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The development of the Shafi′i Math-hab

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In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

The development of the Shafi′i Math-hab

Talat Makhmoor, Ph.D.

The Shâfi′i Madh-hab is the third school of Islamic jurisprudence, which was

created by Imam ash-Shâfi′i by combining the Fiqh of Hijaz (Mâliki thought) with that of

Iraq (Hanafi thought) and Egypt (al-Laythi thought). Let us first briefly discuss the

biography of the founder of this Madh-hab, then the phase-wise formation of the Madh-

hab al-Qadeem and al-Jadeed within the Shâfi′I Madh-hab and its division into Tareeqa

al-Khurasaniyeen and Tareeqa al-Baghdadiyeen and, finally, list the various parts of the

Islamic world that follow it.

Imam ash-Shâfi′i is one of the four great Imams of the Islamic law, whose full name

is Muhammad ibn Idrees ash-Shâfi′i. He belonged to the Qurayshi clan Banu-Muttalib,

which was the brother clan of the Banu-Hashim ̶ the clan of the Prophet Muhammad

. He was born in a village in Ghazzah in the year 769 CE, from where his mother

took him at the age of two to Makkah. In Makkah, he memorized the Quran at an early

age. He also memorized Imam Mâlik’s Muwatta’ word by word before travelling to

Madeenah in pursuit of knowledge. His two prominent teachers were Imam Mâlik ibn

Anas and Imam Muhammad ibn al-Hassan al-Shaybaanee, from whom he studied Fiqh

of Madeenah and hadith and Fiqh of Iraq when he travelled to Madeenah and Baghdad,
 2

respectively. He also studied the Madh-hab of al-Layth from al-Layth’s students when he

settled in Egypt. He remained in Egypt until his death in the year 820 CE (Wahid, Yunus

& Abdullah, 2016; "ShafiiFiqh | A Brief Outline of the Shafi’i School’s Transmission", 2015;

Philips, 2006, p. 108). According to Imam ash-Shâfi′i, there are five sources of Islamic

law: the Quran and al-Sunnah, al-Ijma (consensus), the views of the companions, al-

Qiyas (analogical reasoning), and Istis-hâb (linking) (Philips, 2006, pp. 109-110). The

process of development of Shâfi′i school of thought occurred through knowledge transfer

by the tarjih (a specific verdict of preference) and takhrij (extraction) activities among his

students and contemporary scholars, the mujtahidin, ulema and the spread/ transfer of

knowledge within the Madh-hab (Hassan et al., 2015).

Let us first focus on the development of the al-Madh-hab al-Qadeem. This period

is based on two phases: the first phase of the Fiqh learning of Imam ash-Shâfi′I under

Imam Mâlik until his death in 801 CE, in which he got expertise in Fiqh of Hijaz, the Mâliki

thought, and hadith, and the second phase, which began in the year 805 CE with learning

the Fiqh of Iraq, the Hanafi thought, under Muhammad ibn al-Hassan al-Shaybaanee, the

student of Imam Abu Haneefah. Thereafter, during his stay in Iraq, Imam ash-Shâfi′i

combined both Fiqh, the Fiqh of Hijaz and the Fiqh of Iraq in the year 810 CE in the form

of a book named Kitabal-Hujjah (The Evidence), and created a new Madh-hab. This book

was produced as a result of his dictations to his students, and is a collection of his rulings

(Hassan et al., 2015). The al-Hujjah and that whole period of Imam ash-Shâfi′i scholarship

is commonly known as al-Madh-hab al-Qadeem or Qawl Qadeem (the old school of

thought) (Philips, 2006, pp. 108-109). The three transmitters of al-Madh-habal-Qadeem,

Za’farani, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and Karabisi, spread its rulings in Baghdad (Hassan et al.,
 3

2015). These disciples of Imam ash-Shâfi′i played an active role in spreading the Qawl

Qadeem and the transfer of knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence during years 820-855 CE

("ShafiiFiqh | A Brief Outline of the Shafi’i School’s Transmission", 2015). The validity of

the rulings of al-Hujjah is considered when it is in accordance to the new doctrine, al-

Umm, because Imam ash-Shâfi′i himself reversed many of his rulings after studying the

Fiqh of al-Layth, except approximately twenty-two questions in which scholars and muftis

have retained the opinions of the old thought. Hence, al-Umm is an authoritative guide of

Imam ash-Shâfi′i’s legal material (Sharif & Ijaz, 2014; Salam, 1998, p. 20).

The formation of the Madh-hab al-Jadeed, the second phase of Imam ash-Shâfi′i

scholarship, started when he settled in Egypt and learned the Madh-hab of al-Layth from

his students in the year 815 CE. There, he got expertise in the Fiqh of al-Layth and

created a new Madh-hab, al-Madh-hab al-Jadeed or Qawl Jadeed (the new school of

thought) in the form of his book, al-Umm (The Essence) (Philips, 2006, pp. 108-109). The

al-Umm is a treasure of legal material which includes the opinions of al-Awzâi, Mâlik ibn

Anas, and Muhammad al-Shaybaanee and many debates between Imam ash-Shâfi′i and

various other scholars. It was also enriched by the comments of ar-Râbee’ ibn Sulaymân

al-Marâdi, who is the student of Imam ash-Shâfi′i and the compiler of al-Umm (Shamsy,

2012). The primary transmitters of the al-Madh-hab al-Jadeed are Yoosuf ibn Yahya al-

Buwayti, Ismaeel ibn Yahya al-Muzani, and Ar-Rabee’ al-Marâdi who conveyed the new

thought during years 820-855 CE (Hassan et al., 2015; "ShafiiFiqh | A Brief Outline of the

Shafi’i School’s Transmission", 2015). Al-Muzani gathered the Fiqh of Imam ash-Shâfi′i

and condensed it in the form of a book, Mukhtasar al-Muzani, whereas al-Marâdi was the

main narrator of Imam ash-Shâfi′i’s book al-Umm. His third student, Yoosuf, was the main
 4

teacher of his Madh-hab and particularly known for his stance on “the creation of the

Quran”, which was against the Mu’tazilite philosophy (Philips, 2006, p. 111).

The transmission of the Shâfi′i Madh-hab from his students until two tareeqas,

Tareeqa al-Khurasaniyeen and Tareeqa al-Baghdadiyeen, occurred between the years

884-952 CE through the four Muhammads, Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Muhammad

ibn Khuzaymah, Muhammad ibn al-Mundir, and Muhammad ibn Marwazi. They were

known to reach the stage where an individual can make its own ijtihad (personal

reasoning) without taqlid (imitation) of others. In progression of the division into two

tareeqas, the students of Abu Ishaq al-Marwazi branched off into two directions of

transmission, the Iraqi (952-1190 CE) and the Khurasani division (952-1165), but

eventually the two tareeqas began to merge during the years of 1190-1204 CE, which are

in a unified form today ("ShafiiFiqh | A Brief Outline of the Shafi’i School’s Transmission",

2015).

Finally, a few words on spreading of the Shâfi′i Madh-hab. In its early years,

Baghdad and Cairo were the main centers of it, then it was spread into various parts of

the Muslim countries. But then, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, it was replaced

by Hanafi Madh-hab due to the presence of Hanafi scholars in judiciary in Constantinople

(“Shafi’i School”, n.d.). Despite this influence, the Shâfi′i Madh-hab remains predominant

today in various parts of the Islamic world including Egypt; Southern Arabia, i.e., Yemen

and Hadramout; Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka; East Africa, i.e., Kenya, Tanzania; and

Surinam in South America (Philips, 2006, p. 112).

In short, Imam ash-Shâfi′i, who played a central role in the development of Islamic

jurisprudence, created the Shâfi′i Madh-hab by unification of the Fiqh of Hijaz with that of
 5

Iraq and Egypt. The developmental stages of the Shâfi′i Madh-hab were based on the

two main phases while he was alive, which resulted in the two main books, al-Hujjah (the

old doctrine) and al-Umm (the new doctrine), whereas after him several phases of the

transmission or transference of Shâfi′i Fiqh occurred through his students and Shâfi′i

scholars and muftis, and the divisional phases of his Madh-hab into Iraqi and Khurasani

channels. Today, the unified version of Shâfi′i Madh-hab is followed by several parts of

the Islamic world such as Egypt, Southern Arabia, East Africa, Surinam in South America,

etc.
 6

Bibliography

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approach of knowledge transfer in deriving Shafi’ite Hukum. Mediterranean Journal of

Social Sciences, 6(1), 260-271.

Philips, A. A. B. (2006). The Evolution of FIQH (Islamic Law and the Madh-habs) (3rd ed.).

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Salam, I. A. Al-. (1998). The Belief of the People of Truth (Al_Mulha fi ‘ItiqadAhl al-Haqq)

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