Shafi'i school

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The Shafi'i school or Shafi'ism (

traditionist al-Shafi'i, "the father of Muslim jurisprudence",[3] in the early 9th century.[4][5][3]

The other three schools of Sunnī jurisprudence are

Ḥadīths as primary sources of law.[4][6] The Shafi'i school affirms the authority of both divine law-giving (the Qurʾān and the Sunnah) and human speculation regarding the Law.[7] Where passages of Qurʾān and/or the Ḥadīths are ambiguous, the school seeks guidance of Qiyās (analogical reasoning).[7][8] The Ijmā' (consensus of scholars or of the community) was "accepted but not stressed".[7] The school rejected the dependence on local traditions as the source of legal precedent and rebuffed the Ahl al-Ra'y (personal opinion) and the Istiḥsān (juristic discretion).[7][9]

The Shafiʽi school was widely followed in the

One who ascribes to the Shafi'i school is called a Shafi'i, Shafi'ite or Shafi'ist (

Arabic: ٱلشَّافِعِيّ, romanized
al-shāfiʿī, pl. ٱلشَّافِعِيَّة, al-shāfiʿiyya or ٱلشَّوَافِع, al-shawāfiʿ).

Principles

The fundamental principle of the Shafiʽi thought depends on the idea that "to every act performed by a believer who is subject to the Law there corresponds a statute belonging to the Revealed Law or the

Qurʾān or the Sunnah or it is possible, by means of analogical reasoning (Qiyas), to infer it from the Qurʾān or the Sunnah.[9]

As-Shafiʽi was the first jurist to insist that Ḥadīth were the decisive source of law (over traditional doctrines of earlier thoughts).[16] In order of priority, the sources of jurisprudence according to the Shafiʽi thought, are:[4][17]

The Foundation (al asl)

  • Qurʾān — the sacred scripture of Islam.[9][4]
  • Prophet Muhammad as related in solidly established traditions".[9][17]

The school rejected dependence on local community practice as the source of legal precedent.[7][18][9]

Ma'qul al-asl

  • Qiyas with Legal Proof or Dalil Shari'a — "Analogical reasoning as applied to the deduction of juridical principles from the Qurʾān and the Sunnah."[4][17]
    • Analogy by Cause (Qiyas al-Ma'na/Qiyas al-Illa)[9]
    • Analogy by Resemblance (Qiyas al-Shabah)[9]
  • Ijmā' — consensus of scholars or of the community ("accepted but not stressed").[7]

The concept of Istishab was first introduced by the later Shafiʽi scholars.[10] Al-Shafiʽi also postulated that "penal sanctions lapse in cases where repentance precedes punishment".[16]

Risālah

The groundwork legal text for the Shafiʽi law is

al-Shafiʽi's al-Risala ("the Message"), composed in Egypt. It outlines the principles of Shafiʽi legal thought as well as the derived jurisprudence.[19] A first version of the Risālah, al-Risalah al-Qadima, produced by al-Shafiʽi during his stay in Baghdad, is currently lost.[9]

Differences from Mālikī and Ḥanafī thoughts

With Mālikī view

With Ḥanafī view

  • The Shafiʽi school rebuffed the Ahl al-Ra'y (personal opinion) and the Istiḥsān (juristic discretion).[9] It insisted that the rules of the jurists could no longer be invoked in legal issues without additional authentications.[20][21][22] The school refused to admit doctrines that had no textual basis in either the Qurʾān or Ḥadīths, but were based on the opinions of Islamic scholars (the Imams[20]).[23][20]
  • The Shafiʽi thinking believes that the methods may help to "substitute man for God and Prophet Muhammed, the only legitimate legislators"[9] and "true knowledge and correct interpretation of religious obligations would suffer from arbitrary judgments infused with error".[24][25][26][27]

History

Shafiʽi school is predominantly found across the Indian Ocean littoral.

Al-Shāfiʿī (c. 767–820 AD) visited most of the great centres of Islamic jurisprudence in the Middle East during the course of his travels and amassed a comprehensive knowledge of the different ways of legal theory. He was a student of Mālik ibn Anas, the founder of the Mālikī school of law, and of Muḥammad Shaybānī, the Baghdad Ḥanafī intellectual.[3][28][29]

Under Ottomans and the Safavids

Distribution

An approximate map showing the distribution of the Shafiʽi school (azure blue)

The Shafiʽi school is presently predominant in the following parts of the world:[13]

The Shafiʽi school is one of the largest school of Sunni madhhabs by number of adherents.[2][13] The demographic data by each fiqh, for each nation, is unavailable and the relative demographic size are estimates.

Notable Shafiʽis

Contemporary Shafiʽi scholars

See also

References

Notes

1.^ "The law provides sanctions for any religious practice other than the Sunni Shafiʽi doctrine of Islam and for prosecution of converts from Islam, and bans proselytizing for any religion except Islam."[14]

Citations

  1. ^ a b Hallaq 2009, p. 31.
  2. ^ a b c Saeed 2008, p. 17.
  3. ^ a b c "Abū ʿAbd Allāh ash-Shāfiʿī". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  4. ^ a b c d e Ramadan 2006, pp. 27–77.
  5. ^ Kamali 2008, p. 77.
  6. ^ a b Shanay, Bulend. "Shafi'iyyah". University of Cumbria.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g "Shāfiʿī". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  8. ^ Hasyim 2005, pp. 75–77.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Chaumont, Éric (1997). "Al-Shafi". The Encyclopedia Of Islam. Vol. IX. Brill. pp. 182–183.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Heffening, W. (1934). "Al-Shafi'i". The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. IV. E. J. Brill. pp. 252–53.
  11. ^ a b Christelow 2000, p. 377.
  12. ^ a b Pouwels 2002, p. 139.
  13. ^ a b c "Islamic Jurisprudence & Law". University of North Carolina.
  14. ^ a b c "International Religious Freedom Report: Comoros" (PDF). United States Department of State. 2013.
  15. ^ Ahmady, Kameel 2019: From Border to Border. Comprehensive research study on identity and ethnicity in Iran. Mehri publication, London. p 440.
  16. ^ .
  17. ^ a b c Al-Zarkashi 1393, p. 209.
  18. ^ Brown 2014, p. 39.
  19. ^ Khadduri 1961, pp. 14–22.
  20. ^ a b c d e Chaumont, Éric (1997). "Al-Shafi'iyya". The Encyclopedia Of Islam. Vol. IX. Brill. pp. 185–86.
  21. ^ Istislah The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, Oxford University Press
  22. ^ Istihsan The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, Oxford University Press
  23. ^ Ridgeon 2003, p. 259–262.
  24. ^ "Istiḥsān". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  25. ^ "Istislah". The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 16 October 2014.
  26. ^ "Istihsan". The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 11 October 2014.
  27. ^ a b Hallaq 2009a, p. 58–71.
  28. ^ Haddad 2007, p. 121.
  29. ^ Dutton, p. 16.
  30. ISSN 2228-7906
    .
  31. ^ "Iran". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  32. ^ "The arrival of Seljuks at Khorasan and the sufferings of Nishapurian Shafi'is -Ash'aris".
  33. ^ Ahmady, Kameel 2019: From Border to Border. Comprehensive research study on identity and ethnicity in Iran. Mehri publication, London. pg. 440.
  34. ^ "Ahmady, Kameel. Investigation of the Ethnic Identity Challenge in Iran- A Peace-Oriented, EFFLATOUNIA - Multidisciplinary Journal, Vol. 5 No. 2 (2021) pp. 3242-70". EFFLATOUNIA - Multidisciplinary Journal.
  35. ^ "Religious Governance in Syria Amid Territorial Fragmentation".

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Al-Zarkashi, Badr al-Din (1393). Al-Bahr Al-Muhit Vol VI.
  • Khadduri, Majid (1961). 'Islamic Jurisprudence: Shafiʽi's Risala. Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Al-Shafiʽi: The Epistle on Legal Theory - Risalah fi usul al-fiqh. Translated by Lowry, Joseph. New York University Press. 2013. .

Scholarly sources

Further reading

External links