Muḥammad ibn ʾIdrīs ash-Shāfiʿī

The Vastness of His Knowledge

His Mastery of the Arabic Language

Imām ar-Rabīʿ ibn Sulaymān said, "Ash-Shāfiʿī was an Arab to his soul and an Arab in his speech. If you had seen him and seen the beauty of his expression and eloquence, you would have been awestruck. If he had authored his books in the way he used to speak, no one would have been able to read them."

Imām ʾAhmad ibn Hanbal said, "The statement of ash-Shāfiʿī in the Arabic language is a Hujjah."

Imām ʾAbū ʿUthmān al-Māzinī said, "According to us, ash-Shāfiʿī is a Hujjah in grammar."

Imām ibn Hishām said, "Ash-Shāfiʿī is the one from whom the Arabic language is taken."

Imām Mahmūd an-Nahwī said, "Whenever Imām ibn Hishām, the famous grammarian, had a doubt about something in the language, he would visit ash-Shāfiʿī and ask him about it."

Imām ʾAbū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām said, "Ash-Shāfiʿī was from Ahl al-Lughah."

Imām az-Zamakhsharī said, "As for ash-Shāfiʿī, he was among the Imāms of the Arabic language, one of the most eloquent among them."

Imām ʿAbd al-Mālik ibn Hishām an-Nahwī, after a discourse with him, declared, "I did not think that Allāh ﷻ had created someone like ash-Shāfiʿī", and used to call him the Hujjah in the Arabic language. It is furthermore reported that ibn al-Hājib and others would mention "the dialect of ash-Shāfiʿī" just as they would mention the famous dialects of Tamīm and Rabīʿah, which reflects the extraordinary authority he held in the Arabic tongue.

His Mastery of the Qurʾān

Imām Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-ʾAʿlā said, "Whenever ash-Shāfiʿī spoke about the Tafsīr of the Qurʾān, it was as if he were witnessing the revelation itself." He also said, "Ash-Shāfiʿī was not but like a magician. We were not able to fully comprehend what he was saying when we sat around him, and it was as if his words were intoxicating. He was blessed with charming speech, beautiful eloquence, extreme intelligence, a flowing mind, perfect articulation, and mindfulness in establishing the argument against his opposition."¹

Imām Fakhr ad-Dīn ar-Rāzī said, "Whoever reads our al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr and reflects upon how we have deduced the rulings from the Book of Allāh ﷻ according to the Shāfiʿī Madhab, will realise that ash-Shāfiʿī was a never-ending sea in the knowledge of Tafsīr."²

Imām al-Karābīsī said, "We did not know the Qurʾān and Sunnah until we listened to ash-Shāfiʿī."

Imām ibn Bint ash-Shāfiʿī said, "I heard my father and uncle saying that whenever Imām Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah was asked any question concerning the Tafsīr of the Qurʾān, he would refer the questioner to ash-Shāfiʿī."

Imām Hilāl ibn ʿUlā said, "Allāh ﷻ bestowed the knowledge of the Summarised from the Elaborated, the Specific from the General, the Abrogating from the Abrogated and others through ash-Shāfiʿī, and the people would have perished without his knowledge."

Imām al-Mubarrad said, "May Allāh ﷻ have mercy on ash-Shāfiʿī, for he was among the most knowledgeable of the Qiraʾāt of the Qurʾān."

Imām az-Zayyādī said, "I did not see anyone having more knowledge about the meanings of the Qurʾān than ash-Shāfiʿī."

Bahr ibn Nasr said, "When ash-Shāfiʿī would recite the Qurʾān, we would almost pass out from the beauty of his voice."

His Mastery of Hadīth

Imām ʾAhmad ibn Hanbal said, "The scholars of Hadīth did not know the meaning of the Hadīth of the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ until ash-Shāfiʿī came, for he explained it for them." He also said, "The Hadīth and Raʾy of ash-Shāfiʿī are correct." And in another statement, "I have not looked into the book of anyone who authored works in Fiqh except for ash-Shāfiʿī."³

Imām al-Karābīsī said, "May Allāh's ﷻ mercy be upon ash-Shāfiʿī, for we did not understand most of the narrations except through his teachings."

Imām Muhammad ash-Shaybānī said, "If the scholars of Hadīth speak, it is in the tongue of ash-Shāfiʿī."

Imām az-Zaʿfarānī said, "The scholars of Hadīth were sleeping until ash-Shāfiʿī woke them up."

Imām Hilāl ibn ʿUlā said, "The scholars of Hadīth are dependent upon ash-Shāfiʿī, for he opened the locks for them."

Imām ʾAbū Hātim ar-Rāzī said, "If it were not for ash-Shāfiʿī, the scholars of Hadīth would have perished."

Imām ʾIbrāhīm ibn Muhammad said, "Imām Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah often quoted the statements of ash-Shāfiʿī regarding the interpretation of Hadīth."

Imām Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, whenever questions or requests for fatwā came to him, would turn to ash-Shāfiʿī and say, "Ask this man."

An-Nawawī said, "Imām ibn Khuzaymah was asked whether there was any Sunnah that did not reach ash-Shāfiʿī, and he replied, 'No.'"

Imām ʾAbū Dāwūd said, "I do not know of any incorrect or mistaken Hadīth from ash-Shāfiʿī." Upon which Imām adh-Dhahabī commented, "This proves that he was Thiqah, Hujjah and Hāfidh."⁴

Imām ʾAhmad Shākir said, "According to me, many of the subjects related to the Hadīth sciences are most accurately and most meticulously presented in al-Risālah among the works of scholars regarding Usūl al-Hadīth. Rather, those who are versed in the sciences of Hadīth understand that whatever was written after al-Risālah is in fact a branch of it and dependent upon it, and that ash-Shāfiʿī collected that and codified it while having no preceding example, as he was the first to author a work in the subject of Usūl al-Hadīth."⁵

His Mastery of Fiqh and Its Usūl

Imām ʾAhmad ibn Hanbal said, "I have not seen anyone more knowledgeable in the Fiqh of the Book of Allāh ﷻ than this young Qurayshī man." He also said, "The doors of Fiqh were closed until Allāh ﷻ opened them with ash-Shāfiʿī." And in yet another statement, "No one touched the inkwell or pen except that ash-Shāfiʿī had a favour upon him."

Imām Sālih ibn ʾAhmad narrated that he and his father saw ash-Shāfiʿī riding a donkey, whereupon Imām ʾAhmad rushed towards it and pressed himself close to it. He later told his son, "If you were to walk with him on the other side of the donkey, it would have been better for you, for whoever desires Fiqh, let him do this!"

Imām Yahyā al-Qattān said, "I never saw anyone more intelligent and possessing more understanding of Fiqh than ash-Shāfiʿī."

After reading al-Risālah, Imām ʿAbd ar-Rahmān ibn Mahdī said, "This is the speech of a man who has great understanding of Fiqh."

Imām al-Karābīsī said, "We did not know about the principles of Fiqh, Qurʾān, Sunnah or Ijmāʿ until we learnt them from ash-Shāfiʿī."

Imām ibn Surayj al-Baghdādī said, "Whoever desires the best of affairs, let him follow the Fiqh of ash-Shāfiʿī."

Imām ʾAbū Thawr was asked, "Who was more proficient in Fiqh, ash-Shāfiʿī or Muhammad ibn al-Hasan?" He replied, "Ash-Shāfiʿī was more proficient in Fiqh than Muhammad ash-Shaybānī, ʾAbū Yūsuf, ʾAbū Hanīfah, Hammād, an-Nakhaʿī, ʿAlqamah and al-ʾAswad."⁶

Imām adh-Dhahabī stated, "The most knowledgeable in Fiqh from Ahl al-Kūfā are Sayyidnā ʿAlī ibn ʾAbī Tālib and Sayyidnā ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd. The most knowledgeable of their students in Fiqh is Imām ʿAlqamah ibn Qays. The most knowledgeable of his students in Fiqh is Imām ʾIbrāhīm an-Nakhaʿī. The most knowledgeable of his students in Fiqh is Imām Hammād ibn ʾAbī Sulaymān. The most knowledgeable of his students in Fiqh is Imām ʾAbū Hanīfah. The most knowledgeable of his students in Fiqh is Imām ʾAbū Yūsuf. The most knowledgeable of his students in Fiqh is Imām Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ash-Shaybānī. And the most knowledgeable of his students in Fiqh is ash-Shāfiʿī."⁷

Imām ʾIshāq ibn Rāhūyah said, "Imām ʾAhmad took me to a man the like of whom I had never seen before, and he was ash-Shāfiʿī. We had a discourse about Hadīth, and I did not see anyone more knowledgeable than him. Then we had a discourse about Fiqh, and I did not see anyone more knowledgeable than him. Then we had a discourse about the Qurʾān, and I did not see anyone more knowledgeable than him. Then we had a discourse about the Arabic language and found him to be the house of the language. My eyes had never seen anyone like him before."⁸

Imām al-Buwaytī said, "We were unaware of the widespread praise of ash-Shāfiʿī until we saw Ahl al-ʿIrāq mentioning and describing him with good words just as we describe him, and know that ʿIrāq was the garden of Fiqh and theology. All of the people of Hadīth, people of language and theology said that they had never seen anyone like ash-Shāfiʿī."⁹

As for his mastery of Usūl al-Fiqh specifically, Imām Jamāl ad-Dīn al-ʾIsnawī said, "The greatest pillar and the most important matter in Ijtihād is the knowledge of Usūl al-Fiqh, and our Imām ash-Shāfiʿī was the inventor of this science without any dispute and the first to author a book in it by unanimous agreement."¹⁰

Imām ibn ʿAqīl al-Hanbalī stated, "Ash-Shāfiʿī is the father and mother of this knowledge, he was the first to refine Usūl al-Fiqh, and one of the most abundant in this knowledge."¹¹

Imām ibn as-Subkī stated, "It is not hidden even from the traveller in the path of prejudice that the deduction of ash-Shāfiʿī in the Usūl takes precedence, and this is the most important science for the Mujtahid to master. He was the first to establish this science in terms of arrangement and refinement and authored al-Risālah."¹²

Imām Fakhr ad-Dīn ar-Rāzī stated, "Acknowledge that the rank of ash-Shāfiʿī in regards to the knowledge of Usūl al-Fiqh is similar to the rank of Aristotle regarding the knowledge of logic, and the rank of Khalīl ibn ʾAhmad regarding the knowledge of prosody. Scholars before ash-Shāfiʿī used to discuss the issues of Usūl al-Fiqh, they inferred and objected, but they did not have a comprehensive and codified law to refer to in knowing the principles of the Sharīʿah and in the manner of its oppositions and giving preferences. Then came ash-Shāfiʿī who codified the knowledge and sciences related to Usūl al-Fiqh and established a comprehensive law for them, which was referred to in knowing the ranks of Sharʿī evidence."¹³

Imām al-Bayhaqī, after comparing the statements of all the Mujtahid Imāms with his knowledge of the Qurʾān and what he gathered from the Sunnah and Āthār, said, "I found ash-Shāfiʿī to be the most following of the texts, the strongest in deduction of rulings, the most correct in Qiyās, and the clearest in guidance."¹⁴

Shaykh ʾAhmad Shākir stated in his tahqīq to al-Risālah, "It suffices ash-Shāfiʿī as a praise that he is ash-Shāfiʿī. It suffices al-Risālah as an eulogy that it was authored by ash-Shāfiʿī. It suffices me as an honour that I spread the knowledge of ash-Shāfiʿī."¹⁵

Shaykh ʾAkram Yūsuf al-Qawāsimī said, "Ash-Shāfiʿī was an encyclopedia of the sciences of the Sharīʿah with all the meaning that this description carries, and his apparent eminence particularly in Fiqh and its Usūl does not mean that his mastery of knowledge was limited to these sciences. All those who authored works on his biography, from the earlier and later scholars, unanimously agreed regarding it, and his own works are the best evidence of the breadth of his knowledge. He was the linguist well-acquainted with Arabic, the Mufassir who gathered the statements of Mufassirīn, the Muhaddith and Hāfidh, the Faqīh and investigator, the accomplished Usūlī and foremost in codifying Usūl al-Fiqh."¹⁶

What demonstrates the vastness of his knowledge most vividly is perhaps his daily teaching circle, described earlier, in which scholars of the Qurʾān, scholars of Hadīth, scholars of Fiqh and scholars of the Arabic language each came to him in turn, every group finding in him what they could find nowhere else. Whoever wishes to experience the depth of his knowledge himself, let him look into al-Risālah and al-Umm, for no one preceded him in authoring such masterpieces, and they contain not only Fiqh but sciences related to Hadīth, Qurʾān and language together. May Allāh ﷻ be pleased with him and with all the scholars of Islām.

Footnotes

1. Siyar ʾAʿlām an-Nubalāʾ, 10/48. ↩

2. Manāqib al-Imām ash-Shāfiʿī li ar-Rāzī, 1/192. ↩

3. Tārīkh Dimashq, 51/367. ↩

4. Siyar ʾAʿlām an-Nubalāʾ, 10/35. ↩

5. His Tahqīq to al-Risālah, 1/13. ↩

6. Tārīkh Baghdād, 2/410. ↩

7. Siyar ʾAʿlām an-Nubalāʾ, 5/236. ↩

8. Tārīkh Dimashq, 51/330. ↩

9. Manāqib ash-Shāfiʿī, 2/271. ↩

10. At-Tamhīd fī Takhrīj al-Furūʿ ʿalā al-ʾUsūl, 1/45. ↩

11. Al-Wādhih fī ʾUsūl al-Fiqh, 1/185. ↩

12. Al-ʾIbhāj fī Sharh al-Minhāj, 3/206. ↩

13. Manāqib al-Imām ash-Shāfiʿī li ar-Rāzī, 156-157. ↩

14. Maʿrifat as-Sunan wa al-Āthār, 1/213-214. ↩

15. His Tahqīq to al-Risālah, 1/5-6. ↩

16. Al-Madkhal ilā Madhhab al-Imām ash-Shāfiʿī, 1/113-114. ↩