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Four Schools / Founder
An extended study of his lineage, rank, journeys, legal formation, final illness, peer testimonies, and the vastness of his knowledge.
School
Shāfiʿiyyah
Legacy
Mujaddid of the second century, author of al-Risālah and al-Umm, and the Imām through whom Ahl al-Hadīth and Ahl ar-Raʾy were reconciled.
Biography sections
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Muḥammad ibn ʾIdrīs ash-Shāfiʿī
His final illness, poem, passing, hope in the Hereafter, and the enduring wisdom attributed to him.
Ash-Shāfiʿī used to remain ill for long periods throughout his life, and this is among his virtues, for Allāh ﷻ tests those whom He loves most. The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said, "The Prophets are the most severely tested, then the next best, then the next best." Imām Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-ʾAʿlā said that he did not meet anyone who suffered from illness as much as ash-Shāfiʿī, and an-Nawawī remarked that this was, and Allāh ﷻ knows best, from Allāh's ﷻ kindness to him by including him among His Awliyāʾ.1
Imām al-Muzanī relates that he entered upon ash-Shāfiʿī when he was ill and in the last stages of his life, and said to him, "Oh ʾAbū ʿAbdullāh! How is your condition?" He raised his head and said, "My condition is that I am travelling away from this world, departing from my brothers, my sins overwhelming me, to Allāh ﷻ is our return, and no! I do not know whether my soul is travelling towards the Paradise so that I give glad tidings to it, or to the Fire so that I console it." Then he began to weep and recited the following verses:
Tahdhīb al-Asmāʾ wa al-Lughāt, 1/65. ↩
The Poem
Arabic
ولمّا قسا قلبي وضاقت مذاهبي
جعلتُ رجائي نحو عفوك سُلَّما
Translation
When my heart hardened and my ways narrowed,
my hope of Your Forgiveness became my ladder.
Arabic
تعاظمني ذنبي فلمّا قرنتُه
بعفوك ربّي كان عفوك أعظما
Translation
My sin loomed great over me, yet when I compared it
with Your Forgiveness, my Lord, Your Forgiveness was greater.
Arabic
فما زلتَ ذا عفوٍ عن الذنب لم تزل
تجود وتعفو منّةً وتكرُّما
Translation
You have never ceased to be One who forgives sins,
bestowing and pardoning, out of generosity and grace.
Arabic
فإن تنتقم منّي فلستُ بآيسٍ
ولو دخلت نفسي بجُرمي جهنّما
Translation
And if You were to take retribution from me, I would not despair,
even if my soul were to enter the depths of Hell for my crimes.
Arabic
ولولاك لم يَغوَ بإبليس عابدٌ
فكيف وقد أغوى صفيَّك آدما
Translation
Were it not for You, no worshipper could withstand Iblīs,
and yet he led astray Your chosen one, ʾĀdam.
Arabic
وإنّي لآتي الذنبَ أعرف قدرَه
وأعلم أنّ الله يعفو تَرَحُّما
Translation
And I come to You with sins, knowing their magnitude,
and knowing that Allāh forgives, out of Mercy.
He took his last breaths on the blessed night of Friday, the last day of Shaʿbān in the year 204 AH, at the age of fifty-four. The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said, "No Muslim dies on the day of Friday, nor the night of Friday, except that Allāh ﷻ protects him from the trials of the grave."1 He is buried in Fustāt, Egypt, and the place of his tomb is well-known to this day.
Imām ar-Rabīʿ ibn Sulaymān said, "I saw in a dream that Prophet ʾĀdam ﷺ had passed away, so I asked one qualified to interpret dreams about it, and it was said that this refers to the death of the most knowledgeable of the people of the earth, for Allāh ﷻ taught Prophet ʾĀdam ﷺ all the names. It was only a short while before I was informed that ash-Shāfiʿī had passed away." Various righteous people saw in their dreams that ash-Shāfiʿī is in Jannah, among them Imām Muhammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Hāshimī, who saw the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ in a dream saying, "Ash-Shāfiʿī is in Jannah", or in another wording, "Ash-Shāfiʿī is from the people of Jannah."
Imām ibn Hibbān noted that ash-Shāfiʿī has three statements of wisdom that no one spoke with before him nor after him except that the one who did so had taken from him:
"Whenever the Hadīth is Sahīh for you from the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ, then hold onto it and leave my statement aside."
"I never had a discourse with anyone while desiring him to be mistaken."
"I wish that the people could learn from these books of mine without attributing any of it to me."2
With this we conclude. May Allāh ﷻ be pleased with him and please him, honour his lodging and resting place, gather us with him and with our loved ones in the abode of His dignity, benefit us by our affiliation with him and our belonging to his love, and count us among those who love him, for a person is with whom he loves, as stated in the Hadīth of the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ. Āmīn, bi jāh Sayyid al-Mursalīn Muhammad ﷺ.