Introduction.

Shafi school of thought is on of the most islamic school followed in Sri lanka, Jordan, Palestine. the founder of this school was Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris al shafi commonly know as imam shafi.

in this blog we discuss in detail about this school and what the features of this school and the famous works of this school 

Introduction

Abu Abdullah Mohammed Idris Al shafi, commonly known as Imam Shaafi, was born in 150 hijri InGaza Palestine where his father was working as a soldier Throughout his life, he also resided in Mecca, Medina, Yemen, Egypt, and Baghdad. His father, who was originally from Mecca, died when Shaafi was only two years old and then he was brought up in very humble circumstances by his mother in the Sacred city of Mecca. He was a member of the well-known Banu Muttalib Quraish tribe, and the family gave themselves the name Shaafi after an elder who lived in this tribe. He memorized Quran at the age of seven and Muvatta of Imam Malik at the age of 10. He studied Hadis in Mecca under Muslim bin Khalid Al Zanji and Sufian bin Uyainah. Imam Shafi also learnt high standard Arabic and archery in Hazeel tribe of Mecca. During this period he also gained for miliarity with astronomy, and medicine. He went to Medina at the age of 20 years and studies fiqh under Imam Malik and remained their till the death of his teacher. After the death of Imam Malik, Imam Shafi went to Bhagdad and studied Hanafi fiqh from Imam Mohammed Shaybani, The celebrated pupil of Imam Abu Hanifa. In this way he got mastery over both fiqh. As a result, he created his own school of law that incorporated and impacted both Hanafi and Maliki fiqh. He acted as an intermediary between independent legal investigation and traditionalisms of his time. Not only did he work through the legal materialavailable, but in the Risala he also investigated the principles and methods of Jurisprudence. Shaafi is regarded as the founder of the science of usul-ul fiqh, who systematically defined and compiled the sources of law. At the age of 54, he passed away in Egypt in 204 Hijri. his famous disciple was Ahmad Ibn humble.

Silent features of Sharif School.

• The Quran as the basis of legalknowledge. According to Imam Shafi, the Quran serves the purpose of supplying raw materials for legislation either is specific rules of law or as example for formulating principles of law.

• Greater emphasis on Sunnah of the Prophet, but distinguished it from Sunnah of living Medina Generation, and Sunnah of the successors of the prophet. Imam Shafi said that Sunnah is established only by tradition going back to the Prophet and not by practice or consensus.

• Nothing can override the authority of the Prophet even it be attested only by an isolated tradition and that every well authenticated tradition going back to the Prophet has Precedence over the opinions of the companions, their successors and letter authorities.

•  This school examined traditions is more critically, and adopted a moderate approach in following the traditions. Unlike Maliki School who leaned more on traditions usages and practice of Medina and Hanafi School who had set a very tough tests for accepting the Hadith and leaned more on passages of the Quran and their own deductive opinion.

• This school made extensive use of Hadith collected from different centers, whereas Imam Malik generally confined what he found in Madina.

• Imam Shafi perfected the doctrine ofIjma and allowed its use and scope in wider manner. By Ijima he does not merely mean the agreement of few scholars of a certain town or locality, but their consensus of the majority of leading jurists in Muslim lands.

• The law laid down by Ijma is authoritative and binding and is accepted not only In religion, but also in temporal matters like as organization of army, preparation of war and other questions of administration of the state according to Shafi School.

•  Accepted Qiyas as the 4^th source, However established regular rulers for it, adopted a balanced approach between those who used the analogy extensively as a source of law and those who rejected it altogether.

•  Limited the use of Qiyas to matters of details; it cannot supersede an authoritative text.

•  Rejected hanafi’s Istihsan and Maliki’s Istislah. However accepted istidlal and propounded principles of Istishab.

•   This school was the combination of the principles and Methods of Hanafi and Maliki thought. Imam Shafi has to his credit to synthesis the two fielders of knowledge, i.e.  fiqh and Hadith which were generally seen as two competing sciences.

This school is followed in many parts of Egypt, Syria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Java ,Sri Lanka etcetera.

Difference between hanafi school and Hanbali school of thought

Hanafi school	Shafi school
Quran is the primary source of law	Quran is the primary source of law
Hadith is the second source of law	Hadith is the second source of law. Extensive use of hadith even they preferred week hadith
This school affirmed the validity of Ijma in every age	Very less use of Ijma due to dependence on Hadith.
The qiyas is the special character of the Hanafi school of thought	This school focused more on the traditions and restricted the scope of Qiyas.
This school is mostly followed in asia	The followers of this school are in majority in Saudi Arabia.

 

Difference between shafi school and Hanbali school of thought

Shafi school	Hanbali school
Quran is the primary source of law	Quran is the primary source of law
Hadith is the second source of law	Hadith is the second source of law. Extensive use of hadith even they preferred week hadith
This school broaden the scope of the ijma.	Very less use of Ijma due to dependence on Hadith.
Limited use of Qiyas to matters of detail	This school focused more on the traditions and restricted the scope of Qiyas.
The doctrine of istishab was evolved by this school	The followers of this school are in majority in Saudi Arabia.