Shaafi School of Islamic Jurisprudence| schools of muslim law
Introduction
Abu Abdullah
Mohammed Idris Al shafi, commonly known as Imam Shaafi, was born in 150 hijri In
Gaza 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 material
available, 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 legal
knowledge. 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 of
Ijma 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 4th 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.
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