Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Norman Calder, Studies in Early 

Muslim Jurisprudence (New York: Clarendon Press, 

1993); Wael B. Hallaq, A History of Islamic Legal Theo-

ries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997); 

Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafii, Islamic Jurisprudence: 

Shafii’s Risala. Translated by Majid Khadduri (Balti-

more: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1961).

Shafii Legal School

Of the four main Sunni legal schools (sing. madh-

hab), one of the largest and most widespread, after 

that of the Hanafis, is the Shafii Legal School. It 

dates to the ninth century and bears the name of 

its founder, m

Uhammad

 

ibn

  i

dris

 

al

-s

haFii

  (767–

820). Drawing on al-Shafii’s concept of the four 

“roots” of Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-

fiqh

), 

this school emphasizes the priority of 

revelation

based on the Quran and 

hadith

 over local cus-

tom and human reasoning.  It was also a strong 

proponent of a

shari

  s

chool

  of theology against 

Mutazili rationalist theology.  

It began with al-Shafii and his circle of students 

in Fustat, Egypt, but the tradition first became sys-

tematized as a school in b

aghdad

 after al-Shafii’s 

death. The founding theorist of the Shafii School 

there was Ibn Surayj (d. 918), a prominent jurist 

from Shiraz, Iran, who had become interested 

in al-Shafii’s ideas via students of the Egyptian 

scholar Ibrahim Muzani (d. 877), who had stud-

ied under al-Shafii. Although the school had early 

branches as far west as a

ndalUsia

, it flourished 

mainly in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Mecca and Medina, 

Yemen, and Iran during the medieval period. Its 

major rival in these lands was the h

anaFi

  l

egal

s

chool

. In Khurasan (northeastern Iran), Shafii-

Hanafi rivalry became very intense, but in most 

regions, the legal schools generally agreed to coex-

ist and agree to disagree. In some places the Sunni 

schools actually shared the same 

madrasa

, where 

each had its own wing for teachers and students. 

Examples include the mosque-madrasa complexes 

of al-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1285–1341) and Sultan 

Hasan (1347–61) in c

airo

. The Shafii School also 

had a prayer station next to the k

aaba

 in Mecca, 

alongside those of the other Sunni schools, but all 

were destroyed when the Saudis gained control of 

Mecca in the early 20th century. Among the most 

famous members of the Shafii School were the 

scholars and mystics such as Abu al-Qasim Abd al-

Karim al-Qushayri (d. 1074), Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi 

(d. 1083), a

bU

  h

amid

 

al

-g

hazali

  (d. 1111), and 

Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 1209).

Turkish rulers such as the Seljuks of Iran and 

Iraq (1038–1194), the Seljuks of Anatolia (1077–

1307), and the Ottomans (1281–1922) favored 

the Hanafi School, pushing the Shafiis out to the 

outer limits of Islamdom. As a consequence of this 

gradual process, the Shafii School now prevails in 

East Africa, parts of Yemen, South India, i

ndonesia

, 

and m

alaysia

. Many Shafiis, however, still travel to 

Egypt to study Shafii law at 

al

-a

zhar

 University in 

Cairo, not far from where Imam al-Shafii is buried.

See also 

sharia

.