Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i

Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i al-Muttalibi, imam of the Shafi'i school, who died in the days of al-Ma'mun. ²

Al-Mas'udi says he died on the night of Friday in Rajab 204 AH, and was buried the next morning at the age of fifty-four. Al-Sari ibn al-Hakam, the governor of Egypt, prayed over him. He was buried in the cemetery of the Banu Abd al-Hakam. ³

Al-Suyuti relates that al-Mutawakkil regretted not having reached his time, and mentioned a dream he related from the Prophet about Ibn Idris. Al-Suyuti considers that al-Mutawakkil was a follower of the Shafi'i school, and that he was the first of the caliphs to adopt it. ⁴

The museum's data attribute to him the book Ikhtilaf al-Hadith ⁵, and make him the founder of the Shafi'i school.

The Sheikh reports from Imam al-Shafi'i that he thought poetry diminishes the dignity of scholars, and mentions that the Arabs said the most eloquent poetry is the most untrue ⁶.

Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy recounts that Ahmad ibn Hanbal prayed for al-Shafi'i after every prayer (needs_source: a report the sheikh gives) ⁷. He recounts that critics faulted al-Shafi'i for visiting Ahmad often, and that he answered that the favour lies in both visits ⁸.

He recounts that when Ahmad fell ill, al-Shafi'i feared that Ahmad would die and the knowledge he held would die with him; al-Shafi'i himself fell ill from that fear, and then Ahmad forced himself to visit him (needs_source) ⁹. He recites two lines of al-Shafi'i on this theme, in which the sick friend is healed by seeing his friend (needs_source: the lines are as the sheikh recites them) ¹⁰.

He recounts that the young al-Shafi'i, about nine years old by the sheikh's account, attended Malik's assembly in the Prophet's mosque. A man swore divorce on his wife and asked Malik; the young al-Shafi'i answered first, and Malik ruled that the divorce did not take effect (needs_source: the answer and the ruling are unclear in the automatic transcript) ^{11 12 13 14}.

The Sheikh recounts that al-Shafi'i lost his memorisation after glancing at a woman and regained it after repentance; he would cover the left-hand page while memorising, and the Sheikh applies this to students (needs_source). ^{15 16}

He quotes verses by al-Shafi'i on envy and on God's giving (needs_source). ¹⁷

He quotes a saying attributed to al-Shafi'i in which he thanks God for giving him Islam without his asking, and asks for paradise (needs_source). ¹⁸

He says that in prisons people say they are free, and at graves one remembers that life endures; he cites a verse attributed to al-Shafi'i on holding fast to a sincere friend (needs_source). ¹⁹

He recites a verse of Imam al-Shafi'i: he loves the righteous though he is not one of them, hoping to share their intercession, and he dislikes those who trade in sins. ²⁰

He quotes al-Shafi'i saying that a free person, when found, should be held on to, because free people are few (needs_source). ²¹

He cites a hadith about the man who prayed hastily and was told to pray with calm, and he says that the school named after al-Shafi'i counts calm in bowing and prostration as a pillar of prayer (needs_source). ²²

He describes Imam al-Shafi'i as having filled the earth with knowledge, as the founder of the principles of jurisprudence, as from the Quraysh, and as a student of Malik, who was himself a teacher of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, as the Sheikh puts it (needs_source). ²³

He mentions illnesses that families conceal, and recounts the story of Imam al-Shafi'i who disclosed a defect in goods he sold, and he gives a figure for the sale price (needs_source: the figure is not clear in the transcript). ²⁴

He asks listeners to write down "the eight" that he mentions, and he praises the wisdom of al-Shafi'i's sayings (needs_source: what "the eight" are is not clear in the transcript). ²⁵