Shafi'i 's biography

Imam Al-Shafi’i is Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Idris bin Al-Abbas bin Othman bin Shafi’ bin Al-Sa’ib bin Abd Yazid bin Hashem bin Abdul Muttalib bin Abd Manaf. Al-Shafi’i meets with the Messenger, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, in his grandfather Abd Manaf. Imam al-Shafi’i, may God have mercy on him, is a purebred Qurashi. As for his mother, most of those who chronicled or translated by al-Shafi’i agreed that his mother was Azadi or Asadian, and she was from an authentic Arab tribe.

He was born in Gaza in the Levant, and on this, the opinion of the great crowd of historians and writers of their classes agreed in the month of Rajab in the year 150 AH / August 767 AD, and when his father died, his mother moved with him to Mecca; This is because they were poor so that his lineage would not be lost, then he, may God have mercy on him, moved between countries in pursuit of knowledge.

The news agrees that he lived the life of poor orphans, memorizing the Holy Qur’an, and his great intelligence appeared in the speed of his memorization of it. Then, after memorizing the Holy Qur’an, he turned to memorize the hadiths of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, and he was keen to collect them, listen to the hadiths and memorize the hadith by listening, then He wrote it on ceramics sometimes, and on leather on others.

He went out to the desert and followed Hadeela while saying: I came out of Mecca and stayed with Hadilah in the desert. Al-Asma’i said: The poems of Hudhayl ​​were corrected on a young man from Quraysh called Muhammad bin Idris.

Imam al-Shafi’i has been known for his virtuosity, intelligence, and intellect since he was young, and the elders of the people of Mecca testified to him. Al-Humaidi said: “Ibn Uyaynah, Muslim bin Khalid, Saeed bin Salem, Abdul Majeed bin Abdul Aziz, and the sheiks of the people of Makkah used to describe Al-Shafi’i and know him from his childhood, prior to their intelligence, reason, and maintenance, he was not known for his patience.” Al-Rabi` bin Suleiman - a student, servant, and narrator of his books - said: “If the mind of al-Shafi’i was weighed with half the intellect of the people of the earth, it would outweigh them, and if it was from the Children of Israel, they would need it.”

 

The breadth of Imam Shafi’i’s knowledge and jurisprudence:

Al-Shafi’i sought knowledge of Mecca for the scholars and hadith scholars who were in it, and he reached a great height until he was authorized to give fatwas by Muslim bin Khalid the Zanji. It is time for you to give fatwas.

And that was at a time when the name of Malik spread in the horizons, and the riders transmitted it, and he reached a great deal of knowledge and hadith far, so Shafi’i’s determination to migrate to Yathrib to seek knowledge, but he did not want to go to Madinah empty-handed of the knowledge of Malik, may God be pleased with him, so he borrowed Al-Muwatta From a man in Mecca and read it, and the novels say that he memorized.

Al-Shafi’i went to Malik carrying with him a letter of recommendation from the governor of Makkah, and with this emigration, Al-Shafi’i’s life began to turn to jurisprudence in its entirety, and when Malik saw him - and he had an insight - he said to him: O Muhammad! Fear God, and avoid disobedience, for it will be a matter for you. God Almighty has cast a light on your heart, so do not extinguish it with disobedience. Then he said to him: If tomorrow comes, you will come and what will be ready for you will come. Al-Shafi’i says: So I went to him and began to read outwardly with the book in my hand. Whenever an owner was terrified and wanted to interrupt, he liked my good reading and Arabic language, and he would say: Oh boy, increase it until I read it to him in a few days.

When Malik died and al-Shafi’i felt that he had attained more knowledge, he turned himself into a job from which he would gain what would pay for his needs and prevent his poverty. At that time, he came to the Hijaz and to Yemen, so some of the Quraish told him to accompany al-Shafi’i, so the governor took him with him, and al-Shafi’i says: My mother had nothing to give me what I could finance, so she pawned a house, and I carried it with him, and when we came, I worked for him on a job.

He took over Najran, established justice, and spread his banner, and he says in this: I was appointed to Najran and the Banu Al-Harith bin Abdul-Madan, and the loyalist of Thaqif, was appointed to the governor, if his makers came to them, they wanted me in this way, but they did not find me.

Al-Shafi’i was accused of being with the Alawites, so Al-Rasheed sent the group of nine Alawites with Al-Shafi’i, the narrators say: That he killed the nine and Al-Shafi’i escaped with the strength of his argument, and the testimony of Muhammad bin Al-Hassan to him. his age. Perhaps this ordeal that befell him, God brought him to him in order to turn to knowledge, not to authority and authority.

Ibn Hajar said: The leadership of jurisprudence in Medina ended with Malik bin Anas, so he went to him, followed him, and took from him. So he acted in that until the origin of the principles, and he sat down to the rules, and the agreeing and the opposing obeyed him.

The people of opinion were stunned at his first meeting with them in Baghdad in the year (184 AH) until al-Razi said that: Because of him, the people of opinion stopped taking over the people of hadith.

Then Al-Shafi’i returned to Mecca and began giving his lessons in the Great Mosque of Mecca, and met the people of knowledge during the Hajj season, and they listened to him, and at this time Ahmed bin Hanbal met him.

Then Al-Shafi’i came to Baghdad for the second time in the year 195 AH and wrote for the first time the book “Al-Risala”, which laid the foundation for the science of jurisprudence. In the Manaqib Al-Shafi’i by Al-Razi, he narrated that Abd Al-Rahman bin Mahdi asked Al-Shafi’i when he was a young man to write a book for him mentioning it. Conditions of inference from the Qur’an and Sunnah, consensus, analogy, clarification of the abrogated and abrogated, and the ranks of the general and specific. Al-Shafi’i, may God be pleased with him, wrote the book “The Message” and sent it to him. When Abd al-Rahman bin Mahdi read it, he said: I do not think that God Almighty created such a man. Then al-Razi says: And I know that Al-Shafi’i, may God be pleased with him, had classified the book of the message while he was in Baghdad, and when he returned to Egypt he reclassified the book of the message, and in each of them there is much knowledge.

Then Al-Shafi’i moved to Egypt. Al-Rabe said: I heard Al-Shafi’i say in a story he mentioned:

My soul has become a yearning for Egypt... and without it, the land of missions and wilderness.

By God, I do not know about wealth and riches... Should I be driven to it or be driven to my grave?

He said: By God, it was only after a short time that he was led to them all!!

Meaning: that he attained wealth, wealth, abundance, prestige, and status in Egypt, then his death was there on the last night of Rajab in the year (204 AH), when he reached the age of fifty-four years, and his grave was there!!

 

Imam Shafi’i’s piety, piety, and worship:

Just as al-Shafi’i, may God have mercy on him, was an imam in jurisprudence and jurisprudence, he was also an imam in faith, piety, piety, and worship. On the authority of Al-Rabee’, he said: “Al-Shafi’i had divided the night into three parts: the first third he writes, the second third prays, and the third sleeps.” And he, may God have mercy on him, used to not recite Qur’an at night except in prayer. Al-Muzani said: “I have never seen al-Shafi’i recite Qur’an at night except while he is in prayer.”

 

Sheiks of Imam Shafi'i

The sheikhs of Imam Al-Shafi’i in Medina: Imam Malik bin Anas, Ibrahim bin Saad Al-Ansari, Abdul Aziz bin Muhammad Al-Darawardi, Ibrahim bin Abi Yahya, Muhammad bin Saeed bin Abi Fadik, and Abdullah bin Nafie Al-Sayegh.

And the sheiks of Imam al-Shafi’i in Yemen: Mutrif bin Mazen, Hisham bin Yusef, the judge of Sana’a, Amr bin Abi Salama, the owner of Imam al-Awza’i, and Yahya bin Hassan.

 

The sheiks of Imam Al-Shafi’i in Iraq: Waki’ bin Al-Jarrah, Abu Osama Hammad bin Osama Al-Kaufman, Ismail bin Aliyah, and Abd Al-Wahhab bin Abdul Majeed Al-Bryan.

 

Students of Imam Shafi'i

Many people excelled at Imam Al-Shafi’i, led by Abu Abdullah Ahmad bin Hanbal, Al-Hassan bin Muhammad Al-Sabah Al-Zafarani, Al-Hussein Al-Karabisi, Abu Thawr Ibrahim bin Khalid Al-Kalbi, Abu Ibrahim Ismail bin Yahya Al-Muzni, Abu Muhammad Al-Rabi’ bin Suleiman Al-Muradi, and Al-Rabi’ bin Suleiman Al-Jayzi, Abu Yaqoub Yusuf bin Yahya Al-Bweiti, Abu Hafs Harmala bin Yahya bin Abdullah Al-Tajbi, Abu Yusuf Younis bin Abdul-Ala, Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Abdul Hakam Al-Masri, and Abdullah bin Al-Zubair Al-Humaidi.

 

Imam Shafi'i's books

No imam was known before Imam al-Shafi’i from the writings on the fundamentals, branches, jurisprudence, and its evidence. Rather, in interpretation and literature what was known to al-Shafi’i in abundance, ingenuity, and precision. Ibn Zulaq says: “Al-Shafi’i classified it as one of two hundred parts.”

He was a marvel in the speed of writing, with precision, maturity, and mastery that was unparalleled, so that he might have completed a book in half a day. Yunus bin Abdul-Ala says: "Al-Shafi'i used to put the book from morning to noon."

Among his books, may God have mercy on him, is the book (Al-Risala), which is the first book written on the principles of jurisprudence and the knowledge of the abrogator from the abrogated. Rather, it is the first book on the principles of hadith. And he wrote a book called (Communal of Science), in which he defended the Sunnah in a glorious defense, and proved the necessity of the authenticity of the Sunnah in Sharia. And the book (The Mother), (The Small Dictation), (Al-Amali Al-Kubra), (Mukhtasar Al-Muzni), (Mukhtasar Al-Bwiti), and others.

The approach of Imam Shafi'i

Imam Al-Shafi’i took the transmitted interests and reclamation, but he did not name it by this name, and he included it within the analogy and explained it in an extensive explanation. As well as the Shafi'i takes customs, such as Malik. Al-Shafi’i used to stick to the authentic hadiths and rejected false and fabricated news, and he took great care of this. Abu Zara’a said: “Al-Shafi’i has no hadith in which there is a mistake.”

Al-Shafi’i has put in the art of the term hadith many terms that have not been previously mentioned, such as communication, abnormality, trust, and the difference between hadith and told us.

 

They said about Imam Shafi'i

Al-Muzni said: “I have not seen a better face than Al-Shafi’i. Yunus bin Abdul-Ala said: “If a nation were to gather, the intellect of al-Shafi’i would be sufficient for them.” And Ishaq bin Rahwayh said: "Ahmed bin Hanbal met me in Makkah, and he said: Come, so that I may show you a man whose eyes you have not seen.

Abu Thawr al-Faqih said: “I have not seen the like of al-Shafi’i, nor has he seen the like of himself.” Abu Dawud said: “I do not know of a hadith that is wrong with al-Shafi’i.”

Dawud bin Ali Al Dhahiri said: “Al-Shafi’i has virtues that are not combined with others, such as the honor of his lineage, the correctness of his religion and belief, the generosity of himself, and his knowledge of the authenticity and invalidity of hadith, its abrogation and abrogation, and the preservation of the Book, the Sunnah, the biography of the caliphs, and good classification.”

Ahmed bin Hanbal said: “It is narrated on the authority of the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, that God Almighty will send to this nation at the head of every hundred years a man to establish its religion for it.

And he also said: “Al-Shafi’i was like the sun for this world and wellness for the body, so do you see for these two a successor or a compensation for them?”

 

From the words of Imam Shafi'i

Seeking knowledge is better than supererogatory prayers.

Whoever is laughed at about an issue he has never forgotten.

- Whoever attends the science assembly without inkwell and paper, it is like one who attends the mill without wheat.

- He who learns the Qur’an will be of great value, and he who looks into jurisprudence will be of nobility, and he who learns the language will have a finer temperament, and he who learns arithmetic will have a richer opinion, and he who writes hadiths will strengthen his argument, and he who does not preserve himself, his knowledge will not benefit him.

 

The death of Imam Shafi'i

The Imam Al-Shafi’i insisted on sickness, melting him of illness, and stopping death at his door awaiting the end of the term. In this case, his student Al-Muzani entered upon him and said: How did you become? He said: “I am departing from the world, leaving the brothers, and the cup of death is a drinker, and upon God, may He be glorified and exalted, is mentioned, and by God, I do not know that my soul will go to Heaven, so I congratulate it, or to Hell, so I console it.” Then he cried.

Imam al-Shafi’i, may God have mercy on him, was buried in Cairo on the first of Sha’ban, on Friday in the year 204 AH/820 AD. He had two sons and a daughter, and he was married to one woman[1].

[1]  For more see: Al-Samani, Abd al-Karim ibn Muhammad ibn Mansur al-Tamimi al-Marwazi: Ansab, investigation: Abd al-Rahman ibn Yahya al-Ma’alimi al-Yamani and others, Council of the Ottoman Encyclopedia, Hyderabad, first edition, 1382 AH = 1962 AD, 8/20, 25, Ibn Asaker, Abu al-Qasim Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Heba Allah: History of Damascus, investigation by: Amr ibn Gharamah al-Amrawi, Dar al-Fikr for printing, publishing and distribution, 1415 AH = 1995 AD, 51/267, 277, Ibn al-Jawzi, Jamal al-Din Abu al-Faraj Abd al-Rahman ibn Ali ibn Muhammad: The Regular in the History of Nations and Kings, investigated by: Muhammad Abdul Qadir Atta, and Mustafa Abdul Qadir Atta, Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, Beirut, first edition, 1412 AH = 1992 AD, 10/134, 135, al-Nawawi, Abu Zakaria Muhyi al-Din Yahya bin Sharaf bin Marri Refinement of Names and Languages, Edited by: The Scholars Company, Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, Beirut, Lebanon, 1/44, Ibn Khalkan, Abu al-Abbas Shams al-Din Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Abi Bakr al-Barmaki al-Irbili: The deaths of notables and the news of the sons of time, Investigated by: Ihsan Abbas Dar Sader, Beirut, Part Two, 1900, Part VII, 1994 AD, 4/163, 127. Al-Dhahabi, Abu Abdullah Shams Al-Din Muhammad bin Ahmed bin Othman bin Qaymaz: History of Islam and The Deaths of Celebrities and Flags, Investigation: Bashar Awad Maarouf, Dar Al-Gharb Al-Islami, first edition, 2003 AD, 5/146, 128. Al-Dhahabi, Abu Abdullah Shams Al-Din Muhammad bin Ahmed bin Othman bin Qaymaz: The Lives of the Nobles’ Flags, investigation: A group of investigators under the supervision of Sheikh Shuaib Al-Arnaout, Foundation of the Message, Beirut, third edition, 1405 AH = 1985 AD, 10/5, 53. Ibn Katheer, Abu al-Fida Ismail bin Omar al-Dimashqi: The Beginning and the End, investigated by: Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsen al-Turki, Dar Hajar for printing and publishing, edition The first, 1418 AH = 1997 AD, 14/132.