The lives of the four Imams #05 – Imam al-Shaafi’i

Again we share the biography

of yet another luminary whom when flicking through the pages of his encyclopedic biography,

it leaves one just really lost the words as to how generous Allah subhanaw taala is in gifting a humanity with such a marvel of a human being.

Imam Muhammad

Imam Shafi was born in the same year that Abu Hanifa passed away in the city of Gaza, Palestine today in the year 150. After the handover, His full name is Mohammed, son of Idris son of Al Abbas, son of us man, son of a sheriff, our son of a setup these last two names schaffen and his father, I say, the names of two companions of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said,

was with the pagans on the day of better fighting against the Muslims, and he was taken as a captive by the Muslims, and then he ransomed himself. And then he embraced the religion of Islam.

As for his son Scheffer, he embraced Islam with the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as a young man. And this is why Imam was chef here he is given this nickname a chef a it's after the great great grandfather of Imam Shafi and the chef he liked to attribute himself to him a chef a from Shafi and because chef did not live a life of Sheikh

and the ancestry of Imam Shafi meets with the ancestry of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam abdomen, Allahu Akbar. So here we can see that he is an extension of the family of the messenger. And he saw tossed around it's hard to ignore how i He said, I didn't go humble once met me in Mecca. And he said to me, come here. Let me show you a man whom Your eyes have never seen anyone like him, and he showed me a chef.

So who is this great man? Let us begin by talking about his upbringing.

His father Idris traveled with him and his family from their home city of Mecca to Gaza, Palestine in search for their daily bread

and in search for a better life. And it was Allah's decree, however, that his father would pass away in Mecca, and he would be buried there, leaving a Shafi an orphan and his mother, a widow, all the way in the house. His mother decided to take him back from Palestine to Mecca, when he was just around two years old to be raised amongst his own people and his clan.

This virtuous woman, the mother of a Shafi, she took on her shoulders, the responsibility of teaching her son the Quran, and how to read and write, and she sent him to one of the small elementary schools nearby despite her poverty, and despite her inability to save a wage for the instructor,

a chef he remembers this he said when I was at Quran school, I would hear the teacher

reciting the verses of the Quran, which the students needed to memorize for that portion, and by the time the teacher had finished the RE citation of that portion, I had already memorized it entirely.

And one day, the teacher of a Shafi realized the gift that Allah Almighty has given this young man, and so the teacher said to Shafi, it is impermissible for me to take any money from you

and hear only

imagination can help us with the type of happiness that must have appeared on the heart of the poverty stricken mother of Imam Shafi, where she received the really good news that her son was excelling in Quran school, and that he had also caught the attention of his teacher, and that she had been freed from the burden of needing to pay fees that she couldn't save. And by the tender age of seven years old email Masha he had completed the memorization of the Quran from cover to cover SubhanAllah.

And, on this note, it is perhaps worth noting that in the majority of the cases where revivalists and reformers are formed, their greatness can almost always be attributed directly to their mothers. One of the most knowledgeable of Allah subhanho wa Taala is creation with respect to mastery of Tobia nurturing, and the art of greatness formation is

is the mother is the mother.

Think about the companion of the prophets of Allah Allah who has cinemas available What is he but a seed that was planted by his mother, Sophia, been to Abdul Muttalib Zubaydah will a worm was such an accurate reflection of her.

Think of the companion Abdullah he in new Jaffa, the leader of the generous, the most noble of the youth admits the Arabs and the last from the tribe of Hashem, to see the face of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who was the one who was responsible for this greatness in Abdullah while his father was martyred in the Battle of Motown, so it was his mother as snapping to amaze, who developed him and carved greatness out of him. Subhanallah the mother is a miracle of a human being.

And consider the companion while we interview Sophia and the mastermind of a leader, the scribe of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The traits of his mother hint hint into algebra, were so obvious in Mahalia.

In fact, when he was still a child, and his mother heard someone say about her baby Mahalia in Ayesha. Maha we are to say that OMA, if this young boy grows up to become a man, it looks like he will end up leaving his community. What did she say?

She said, 32, who in the Museo de la cumbre? May he die? If he will only lead his people? What do you mean he will only lead his people he will lead his own man, Allahu Akbar, may he die if he will only lead of his Ummah that his mother saying that, or may he die if he only leaves his community? And when while we have wanted to identify himself, he would say I'd have no hint I am the son of Hynde, attributing himself to his mother, think about a man and NASA who marched into Al Andalus under Lucia during a period of turmoil and chaos and, and he managed to restore its order until it became the capital of knowledge and civilization and enlightenment. And his troops continued

advancing to the reached parts of France, and parts of Switzerland and parts of Italy. What was the secret behind?

Considering the fact that his father and his uncle were killed when he was still a child? It was his mother

in law,

what about Sophia of authority? We've quoted his name several times in this series, the leader of the believers in the science of Hadith. He too, was but a seed that his mother had planted and watered and nurtured. She would say to her sense of Janya with a global EMA Wi Fi can be MAGAZI Lee, my son, go and pursue knowledge. And I will finance you through my weaving. I will finance you through my weaving. So Imamo shufflings Mother, having realized that her son has an interest in the Islamic sciences. And he has this promising future. She supported him, and she decided to send him away to gain the key of it all the Arabic language.

She sent him to travel with the Arab desert Bedouins to gain a command of the Arabic language, the exact same method through which the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam gained his command of the Arabic language during his formative years. And it would be the Arab tribe of who they

who are very

famous for their talented poets and their intellectuals, the great minds that came from this tribe, and a shared value would accompany this Arab Bedouin tribe for 20 years of his life. Think about that statement, traveling with them, as they traveled, residing with them, when they resided, he took from them the purists of the classical Arabic,

he memorized their poetry, he he learned the ancestries of the people.

So, a Shafi was not merely learning the Arabic language with who they he was living the language in the most authentic of ways. And this was playing a phenomenal role in making the man whom a chef and he would later become and would be later praised for language. Therefore, it was one of the hallmarks of Imam Shafi. It caught the attention of everyone who sat with him. In fact, the linguists they said this, yeah, Illuminati, Sham aloo. linguist, he said, we sat in the gatherings of a chef and he for extended periods of time, and I have never heard him make a single grammatical mistake in his speech, nor did Shafi ever choose a word which we felt could have been replaced with

a better man Allahu Akbar.

What do we know of the knowledge of Imam Shafi? By the time he had returned back to Mecca

From his troubles with the Arab tribal coup de Imam Shafi was a master linguist. He was reciting poetry he was narrating the mannerisms of the Arabs and he was narrating people their stories, their experiences, then he himself would experience a life changing event, where a man from the tribal of man from the zoo baleen, meaning from the progeny of the companion of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam as of April of 18. This man approached Shafi, he said, Yeah, Abdullah father of Abdullah as Alia Hakuna Ma has he looked at her the hill Fossati with the cat you feel coin for the Kulu katsuta, Alexandra, Nick father of Abdullah, it really causes me so much pain, that you have this mastery of

the Arabic language and you have this eloquence and you have this intelligence and you allow it to pass without mixing it with some fake.

If you mixed it with the knowledge of Islamic law, you will become the leader of your time.

Allahu Akbar what intuition right what intuition, a Shafi he said to him, woman Malkia Yokoso de la he who is left nowadays from the people of knowledge that we can go to learn. And the man said to him,

Malik Ibn Anas say you will mostly mean the great man, the great Imam Malik, son of Anis, the leader of the Muslims.

This statement had a profound effect on Obama's chef

and he took it very seriously. So a chef he borrowed a copy of Imam Malik's Book, Al moussaka, the compilation of Hadith and we spoke about it, and he memorized it from cover to cover in nine days, 1720 durations nine days. But pause here, notice how a chef was preparing. Before meeting his teacher, he didn't want to attend his teachers gathering without first gaining a perception of what shall be taught. This is so different to students nowadays, who some of them come to class, they know what the subject is gonna be, but they make very little effort to do the necessary background reading before they come to class. And what happens well, that almost always minimizes the benefit

of the student during the class, because he comes to the session with no insight to the subject matter, and he wastes valuable time trying to get to grips with basic meanings during the class, which could have been mastered beforehand, so as to save his effort for questions and further elaborations. When in the presence of his teacher, so a chef very he takes them a lot and memorizes it from cover to cover even before he meets his teacher email learning.

The next challenge would be now in somehow getting to the great Imam Malik, how will you do that? So a Shafi he visited the governor of Mecca, that's where he was, he visited the governor of Mecca, and he got a written recommendation, which was going to be communicated to the governor of Medina where Malik was living.

in Mombasa, he then made his way to the city of Medina at the age of 12.

Or the narration say he was actually around 20 years old both ways he was young. And the letter was delivered to the governor of Medina for the purpose of then transmitting it to Imam Malik. But what did the governor of Medina say?

Speaking to a Shafi he said young man was lucky by Allah, walking from the middle of Medina, to the middle of Mecca, making that long journey barefooted and with nothing on my head. That is easier than needing to approach the door of Imam Malik.

The governor said the only time I ever feel humiliated is when I stand. Look, as we mentioned before Allah subhanaw taala had closed in our Malik with this aura of all Haber, which was even greater than the governance and the caliphs. Shafi he didn't discover this in person yet. And so it was just an innocent suggestion. When he said to the governor, Hey, you don't have to go to my Malik make him come to you.

He didn't realize that going to Imam Malik was not as simple as going to the officials of the town.

The governor said, Young man that can never happen. In fact, I have no guarantee that even if I and my team and yourself were to write to his house in a humbled state that he would even let us in Subhanallah

after some conversation together a chef yeah he and the governor of Medina they went to email Maddix house and they knocked on the door

and Imams Imam Malik servant answered.

The governor of Medina told her to tell Malik that the governor of Medina is at the door and he would like to speak with you. She went back inside and she took a while to come back.

When she returned, she said, Malik conveys his Salam to you. And he says that if it's a religious question that you have, please write it on a piece of paper and He will answer it for you. If, however, you have come to learn Hadith, directions of the prophets, Allah said you should go to his public circles of knowledge. The governor of Medina then said to her, Can you please tell Malik that I have a letter for him from the governor of Mecca for a very important matter.

So she went back inside, and then she came back out with a chair, then a big and tall and blonde and white man with colored eyes. Unlike the people of Medina, came to the door. This was Imam Malik and he sat on the chair

and without a word, the governor of Medina handed over to Imam Malik the letter from the governor of Mecca. So Imam Malik, you read the letter, which was a recommendation for a chef A and then he threw it. He said so Hannah, Allah was ARA and Mo Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Eukanuba in he said, subhanAllah has it come to this?

Has it come to now that the knowledge of the prophets of Allah Allah who said now needs connections?

The governor of Medina was just awestruck. He was lost for words. He couldn't you couldn't speak anymore. We said Malik had this or to him. SubhanAllah. So a chef, I decided to pick up here, the young boy, he began to speak. He said, may Allah bless you, oh Abraham.

I am a daily be meaning from the family of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam from the lineage of the Messenger of Allah. And he went on introducing himself. Imam Malik glared into his face for a moment. And he said to him, what's your name?

Imam Shafi. He said my name is Muhammad. Then Malik said to him the famous words Yeah, haven't made it tequila. Would you take the bill miles leave it in the holster? Yeah, cool. No DACA Shetland machete in Allah. And Kahala Cosby canouan veriato triple B masliah. O Muhammad, listen, first meeting O Muhammad. Be cautious of Allah. Stay away from sins, because you are going to reach lofty stations in your life. Allah has clearly placed light upon your heart. And so don't put out that light with sins. Allahu Akbar, Imam Malik saw something in this young man.

And this, by the way was the understanding of our predecessors. The understanding was that beneficial knowledge and sound understanding of the religion, they're not compatible with the heart of the persistent sinner, one has to kick out the other

as the companion Abdullah hybridomas, he would say, in the last several under radula, Ensign Alonso, who will be then be a man who I believe that a person will forget part of his knowledge. Following the sin which he later commits, your Allah one will kick out the other and similar stakeholders snappy multimedia he would say in the home layout people copy the fitness eligibility to skill alley at times I get stuck at a particular matter of knowledge. It confuses me. I can't get to the conclusion. So what does he do? He said for us, Delphi Rolla, alpha Mara our axacon So I asked Allah to forgive my sins 1000 times or more than that, or less than that. He said had tion Sherry has when

halasz Gala murasky Till my chest is opened up, ie the matter becomes clear to me. What is the heart and repentance, so much like water and oil. When you mix them

knowledge and sins the same way, they will end up parting ways sooner or later as the Maduro claim he said in his cabinet of poetry, humble and Kitabi will humble and handle cleaner II feel will be Aberdeen lace aged me I need that the love of the book, the Quran, and the love of songs, music, they can never combine in any one heart, one will have to kick out the other one will evict the other the same way that you can expect for never lower levels of a computer's performance when you've got so many applications running at the same time because you've got this high usage of RAM. So it's slows down the processes. And similarly, a heart that becomes consumed with so many

different sins. It struggles with all these processes, it struggles to activate email and to internalize beneficial knowledge to act upon it which is even tougher.

So after giving this advice, email malignancy to Shafia Yes, Allahu Akbar. Best Use of his life. Yes, I will teach you it will be my pleasure. Come back tomorrow morning and bring with you someone who can read them or what that email my next book who can read them water for you, a chef and he said, I will read it to you directly. A chef he came back

The next morning you can imagine the excitement for knowledge. And he started to read them water of Imam Malik to his teacher from memory, despite the book in his hand from memory, and there came times when a chef he said I really felt that I needed to stop due to the sheer awe of Marivic but Malik would say to remember Shafi please I asked you in the name of Allah keep reading. Keep reading. He was so impressed with the eloquence and the pure Arabic of a chef I keep reading a Shafi I had read the entire water of Imam Malik to his teacher within just a few days

thereafter, Imam was Shafia he would stay in Medina learning from Imam Malik till Malik died.

That is, that is dedication. It's best staying at the sight of your teacher. Not till you graduate or till you till your teacher dies. That is their dedication to knowledge. I will use if Imam Abu Hanifa is famous student he would say ln Masha, Allah your authentic about Allah who had total yah hoo hoo lack knowledge is something that will not hand over part of itself to you, till you first hand over your entire self to it.

That was their dedication to knowledge. May Allah subhanaw taala teach us and inspire us with this zeal immuno ID he also said that the study circles of alpha yarby and Phil Joby is one of Imam Al Bukhari, his teachers.

There were around 5000 students in his study circles and the students they said we needed to sleep in our places after the class the next day.

That's amazing. This is the work ethic of our students of knowledge, which was exhibited by Imam Shafi and his likes. In fact, even with Shang they want to ask him the question Can you describe to us the craving that you have the knowledge he said a small bit how to feed me Malema smell homing carbon fatawa to Allah and Allah, some antenna and be missing them and I'm glad to be here, although none, he said sometimes I hear knowledge, which I hadn't heard of before. And so I wish that the rest of my limbs had is so that they could experience the same pleasure that money is had just experienced. It was a joy for Imam Shafi Allahu Akbar.

So he said he stayed next to his teacher, Imam Malik till Malik had passed away, and then a chef and he left Medina and he made his way back to Mecca. He's returned to Mecca,

coincided with a visit from the governor of Yemen, who was passing by Mecca, he met a chef and he and he said to a chef, I want you to come to Yemen and work a chef he agreed, look at how Allah is preparing for a chef and for the ummah. He went to Yemen and he became the governor of the Iran, but they're in Nigeria and a chef and he was meeting resistance from so many corrupt people who they didn't appreciate the ethical behaviors of a chef and, and his straightforward behavior. So they made their way to the Khalifa, the leading authority, Harun Rashid, and they leveled false allegations against event which, along with nine other men,

so in the year at 184, after they hit a chef he was summoned to speak with the Khalifa himself in Iraq in Baghdad.

Haroon, however, was amazed at the eloquence of Imam Shafi at the power of his arguments, the strength of his hijab.

So in the end, all of the nine men were executed, and the number Shafi was the only one who would be set for this event in the shaft his life was yet another manifestation of Allah's wisdom. Because they're in Baghdad, listen to this. Imam Shafi would meet Mohammed even has a che Benny, one of Imam Abu Hanifa has primary students and benefited from him so much do you see Allah sigma? Well, he allowed this whole thing to happen. This meeting had to happen between Shafi and Muhammad Hassan.

Therefore, in essence, we can say that a chef, up until this point had not only amassed the knowledge of the people of Mecca, and the knowledge of the people of Medina and Yemen. But with this unplanned meeting with Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, he was now familiar with the fifth of the people of Iraq, Abu Hanifa sfic. Why was this so important for Shafi and for the owner at large? Listen to this. Prior to Imam Shafi two schools of thought had began to emerge. One school was an array the people of opinion, who you can see emphasized scholarly judgment and reason. And then you had another school, which was the school of adult Hadith the people of Hadith, who emphasized strict

adherence to narrations.

The former school Allah a the school of opinion, this was founded in Iraq, and it was an extension to the school of the companion Abdullah he even the Mossad who, who lived in Iraq and taught their

ignoramus Oh

Wood was influenced towards this approach because of all modal hubbub of the Aloha and with a companion, who would employ the use of opinion whenever there was an absence of clear texts from the Quran or the Sunnah.

So students adopted this methodology from Abraham Westeros in Iraq, like us word, and Mr. Walk and other karma. And then this methodology was then adopted by Alchemist students like Ibrahim on nahi, which was that which was then adopted by his students like hammered with me Sulaiman, which was then adopted by Abu Hanifa, which was then adopted by Mohammed Abu Hassan, Omar Sharif, amen. So a chef had gained the command through this meeting of the School of Rocky the school of opinion through his meeting with Mohammed bin Hassan. Then you have the other school which we spoke about the school of Hadith.

This was not founded in Iraq. This was founded moreso in the Arabian Peninsula, and it was an extension of the School of Abdullah ibn Abbas Abdullah Hypno Omar are issued may Allah be pleased with them and others from the Companions who lived in Mecca and Medina.

Then this methodology was passed down to the likes of side everyone was an Ottawa eminence of aid and down to the likes of Imam Malik, whom Imam Shafi had also met. And the methodology of this school of Hadith was that if they did not find a tradition in the Quran, or the Sunnah, they would search for the tradition of the companions.

And just maybe it is beneficial to mention here as a quick tangent that, due to the very few contemporary matters which the people of the Arabian peninsula had to deal with, they didn't need to exercise a huge amount of scholarly reasoning and opinions. Unlike the people of Iraq, they were going through so many new and fast pace events that were unfolding all the time, so they needed to exercise a lot more writing opinions scholarly reasoning. Imam Shafi came at a time when the debate between these two schools was at its peak, it was quite ferocious. So Shafi, having benefitted from the teachers of both schools, was able to take a middle course and bring these two schools together

as much as possible and to reconcile between them by virtue of his study, which had come from the leading teachers from both schools, Malik, who represented the school of Hadith, and Hassan who represented the school of Iraqi opinion