was brought together he would have encompassed it." Similarly,
al-Muzani said: "I have been looking into al-Shafi`i’s Risala for fifty
years, and I do not recall a single time I looked at it without learning some
new benefit."
Al-Sakhawi in the introduction to his al-Jawahir wa al-Durar
and others narrate that someone criticized Ahmad ibn Hanbal for attending the fiqh
sessions of al-Shafi`i and leaving the hadith sessions of Sufyan ibn `Uyayna.
Ahmad replied: "Keep quiet! If you miss a hadith with a shorter chain you can
find it elsewhere with a longer chain and it will not harm you. But if you do
not have the reasoning of this man [al-Shafi`i], I fear you will never be able
to find it elsewhere." Ahmad is also related by his students Abu Talib and
Humayd ibn Zanjuyah to say: "I never saw anyone adhere more to hadith than
al-Shafi`i. No-one preceded him in writing down the hadith in a book." The
meaning of this is that al-Shafi`i possessed the understanding of hadith after
which Ahmad sought, as evidenced by the latter’s statement: "How rare is fiqh
among the scholars of hadith!" This is a reference to the hadith: "It may be
one carries understanding (fiqh) without being a person of understanding (faqîh)."
Sufyan himself would defer to al-Shafi`i in matters of tafsîr and fatwa.
Yunus ibn Abi Ya`la said: "Whenever al-Shafi`i went into tafsîr, it was
as if he had witnessed the revelation." Ahmad ibn Hanbal also said: "Not one of
the scholars of hadith touched an inkwell nor a pen except he owed a huge debt
to al-Shafi`i."
Al-Shafi`i was known for his peculiar strength in Arabic
language, poetry, and philology. Bayhaqi narrated:
[From Ibn Hisham:] I was al-Shafi`i’s sitting-companion for a
long time, and I never heard him use except a word which, carefully considered,
one would not find (in its context) a better word in the entire Arabic
language. . . . Al-Shafi`i’s discourse, in relation to language, is a proof in
itself.
[From al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Za`farani:] A group of bedouins
used to frequent al-Shafi`i’s gathering with us and sit in a corner. One day I
asked their leader: "You are not interested in scholarship; why do you keep
coming to sit with us?" They said: "We come to hear al-Shafi`i’s language."
Al-Shafi`i trod the path of the Salaf in avoiding any
interpretation of the verses and narrations pertaining to the divine
attributes. He practiced "relegation of the meaning" (tafwîd al-mi`na) to
a higher source, as established in his saying: "I leave the meaning of the
verses of the Attributes to Allah, and I leave the meaning of the hadiths of
the attributes to Allah’s Messenger." At the same time, rare instances of
interpretation are recorded from him. Thus al-Bayhaqi relates that al-Muzani
reported from al-Shafi`i the following commentary on the verse: "To Allah
belong the East and the West, and wheresoever you turn, there is Allah’s face (wajh)"
(2:115): "It means – and Allah knows best – thither is the bearing (wajh)
towards which Allah has directed you." Al-Hakkari (d. 486) related in his book `Aqida
al-Shafi`i that the latter said: "We affirm those attributes, and we
negate from them likeness between them and creation (al-tashbîh), just
as He negated it from Himself when He said: ‘There is nothing whatsoever like
unto Him’ (42:11)."
Al-Shafi`i’s hatred of dialectic theology (kalâm) was
based on his extreme caution against errors which bear heavy consequences as
they induce one into false beliefs. Among his sayings concerning this: "It is
better for a scholar of knowledge to give a fatwa after which he is said
to be wrong than to theologize and then be said to be a heretic (zindîq).
I hate nothing more than theology and theologians." Dhahabi comments: "This
indicates that Abu `Abd Allah’s position concerning error in the principles of
the Religion (al-usûl) is that it is not the same as error in the course
of scholarly exertion in the branches." The reason is that in belief and
doctrine neither ijtihâd nor divergences are permitted. In this respect
al-Shafi`i said: "It cannot be asked ‘Why?’ concerning the principles, nor
‘How?’" Yet al-Shafi`i did not completely close the door to the use of kalâm
in defense of the Sunna, as shown below and in the notice on Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
Yunus ibn Abi Ya`la narrated that al-Shafi`i defined the
"principles" as: "The Qur’an, the Sunna, analogy (al-qiyâs), and
consensus (al-ijmâ`)"; he defined the latter to mean: "The adherence of
the Congregation (jamâ`a) of the Muslims to the conclusions of a given
ruling pertaining to what is permitted and what is forbidden after the passing
of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him."
Al-Shafi`i did not close the door on the right use of kalâm
as is clear from Ibn Abi Hatim’s narration from al-Rabi` of his words: "If I
wished, I could produce a book against each one of those who deviated, but
dialectic theology is none of my business, and I would not like to be
attributed any part in it." Similar to it is his advice to his student
al-Muzani: "Take proofs from creation about the Creator, and do not burden
yourself with the knowledge of what your mind did not reach." Ibn Abi Hatim
himself spoke similarly when he was told of Ibn Khuzayma’s unsuccessful attempt
at kalâm: "It is preferable not to meddle with what we did not learn."
Note that al-Shafi`i also spoke of his wish not to have a single letter out of
all his works attributed to him, regardless of topic.
Al-Shafi`i’s attitude towards tasawwuf was as strict as
with kalâm, and he both praised it and denigrated its abuse at the hands
of its corrupters. In criticism of the latter he said: "No-one becomes a Sufi
in the morning except he ends up a dolt by noon" while on the other hand he
declared in his Diwan: "Be at the same time a faqîh and a Sufi."
In Mecca al-Shafi`i was the student of Fudayl ibn `Iyad. Imam al-Nawawi in his Bustan
al-`Arifin fi al-Zuhd wa al-Tasawwuf ("The Garden of the Gnostics in
Asceticism and Tasawwuf") narrated from al-Shafi`i the saying: "Only the
sincere one (al-mukhlis) can recognize self-display (al-riyâ’)."
Al-Nawawi comments: "This means that it is impossible to know the reality of
self-display and see its hidden shades except for one who resolutely seeks (arâda)
sincerity. Such a one strives for a long time, searching, meditating, examining
at length within himself until he knows, or knows something of what
self-display is. This does not happen for everyone. Indeed, this happens only
with special ones (al-khawâss). But for a given individual to claim that
he knows what self-diplay is, this is real ignorance on his part."
Al-Shafi`i deferred primacy in the foundations of fiqh to
Imam Abu Hanifa with his famous statement: "People are all the children of Abu
Hanifa in fiqh." Ibn Hajar al-Haytami mentioned in the thirty-fifth
chapter of his book on Imam Abu Hanifa entitled al-Khayrat al-Hisan:
"When Imam al-Shafi`i was in Baghdad, he would visit the grave of Imam Abu
Hanifa, greet him, and then ask Allah for the fulfillment of his need through
his means."
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."
Al-Shafi`i took the verse "Or if you have touched women" (4:43)
literally, and considered that contact between the sexes, even accidental,
nullified ablution. This is also the position of Ibn Mas`ud, Ibn `Umar,
al-Sha`bi, al-Nakha`i, al-Zuhri, and al-Awza`i, which is confirmed by Ibn
`Umar’s report: "Whoever kisses or touches his wife with his hand must renew
his wudû’." It is authentic and related in numerous places including
Malik's Muwatta’. Al-Shafi`i said: "Something similar has reached us
from Ibn Mas`ud." They all read the above verse literally, without interpreting
"touch" to mean "sexual intercourse" as do the Hanafis, or "touch with
pleasure" as do the Malikis.
A major contribution of al-Shafi`i in the foundations of the Law
was his division of innovation (al-bid`a) into good and bad on the basis
of `Umar’s words about the tarâwih or congregational supererogatory
night prayers in the month of Ramadan: "What a fine innovation this is!"
Harmala narrated that al-Shafi`i concluded: "Therefore, whatever innovation
conforms to the Sunna is approved (mahmûd), and whatever opposes it is
abominable (madhmûm)." Agreement formed in the Four Schools around his
division, as illustrated by the endorsement of some major later authorities in
each school. Among the Hanafis: Ibn `Abidin, al-Turkumani, and al-Tahanawi;
among the Malikis: al-Turtushi, Ibn al-Hajj, and al-Shatibi; consensus among
the Shafi`is; and reluctant acceptance among later Hanbalis, who altered
al-Shafi`i’s terminology to read "lexical innovation" (bid`a lughawiyya)
and "legal innovation" (bid`a shar`iyya), respectively
û although inaccurately û matching
Shafi`i’s "approved" and "abominable".
Among al-Shafi`i’s other notable positions: Al-Muzani said: "I
never saw any of the scholars make something obligatory on behalf of the
Prophet as much as al-Shafi`i in his books, and this was due to his high
remembrance of the Prophet. 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-Rasûl), but that he should say ‘Allah’s
Messenger’ (Rasûl Allah) out of veneration (ta`zîm) for him."
Among al-Shafi`i’s other sayings:
"The study of hadith is better than supererogatory prayer, and
the pursuit of knowledge is better than supererogatory prayer." Ibn `Abd
al-Barr in Kitab al-`Ilm listed the many hadiths of the Prophet on the
superior merit of knowledge. However, al-Shafi`i by this saying meant the
essence and purpose of knowledge, not knowledge for its own sake which leads to
Satanic pride. The latter is widely available while true knowledge is the
knowledge that leads to godwariness (taqwa). This is confirmed by
al-Shafi`i’s saying: "Knowledge is what benefits. Knowledge is not what one has
memorized." This is a corrective for those content to define knowledge as "the
knowledge of the proof" (ma`rifa al-dalîl). "He gives wisdom to whomever
He will, and whoever receives wisdom receives immense good." (2:269)
"You [the scholars of hadith] are the pharmacists but we [the
jurists] are the physicians." This was explained by `Ali al-Qari in his book Mu`taqad
Abi Hanifa al-Imam (p. 42): "The early scholars said: The hadith
scholar without knowledge of fiqh is like a seller of drugs who is no
physician: he has them but he does not know what to do with them; and the fiqh
scholar without knowledge of hadith is like a physician without drugs: he knows
what constitutes a remedy, but does not dispose of it."
"Malik was asked about kalâm and [the Science of] Oneness (tawhîd)
and he said: ‘It is inconceivable that the Prophet should teach his Community
hygiene and not teach them about Oneness! And Oneness is exactly what the
Prophet said: ‘I was ordered to fight people until they say ‘There is no God
but Allah.’ So, whatever makes blood and property untouchable
û that is the reality of Oneness (haqîqa al-tawhîd).’" This
is a proof from the Salaf against those who, in later times, innovated
sub-divisions for tawhîd or legislated that their own understanding of
Allah’s Attributes was a precondition for the declaration of Oneness. Al-Halimi
said: "In this hadith there is explicit proof that that declaration (lâ ilâha
illallâh) suffices to extirpate oneself from all the different kinds of
disbelief in Allah Almighty."
"Satiation weighs down the body, hardens the heart, does away
with sagacity, brings on sleep, and weakens one from worship." This is similar
to the definition of tasawwuf as "hunger" (al-jû`) given by some
of the early masters, who acquired hunger as a permanent attribute and were
called "hungerers" (jû`iyyûn). A notable example is al-Qasim ibn `Uthman
al-`Abdi al-Dimashqi al-Ju`i (d. 248), whom al-Dhahabi describes as "the Imam,
the exemplar, the wali, the muhaddith, the shaykh of the Sufis
and the friend of Ahmad ibn al-Hawari."
"I never swore by Allah û
neither truthfully nor deceptively." This is similar to the saying of the Sufi
master Sahl ibn `Abd Allah al-Tustari narrated by al-Dhahabi: "Among the
manners of the truthful saints (al-siddîqîn) is that they never swear by
Allah, nor commit backbiting, nor does backbiting take place around them, nor
do they eat to satiation, if they promise they are true to their word, and they
never speak in jest."
Al-Buwayti asked: "Should I pray behind the Rafidi?"
Al-Shafi`i said: "Do not pray behind the Rafidi, nor behind the Qadari,
nor behind the Murji’." Al-Buwayti said: "Define them for us." He
replied: "Whoever says ‘Belief consists only in speech’ is a Murji’, and
whoever says ‘Abu Bakr and `Umar are not Imams’ is a Rafidi, and whoever
attributes destiny to himself is a Qadari."
Abu Hatim narrated from Harmala that al-Shafi`i said: "The
Caliphs (al-khulafâ’) are five: Abu Bakr, `Umar, `Uthman, `Ali, and
`Umar ibn `Abd al-`Aziz." In his Diwan he named them "leaders of their
people, by whose guidance one obtains guidance," and declaimed of the Family of
the Prophet:
The Family of the Prophet are my intermediary to him! (wasîlatî)
Through them I hope to be given my record with the right hand.
and:
O Family of Allah’s Messenger! To love you is an obligation
Which Allah ordained and revealed in the Qur’an.
It is enough proof of your immense glory that
Whoever invokes not blessings upon you, his prayer is invalid.
Ibn Hajar said that the first to write a biography of al-Shafi`i
was Dawud al-Zahiri (d. 275). Al-Nawawi in Tahdhib al-Asma’ wa al-Lughat
(1:44) mentioned that the best biography of al-Shafi`i was al-Bayhaqi’s for its
sound chains of transmission. Ibn Hajar summarized it and added to it
al-Shafi`i’s Musnad in his Tawali al-Ta’sis fi Ma`ali Ibn Idris.
In the introduction of his compendium of Shafi`i fiqh entitled
al-Majmu` al-Nawawi mentions that al-Shafi`i used a walking stick for
which he was asked: "Why do you carry a stick when you are neither old nor
ailing?" He replied: "To remember I am only a traveller in this world."
Main sources: al-Shafi`i, Diwan; Abu Nu`aym, Hilya
al-Awliya’ 9:71-172 #442; al-Nawawi, Tahdhib al-Asma’ wa al-Lughat
1:44-67 #2; al-Dhahabi, Siyar A`lam al-Nubala’ 8:377-423 #1539, 10:79,
10:649; al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafi`iyya al-Kubra 2:133-134; Ibn Hajar, Tawali
al-Ta’sis p. 3-157.