Imam Shafi Part 1 - Bilal Assad

[@MirajLuv]

Imam Al-Shāfi'ī traveled to Baghdad to study with Abu Hanifa's acolyte al-Shaybānī and others. It was here that he developed his first madh'hab, influenced by the teachings of both Imam Abu Hanifa and Imam Malik. His work thus became known as “al Madhhab al Qadim lil Imam as Shafi’i,” or the Old School of ash-Shafi'i.
It was here that al-Shāfi'ī actively participated in legal debates with the Hanafī jurists, strenuously defending the Mālikī school of thought. Some authorities stress the difficulties encountered by him in his arguments. Al-Shāfi'ī eventually left Baghdad for Mecca in 804 CE, possibly because of complaints by Hanafī followers to al-Shaybānī that al-Shafi'i had become somewhat critical of al-Shaybānī's position during their disputes. As a result, al-Shāfi'ī reportedly participated in a debate with al-Shaybānī over their differences, though who won the debate is disputed.
In Mecca, Imam al-Shāfi'ī began to lecture at the Sacred Mosque, leaving a deep impression on many students of law, including the famous Hanbali jurist, Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. Al-Shāfi'ī's legal reasoning began to mature, as he started to appreciate the strength in the legal reasoning of the Hanafī jurists, and became aware of the weaknesses inherent in both the Mālikī and Hanafī schools of thought.
Imam Al-Shāfi'ī eventually returned to Baghdad in 810 CE. By this time, his stature as a jurist had grown sufficiently to permit him to establish an independent line of legal speculation. Caliph Al-Ma'mun is said to have offered al-Shāfi'ī a position as a judge, but al-Shāfi'ī declined the offer.
In 814 CE, al-Shāfi'ī decided to leave Baghdad for Egypt, although the precise reasons for his departure are uncertain. It was in Egypt that al-Shāfi'ī dictated his life's works to students. Several of his leading disciples would write down what al-Shāfi'ī said, who would then have them read it back aloud so that corrections could be made. Al-Shāfi'ī biographers all agree that the legacy of works under his name are the result of those sessions with his disciples
At least one authority states that Imam al-Shāfi'ī died as a result of injuries sustained from an attack by supporters of a Maliki follower named Fityan. The story goes that al-Shāfi'ī triumphed in argument over Fityan, who, being intemperate, resorted to abuse. The Governor of Egypt, with whom al-Shafi'i had good relations, ordered Fityan punished by having him paraded through the streets of the city carrying a plank and stating the reason for his punishment. Fityan's supporters were enraged by this treatment, and attacked Shafi'i in retaliation after one of his lectures. Al-Shafi'i died a few days later. However, al-Shāfi'ī was also known to have suffered from a serious intestinal illness, which kept him frail and ailing during the later years of his life. The precise cause of his death is thus unknown.
Imam Al-Shāfi‘ī developed the science of fiqh unifying 'revealed sources' - the Quran and hadith - with human reasoning to provide a basis in law. With this systematization of shari'a he provided a legacy of unity for all Muslims and forestalled the development of independent, regionally based legal systems. The four Sunni legals schools or madhhabs- keep their traditions within the framework that Shafi'i established.
Imam Al-Shāfi‘ī gives his name to one of these legal schools Shafi'i fiqh - the Shafi'i school - which is followed in many different places in the Islamic world: Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen as well as Sri Lanka and southern parts of India.
The Shafi'i (Arabic: شافعي‎‎ Shāfiʿī ) madhhab is one of the four schools of Islamic law in Sunni Islam. It was founded by the Arab scholar Al-Shafi‘i, a pupil of Imam Malik, in the early 9th century. The other three schools of Sunni jurisprudence are Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali.
The Shafi school predominantly relies on the Quran and the Hadiths for Sharia. Where passages of Quran and Hadiths are ambiguous, the school first seeks religious law guidance from Ijma - the consensus of Sahabah (Muhammad's companions). If there was no consensus, the Shafi'i school relies on individual opinion (Ijtihad) of the companions of Muhammad, followed by analogy.
The Shafi'i school is now predominantly found in Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, eastern Egypt, the Swahili coast, Yemen, Kurdish regions of the Middle East, Dagestan, Chechen and Ingush regions of the Caucasus, Palestine, Lebanon, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, some coastal parts of Sri Lanka, India, Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand, Brunei, and the Philippines
The Shafi'i school of thought stipulates authority to five sources of jurisprudence. In hierarchical order, the school relies upon the following sources for Islamic law: the Quran, the hadiths - that is, sayings, customs and practices of Muhammad, the ijmā' (consensus of Sahabah, the community of Muhammad's companions), the individual opinions of Sahaba with preference to one closest to the issue as Ijtihad, and finally qiyas (analogy). Although al-Shafi'i's legal methodology rejected custom or local practice as a constitutive source of law, this did not mean that he or his followers denied any elasticity in the Shariah. The Shafi'i school also rejects two sources of Sharia that are accepted in other major schools of Islam - Istihsan (juristic preference, promoting the interest of Islam) and Istislah (public interest). The jurisprudence principle of Istihsan and Istislah admitted religious laws that had no textual basis in either the Quran or Hadiths, but were based on the opinions of Islamic scholars as promoting the interest of Islam and its universalization goals. The Shafi'i school rejected these two principles stating that these methods rely on subjective human opinions, its potential for corruption and adjustment to political context and time.
The foundational text for the Shafi'i school is Al-Risala (or, The Message) by the founder of the school, Al-Shafi'i. It outlines the principles of Shafi'i fiqh as well as the derived jurisprudence. Al-Risala became an influential book to other Sunni Islam fiqhs as well, as the oldest surviving Arabic work on Islamic legal theory.
The Shafi'i madhhab was spread by Al-Shafi'i students in Cairo, Mecca and Baghdad. It became widely accepted in early history of Islam. The chief representative of the Iraqi school was Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi, whilst in Khorasan Shafi'i school was spread by al-Juwayni and al-Iraqi. These two branches merged around Ibn al-Salah and his father, before being reviewed and refined by al-Rafi'i and al-Nawawi.[citation needed]
The Shafi'i jurisprudence was adopted as the official law during the Great Seljuq Empire, Zengid dynasty, Ayyubid dynasty and later the Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo), where it saw its widest application. It was also adopted by the Kathiri state in Hadhramawt and most of rule of the Sharif of Mecca.[citation needed]
With the establishment and expansion of Ottoman Empire in West Asia and Turkic Sultanates in Central and South Asia, Shafi'i school was replaced with Hanafi school, in part because Hanafites allowed Istihsan (juristic preference) that allowed the rulers flexibility in interpreting the religious law to their administrative preferences. The Sultanates along the littoral regions of the Horn of Africa and the Arabian peninsula adhered to the Shafi'i school and were the primary drivers of its maritime military expansion into many Asian and East African coastal regions of the Indian Ocean, particularly from the 12th through the 18th century.

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Abū ʿAbdullāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfīʿī (Arabic: ابو عبدالله محمد بن إدريس الشافعيّ‎‎) was a Muslim jurist, who lived from (767 - 820 CE / 150 - 204 AH). 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 is often referred to as Imam al-Shafi‘i.
Imam Al-Shāfi‘ī belonged to the Qurayshi clan Banu Muttalib, which was the sister clan of the Banu Hashim to which the Prophet Muhammad and the Abbasid caliphs belonged. This lineage may have given him prestige, arising from his belonging to the tribe of the Prophet and his great-grandfather's kinship to the Prophet. However, al-Shāfi‘ī grew up in poverty in spite of his connections in the highest social circles.
Imam Al-Shāfi was born in Gaza by the town of Asqalan on 767 CE. His father died in Syria while he was still a child. Fearing the waste of his sharīf lineage, his mother decided to move to Mecca when he was about two years old. Furthermore, his maternal family roots were from Yemen, and there were more members of his family in Mecca, where his mother believed he would better be taken care of. Little is known about al-Shāfi‘ī's early life in Mecca, except that he was brought up in poor circumstances and that from his youth he was devoted to learning. An account states that his mother could not afford to buy him paper, so he would write his lessons on bones, particularly shoulder-bones. He studied under Muslim Ibn Khalid az-Zanji, the Mufti of Mecca then, who is thus considered to be the first teacher of Imam al-Shāfi‘ī. By the age of seven, al-Shāfi‘ī had memorized the Noble Qur'ān. At ten, he had committed Imam Malik's Muwatta' to heart, at which time his teacher would deputize him to teach in his absence. Al-Shāfi‘ī was authorized to issue fatwas at the age of fifteen.
Imam Al-Shāfi‘ī moved to Medina in a desire for further legal training, as was the tradition of acquiring knowledge. Accounts differ on the age in which he set out to Medina; an account placed his age at thirteen, while another stated that he was in his twenties. There, he was taught for many years by the famous Imam Malik ibn Anas, who was impressed with his memory, knowledge and intelligence. By the time of Imam Mālik's death in 795 CE, al-Shāfi‘ī had already gained a reputation as a brilliant jurist. Even though he would later disagree with some of the views of Imam Mālik, al-Shāfi‘ī accorded the deepest respect to him by always referring to him as "the Teacher".
At the age of thirty, al-Shāfi‘ī was appointed as the Abbasid governor in the Yemeni city of Najran. He proved to be a just administrator, but soon became entangled with factional jealousies. In 803 CE, al-Shāfi‘ī was accused of aiding the 'Alawīs in a revolt, and was thus summoned in chains with a number of 'Alawis to the Caliph Harun ar-Rashid at Raqqa. Whilst other conspirators were put to death, al-Shafi'i’s own eloquent defense convinced the Caliph to dismiss the charge. Other accounts state that the famous Hanafi jurist, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī, was present at the court and defended al-Shāfi‘ī as a well-known student of the sacred law. What was certain was that the incident brought al-Shāfi‘ī in close contact with al-Shaybānī, who would soon become his teacher. It was also postulated that this unfortunate incident impelled him to devote the rest of his career to legal studies, never again to seek government service.

[@journeytojennah1861]

I just wanted to say, Asslamu Alaikum wa Rahmatualahi wa Barkatu ,
And Al hamdullah rube almin, thank you so much for taking the time to write what you did. I really appreciate it and may ALLAH the Supreme reward
you for caring for the Ummah and someone who is not in the Ummah. to be educated. these great Men need to be remembered, so Jazakallahu Khair!

[@MirajLuv]

W'salam wr wb, dear friend - may Allah reward, bless, protect you and family for your thoughtful comment. Indeed you are right, we need to remember these great men and also women who contributed and sacrificed much for society and for future generations. They were of high character and real legends.
Especially for non-Muslims who may not be aware the great achievements and life and times of these great Imams, who studied and worked hard so others may benefit from their books of knowledge and advice.
I didn't myself realize these highly intelligent men used to be engaged in so much extra to bring them close to God... so much Ibadah late into the night, praying, fasting, studying Quran and Hadith and other social sciences as well as sciences of the Quran.. amazing people. They truly loved reading and seeking knowledge.
All the 4 Imams never sought to take revenge from their oppressors or seek to harm them .. but simply forgave their faults and wrong doing done against them... what great examples to reflect upon.