Brief Biography Of Imam Al Shafii. (RA) Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Raheem Muhammad ibn Idris Al-‘Abbas ibn ‘Uthman ibn Shafi’ ibn Al-Sa’ib ibn ‘Ubayd ibn ‘Abd Yazad ibn Hashim ibn Al-Muṭṭalib ibn ‘Abd Manaf ibn Qusay, known as Imam Al-Shafi’i, Abu Abdullah Al-Shafi’i Al-Hijazi Al-Makki Al-Azdi Al-Qurashi Al Hashimi Al-Muttalibi may Allah be well pleased with him. Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal said of him, “He was like the sun over the world and good health for people – do these two have replacements or successors?” He was a Relative of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallem. He is the cousin of the Prophet Muhammad (‘alayhis salat wa salam) descending from Al-Muttalib who is the brother of Hashim, ‘Abdul-Muttalib’s father. Both his great-great-grandfather, Shafi’, and the latter’s father, Al-Sa’ib, were companions of the Prophet (sa), as were al-Sa’ib ibn ‘Ubayd’s uncles – ‘Ubayd ibn ‘Abd Yazid’s brothers – ‘Ujayr and Rukana, the man who wrestled with the Prophet. Al-Sa’ib’s mother, Al-Shifa’ bint Al-Arqam ibn Hashim, sister of Fatima bint Asad, the mother of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (radiya Allahu ‘anhu), who the Prophet called his second mother. Someone praised Banu Hashim in front of the Prophet (salla allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), whereupon the latter interlaced the fingers of his two hands and said: ‘We and they are but one and the same’ and “The Banu Hashim and the Banu Abdul-Muttalib are not but one and the same”. Imam An-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 Makka; and his education at the hands of superlative scholars together with his own superlative intelligence and knowledge of the Arabic language. Hafith Ibn Hajr Al-’Asqalani quotes from the Manaqib of Imam Al-Hakim that it was narrated to him by Abi Nasr ibn Ahmad Al-Hussayn that heard from Abi Is-haq ibn Khuzaymah that saying that he Yunus ibn Abdul-’Ala [a student and companion of Imam Ash-Shafii] say, “The mother of Ash-Shafi’i [was] Fatimah bint Abdullah bin Al-Hasan ibn Al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib” [Tahdhib At-Tahdhib Vol. 5 page 22 Dar Al-Ihya Turath] Therefore Imam Ash-Shafi’i was both related to the Prophet Muhammad through his father and through his mother by way of Imam ‘Ali (radiya Allahu Anhu). Prophetic Hadiths Predicting Al-Shafi’i Ibn Ḥajar added two more merits to An-Nawawi’s list: the ḥadīth of the Prophet (sa), “Oh Allah! Guide Quraysh, for the science of the scholar that comes from them will encompass the earth. Oh Allah! You have let the first of them taste bitterness, so let the latter of them taste reward!” Imam Aḥmad also narrates with two chains the prohibition of cursing the Quraysh and the Prophet’s (sa) statement to Qatada ibn An-Nu’man Al-Ẓafari: “You might see among them men with deeds next to which you will despair your own deeds and envy them whenever you see them. If I did not fear Quraysh’s tyranny I would disclose to them all the good Allah has in store for them.” Another hadith of the Prophet (sa) says, “Truly Allah shall send forth for this community, at the onset of every hundred years, someone/those who will renew for it the status of its Religion.” The scholars agreed, among them Abu Qilaba (d. 276) and Imam Ahmad, that the “Quraysh” narration signified Al-Shafi’i. Imam Ahmad is also authentically recorded to have said about the hadīth of the renewer being sent every 100 years, “It was ‘Umar ibn Abdul-‘Azīz in the first hundred and in the second hundred it was Imam Ash-Shafi’i!” Al-Bayhaqi also mentioned another great merit, the superlative praise of Yemen and the Yemenis by the Prophet (sa) in the numerous sayings of his, as Al-Shafi’i is from Yemen on his mother’s side. Moreover, Al-Bayhaqi said, most of Al-Shafi’is knowledge is taken from the people of Makka and Madīna – and Makka and Madīna are Yemeni. He was born in a village in Ghazza by the town of ‘Asqalan in 150 A.H. the same year Abu Hanīfah died – shortly after his father’s death in Sham. His mother took him at the age of two to the Ḥijaz, where he grew up among her Azdī Yemenī relatives. Later, fearinig the waste of his sharīf lineage, she moved him to Makka. Al-Shafi’i was early a skillfull archer, then he took to learning language and poetry until he devoted himself to fiqh, beginning with hadīth. His mother coul not afford to buy him paper and he would write his lessons on bones, particularly shoulder-bones. He memorized the Qur’an at age seven, then Malik’s Muwaṭṭa’ at age ten, at which time his teacher would deputise him to teach in his absence. He receive permission to give fatwa at age fifteen. Abu Mansur Al-Baghdadi in Manaqib Ash-Shafi’i and Naqd Abī Abdullah Al-Jurjani fi Tarjīḥ Madhhab Abi Hanīfah related the following example of the Imam’s perspicuity at an early age: “Al-Shafi’i was sitting at Malik’s feet one day when a man came in and said: “I sell turtle-doves, and one of my customers returned one of them to me today saying that it does not coo, so I swore to him on pain of divorce that my turtle-dove coos all the time!” Malik said: “You have divorced your wife and are not to approach her.” Al-Shafi’i was fourteen at the time. He said to the man: “Which happens more, your turtle-dove’s cooing or its silence?” The said: “Its cooing”. Al-Shafi’ī said: “Your marriage is valid and there is no penalty for you [due to your oath].” Whereupon Malik frowned at him saying: “Boy, how do you know this?” Al-Shafi’ī replied: “Because you narrated to me from al-Zuhrī, from Abu Salama ibn ‘Abdur-Rahmān from Umm Salama that Fatima bint Qays said: ‘Rasulullah! Abu Jahm and Mu’awiya have both proposed to me.’ The Prophet (sa) replied: ‘Mu’awiya is penniless and as for Abu Jahm he does not put down his staff from his shoulder.’ That is, most of the time ‘Arabs assert the more frequent of two actions [exclusively of the other] because of its constancy. Since this man’s turtledove coos more than it is silent, I can declare it constant in its cooing. Malik was pleased at his reasoning.” The scholars said that Allah accelerated the intelligence of al-Shafi’i and al-Nawawi because he gave them a short lifespan. Al-Ḥumaydī narrated that the faqīh of Makka, Imām Muslim ibn Khalid Al-Zanjī (100-180), said to al-Shafi’i: “Give fatwa, Abu ‘Abdullah! It is time you gave fatwa,” at which time al-Shafi’i was fifteen years old. Abu ‘Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam said: “If the intelligence of an entire nation was brought together he would have encompassed it!” His mother put him beneath the scholars as a boy in Makkah. He studied there with: Imam Muslim ibn Khalid Az-Zanjī the Muftī of Makkah, Dawud ibn Abdur-Rahman Al-Attar, and his uncle Muhammad ibn ‘Alī ibn Shafi’i, and he was the nephew of Al-‘Abbas the grandfather of Imam Ash-Shafi’i, Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah, Abdur-Rahman ibn Abī Bakr Al-Malīkī, Sa’īd ibn Salim, Fudayl ibn ‘Iyaḍ and others. Adh-Dhahabī said, “I have not seen that he took anything from Nafi’ ibn ‘Umar even though he was with him in Makkah!” In 163 A.H., at age thirteen though some say he was older, Al-Shafi’ī went to see Malik in Madīna, who was impressed by his memory and intelligence. He took the Muwaṭṭa’ from Imam Malik and also took knowledge, particularly hadīth, from Ibrahim ibn Abī Yahya, Abdul-‘Azīz Ad-Darurdī, ‘Ataf ibn Khalid, Isma’īl ibn Ja’far, Ibrāhīm ibn Sa’d and a group from their generation. Some of the Qurashīs recommended Al-Shāfi’ī to the new governor of Yemen, Al-Muṭṭalibī, and he went back to Yemen as his aide. He took knowledge in Yemen from Muṭarrif ibn Māzin, Hishām ibn Yūsuf Al-Qāḍī and an entire group of scholars of the time and era. He held a judgeship in Najrān during which his fame reached the stars for his sense of fairness and his acceptance on the part of the people. This did not last. The governor, Al-Shāfī’ī, and a number of ‘Alawīs were summoned to Baghdād in chains, all of them accused of being ‘Alawī agitators by the agent of the Caliph Hārūn Al-Rashīd in Yemen. They were executed one after another. When al-Shāfi’ī was introduced before the Caliph, he said: “Oh Amīr Al-Mu’minīn (Commander of the Believers)! What do you say about a man [i.e. a ‘Abbasī] who has two paternal cousins [i.e. Muṭṭalibī and a ‘Alawī], one of whom [the Muṭṭalibī] deems him his intimate family, places him in his own lineage, 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 ‘Alawī], 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 patronize, Commander of the Believers? You are that man and here are your two paternal cousins!” Hārūn asked al-Shāfi’ī to repeat to him his parable three times until he understood what he meant. Then he spared his life but ordered him detained. Certain chroniclers mention a report that begins with the words of the Caliph al-Ma’mūn, “I tested Al-Shāfi’ī in everything, and I found him accomplished in all of it […]” but Al-Sakhāwī showed that the two never met. Imām Al-Shāfi’ī formed the project of asking Imām Muhammad Ash-Shaybānī to intercede for him at the time he was being detained in Baghdād. However, when he witnessed him disparaging al-Madīna and its scholars one day, he rose and said, “Madīna is the sacred precinct of the Prophet (sa), its people his Companions and relatives-in-law, those that came after them the Successors and elite of this Umma. And if, by ‘the people of Madīna,’ you meant one man, Mālik ibn Anas, then say his name and leave the rest alone!” Al-Shaybānī replied, ‘I meant Mālik ibn Anas.’ Mālik is one man, and there were in Madina jurists other than him,” then he preceded to refute Al-Shaybānī’s published critique of the Madīnans point by point. When the Caliph heard of the incident, he said, “And why should Muhammad ibn Al-Hasan be irked that a man from Banū Abd Manāf silence him?” Then he had five thousand dinars dispatched to al-Shāfi’ī and released him. Al-Shāfi’ī used a full fifty dinars to pay the barber for a cupping and gave the rest to those Meccans and Qurashīs that were present, retaining only one hundred dinars for himself.15 While in Baghdād he studied Hanafī fiqh at the hands of Muhammad ibn Al-Hasan Ash-Shaybānī. The Chroniclers of Ash-Shāfi’ī mention that Imām Muhammad Shaybānī changed his view on an issue of ghaṣb (robbery) due to debate with Imām Ash-Shāfi’ī. Al-Shāfi’ī said, “From Muhammad ibn Al-Hasan I wrote one [a variant says ‘two’] camel-loads” and “I never saw anyone whose face did not show distaste when asked a difficult question except Muhammad ibn Al-Hasan.” He also said, “I always held Muḥammad ibn Al-Ḥasan Al-Shaybānī in the highest esteem and spent sixty dinars buying all his books.” He never met Abū Yūsuf, the disciple of Imām Abū Hanīfah, but does report from him through Muhammad ibn Al-Hasan in his Al-Umm and the Musnad. Note here then that the debate quoted by some that is reported to have existed between Abū Yūsuf and Imām Ash-Shāfi’ī is a forgery, see The Four Imāms comment number 455 by G.f. Haddad. It is related that Imām Ash-Shāfi’ī prayed one time after shaving, with hair all over his clothes, at a time when he considered hair impure. Asked about it he replied: “When we cannot avoid something (ḥaythu ubtulīna), we follow the ruling of the ‘Iraqis [i.e. the schools of Abū Hanīfa and Sufyān] in the matter. Imām Al-Bayhaqī in the Manāqib related that Al-Shāfi’ī’s final position is that hair is pure. Al-Hākim narrated from Abdullah ibn Abdul-Hakam: “Al-Shāfi’ī never ceased to speak according to Mālik’s position and he would say: ‘We do not differ from him other than the way colleagues would,’ until some young men spoke unbecomingly at length behind his back, whereupon al-Shāfi’ī resolved to put his differences with Mālik in writing. Otherwise, his whole life he would say, whenever asked something: ‘This is what the Teacher said’ – hādhā qawl al-ustādh – meaning Mālik. Al-Shafi’ī said: “Al-Layth ibn Sa’d is stronger in fiqh (afqah) than Mālik but his school perished for lack of students.” This was also the view of Ibn Al-Mubārak, Sa’īd ibn Abī Ayyūb and Yahyā ibn Bukayr while al-Darawardī put Al-Layth even above Rabī’at Al-Ra’ī. Al-Layth recited the Basmala out loud and gave salām to the front in Salāh. Imām Ash-Shāfi’ī traveled to Baghdād three times: 1) As a student in 184 with the group of Yemenī descendants of ‘Alī (radiya Allahu ‘anhu) 2) As a recognized Imām in fiqh in 195 returning to Makkah two years later, then 3) In 198 for a few months, after which he went to Egypt where he remained until his death When he entered Egypt he was patronized by the ascetic friend of the poor and descendant of the Prophet (sa), Al-Sayyida Nafīsa , who ordered his bier brought into her house when he died so that she could recite the funeral prayer over him, and carried the bier. Sayyidah Nafīsah is the daughter of Al-Hasan the son of Zayd the son of Al-Hasan the son of Imām ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib (raḍiya Allāhu ‘Anhum). In other words, she is the great great granddaughter of Al-Hasan the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (sa) of whom was said to be from the children of Janna! The majority of the scholars of hadith were either Shafi’i in fiqh, or Shafi’i inclined: Imam An-Nasa’i, [some say] Imam Al-Bukhari, Imam Ibn Khuzaymah, Imam Al-Hakim, Imam Ad-Daraqutni, Imam Al-Bayhaqi, and many more. Many great scholars of creed, including the leader of the Asha’ri school Abul Hasan Al-Asha’ri, and Islamic Mysticism (Tasawwuf/Sufism) including Imam Al-Junayd and Imam Al-Muhasibi30, had a large group of followers of Imam Ash-Shafi’is legal school. Followers of his school have remained diligent in preserving his school. Thousands memorize the works of his school, translate treatises, and publish new-found manuscripts every year. Imam Ash-Shafi’is legacy can be seen throughout the Muslim world. The most populated Muslim country in the world, Indonesia, has a majority population that prays according to Imam Ash-Shafi’is legal school (madhhab). The following countries have a majority Shafi’i following: Syria, The Occupied Country of Palestine (where Imam Ash-Shafi’i was born), Jordan [this area is known as Shaam/ the Levant], Kurd dominated ‘Iraq (also known as Kurdistan) – also Kurd dominated Turkey, Yemen, Lower Egypt, Malaysia, Singapore, Maldives, the Philippines, Brunei, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania, and elsewhere. Imam Ash-Shafi’is legacy continues to spread as Muslims solidify their communities further west and develop learning institutions in the U.K., USA, Canada and elsewhere. His school’s vibrancy and fluidity continues to be seen in the post-modern era with Muslim jurists still using Imam Ash-Shafi’is legal formulations in solving modern concerns. May Allah bless Imam Ash-Shafi’i and allow his legacy to continue to benefit the Muslim Ummah! Amin!
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 00:52:09 +0000
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