Shafi‘i, Abu Abdullah ibn al-
Shafi‘i, Abu Abdullah ibn al- (Abu ‘Abdullah ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i) (Abū ʿAbdullāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shafiʿī) (b. 767, Gaza, Palestine - d. 820, Fustat, Egypt). Founder of the Shafi‘ite school of law, most famous for his exposition of the “roots of jurisprudence,” which forms the basis for most Islamic legal considerations.
Al-Shafi‘i was so highly regarded from such an early date that his biographical notices tend to be more hagiographic than accurate. A Quraysh of the clan of Hashim, and therefore distantly related to Muhammad, al-Shafi‘i was raised in Mecca and received both an Arab and a Muslim education. He studied with Malik ibn Anas in Medina, had Shi‘ite involvements in the Yemen, spent time in Baghdad and Mecca, and died in Egypt.
In the area of substantive commentary on legal practice, al-Shafi‘i, because of his eclectic and broad education, was able to make penetrating analyses of practices current in his time, but he is more famous for his Rasala, written in the last years of his life, which expounds his theoretical positions on the foundations of law. According to his system, the four roots are Qur’an, the Sunna of Muhammad, consensus (ijma’), and analogic reasoning (qiyas). While these elements had been present before his time, al-Shafi‘i remade the Islamic legal system by redefining these terms. There was no dispute about the Qur’an’s role in law, but there was controversy about its interpretation. Starting with the Qur’anic injunction to obey both Allah and Muhammad {see Sura 4:69}, al-Shafi‘i raised the position of Muhammad’s sunna above that of only first among equals, making Muhammad’s actions the interpreter of the Qur’an. By the use of the notion of consensus, al-Shafi‘i legitimized the then current practice of the Muslim community as it was seen in retrospect to conform to the historical perceptions of the age of Muhammad and the Prophet’s Companions -- the Sahaba. Finally, the limitation of human reasoning to analogic reasoning removed much of the individual idiosyncrasy from legal practice. Al-Shafi‘i’s theory can be seen as a compromise between the strict Traditionists and the so-called Rationalists.
The Shafi‘ite school has had its greatest influence in East Africa, South Arabia, and Southeast Asia, although al-Shafi‘i’s personal influence is felt in all schools. The Shafi‘ites stand with the Hanbalites in opposing admission of judicial or public interest in legal consideration, and are most consistent in applying rules of analogy throughout their system, preferring judicial reasoning to weak traditions. They opposed legal stratagems in their early stages of development but admitted some in later periods. The Shafi‘ite school was generally adopted by the Ash‘arite speculative theologians after the tenth century.
Abu ‘Abdullah ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i see Shafi‘i, Abu Abdullah ibn al-
Abū ʿAbdullāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shafiʿī see Shafi‘i, Abu Abdullah ibn al-
Shafi‘i, Abu Abdullah ibn al- (Abu ‘Abdullah ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i) (Abū ʿAbdullāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shafiʿī) (b. 767, Gaza, Palestine - d. 820, Fustat, Egypt). Founder of the Shafi‘ite school of law, most famous for his exposition of the “roots of jurisprudence,” which forms the basis for most Islamic legal considerations.
Al-Shafi‘i was so highly regarded from such an early date that his biographical notices tend to be more hagiographic than accurate. A Quraysh of the clan of Hashim, and therefore distantly related to Muhammad, al-Shafi‘i was raised in Mecca and received both an Arab and a Muslim education. He studied with Malik ibn Anas in Medina, had Shi‘ite involvements in the Yemen, spent time in Baghdad and Mecca, and died in Egypt.
In the area of substantive commentary on legal practice, al-Shafi‘i, because of his eclectic and broad education, was able to make penetrating analyses of practices current in his time, but he is more famous for his Rasala, written in the last years of his life, which expounds his theoretical positions on the foundations of law. According to his system, the four roots are Qur’an, the Sunna of Muhammad, consensus (ijma’), and analogic reasoning (qiyas). While these elements had been present before his time, al-Shafi‘i remade the Islamic legal system by redefining these terms. There was no dispute about the Qur’an’s role in law, but there was controversy about its interpretation. Starting with the Qur’anic injunction to obey both Allah and Muhammad {see Sura 4:69}, al-Shafi‘i raised the position of Muhammad’s sunna above that of only first among equals, making Muhammad’s actions the interpreter of the Qur’an. By the use of the notion of consensus, al-Shafi‘i legitimized the then current practice of the Muslim community as it was seen in retrospect to conform to the historical perceptions of the age of Muhammad and the Prophet’s Companions -- the Sahaba. Finally, the limitation of human reasoning to analogic reasoning removed much of the individual idiosyncrasy from legal practice. Al-Shafi‘i’s theory can be seen as a compromise between the strict Traditionists and the so-called Rationalists.
The Shafi‘ite school has had its greatest influence in East Africa, South Arabia, and Southeast Asia, although al-Shafi‘i’s personal influence is felt in all schools. The Shafi‘ites stand with the Hanbalites in opposing admission of judicial or public interest in legal consideration, and are most consistent in applying rules of analogy throughout their system, preferring judicial reasoning to weak traditions. They opposed legal stratagems in their early stages of development but admitted some in later periods. The Shafi‘ite school was generally adopted by the Ash‘arite speculative theologians after the tenth century.
Abu ‘Abdullah ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i see Shafi‘i, Abu Abdullah ibn al-
Abū ʿAbdullāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shafiʿī see Shafi‘i, Abu Abdullah ibn al-
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Shafi‘ites
Shafi‘i (Shafi‘ites) (in Arabic, al-Shafi‘iyya) (Madhhab Shāfiʿī). Term which refers to a school of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence which is predominant in Asia and in eastern Africa. The Sunni school of Islamic law, derived from the teachings of al-Shafi‘i, Shafi‘i originated in Cairo and makes considerable use of analogy. In the ninth and tenth century, the school won many adherents in Baghdad, Cairo, Mecca and Medina, although their position in Baghdad was difficult because of the so-called “partisans of personal opinion” (in Arabic, ashab al-ra’y). In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, there were frequent street fights with the Hanbalis in Baghdad. Under the Ottoman sultans the school was replaced by the Hanafis, while in Persia they had to cede to the Shi‘a under the Safavids. The school is still dominant in South Arabia, Bahrain, Malaysia, East Africa, Dagestan and some parts of Central Asia.
Shafi’i was one of the four schools of law in orthodox Islam, named after Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi’i (d. 820), its founder and guiding influence. Disturbed by the confusing plethora of views, methods and practices that prevailed in the legal circles of his day, Shafi’i set out to develop a systematic theory of law on the basis of which legal thought and practice in Islam might be unified. His Risala, composed in Cairo near the end of his life, constitutes his most important work on juridical theory. In it he sets down what were to become the characteristic features of Shafi’i law. Although Shafi’i aimed at the elaboration of a comprehensive theory of law, his most important contribution to the history of Islamic jurisprudence lies in his insistence on the indispensability of the sunna, or tradition of the Prophet, as a substantive source of law. Over against Hanafis and Malikis, for whom the sunna was largely a function of local practice, Shafi’i not only linked it to the Prophet himself but declared it to be divinely inspired. In keeping with his position on the primacy of revelation (that is, the Qur’an and the sunna), he sought to limit personal judgment (ijtihad/ra’y) to analogical reason (qiyas), whose only function was to extend the application of those principles laid down in the revealed texts to problems not addressed by the latter.
Shafi’i’s views, although not universally accepted at first, had a substantial impact on Islamic law in the long term. His views defined the essential elements of what was to become classical Shafi’i doctrine, and compelled Hanafis, Malikis, and others to undertake important revisions of their own legal systems. From Baghdad and Cairo, the chief centers of the early Shafi’i school, its influence spread throughout the central lands of Islam from Egypt to Khurasan and, by the late Mameluke period, had become the dominant school of law in this vast region. While the school found only limited acceptance in India and Central Asia, it became and remains the principal school of law in the Muslim lands of Southeast Asia.
In Islām, the Shafi'ites formed one of the four Sunnī schools of religious law, derived from the teachings of Abū ʿAbd Allāh ash-Shāfiʿī (767–820). This legal school (madhhab) stabilized the bases of Islāmic legal theory, admitting the validity of both divine will and human speculation. Rejecting provincial dependence on the living sunnah (traditional community practice) as the source of precedent, the Shafiites argued for the unquestioning acceptance of Ḥadīth (traditions concerning the life and utterances of the Prophet) as the major basis for legal and religious judgments and the use of qiyas (analogical reasoning) when no clear directives could be found in the Qurʾān or Ḥadīth. Ijmāʿ (consensus of scholars) was accepted but not stressed. The Shāfiʿī school predominates in eastern Africa, parts of Arabia, and Indonesia.
The Shāfi‘ī madhhab is one of the four schools of fiqh, or religious law, within the Sunni branch of Islam. The Shāfi‘ī school of fiqh is named after Imām ash-Shāfi‘ī. The other three schools of Islamic law are Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali.
Shafi'ites see Shafi‘i
Shafi'iyya, al- see Shafi‘i
Madhhab Shafi'i see Shafi‘i
Shafi’i was one of the four schools of law in orthodox Islam, named after Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi’i (d. 820), its founder and guiding influence. Disturbed by the confusing plethora of views, methods and practices that prevailed in the legal circles of his day, Shafi’i set out to develop a systematic theory of law on the basis of which legal thought and practice in Islam might be unified. His Risala, composed in Cairo near the end of his life, constitutes his most important work on juridical theory. In it he sets down what were to become the characteristic features of Shafi’i law. Although Shafi’i aimed at the elaboration of a comprehensive theory of law, his most important contribution to the history of Islamic jurisprudence lies in his insistence on the indispensability of the sunna, or tradition of the Prophet, as a substantive source of law. Over against Hanafis and Malikis, for whom the sunna was largely a function of local practice, Shafi’i not only linked it to the Prophet himself but declared it to be divinely inspired. In keeping with his position on the primacy of revelation (that is, the Qur’an and the sunna), he sought to limit personal judgment (ijtihad/ra’y) to analogical reason (qiyas), whose only function was to extend the application of those principles laid down in the revealed texts to problems not addressed by the latter.
Shafi’i’s views, although not universally accepted at first, had a substantial impact on Islamic law in the long term. His views defined the essential elements of what was to become classical Shafi’i doctrine, and compelled Hanafis, Malikis, and others to undertake important revisions of their own legal systems. From Baghdad and Cairo, the chief centers of the early Shafi’i school, its influence spread throughout the central lands of Islam from Egypt to Khurasan and, by the late Mameluke period, had become the dominant school of law in this vast region. While the school found only limited acceptance in India and Central Asia, it became and remains the principal school of law in the Muslim lands of Southeast Asia.
In Islām, the Shafi'ites formed one of the four Sunnī schools of religious law, derived from the teachings of Abū ʿAbd Allāh ash-Shāfiʿī (767–820). This legal school (madhhab) stabilized the bases of Islāmic legal theory, admitting the validity of both divine will and human speculation. Rejecting provincial dependence on the living sunnah (traditional community practice) as the source of precedent, the Shafiites argued for the unquestioning acceptance of Ḥadīth (traditions concerning the life and utterances of the Prophet) as the major basis for legal and religious judgments and the use of qiyas (analogical reasoning) when no clear directives could be found in the Qurʾān or Ḥadīth. Ijmāʿ (consensus of scholars) was accepted but not stressed. The Shāfiʿī school predominates in eastern Africa, parts of Arabia, and Indonesia.
The Shāfi‘ī madhhab is one of the four schools of fiqh, or religious law, within the Sunni branch of Islam. The Shāfi‘ī school of fiqh is named after Imām ash-Shāfi‘ī. The other three schools of Islamic law are Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali.
Shafi'ites see Shafi‘i
Shafi'iyya, al- see Shafi‘i
Madhhab Shafi'i see Shafi‘i
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