Shafi'i

"Shafi" redirects here. For other uses, see Shafi (disambiguation).

The Shafi'i (Arabic: شافعي‎ Šāfiʿī ) madhhab is one of the four schools of Islamic law in Sunni Islam.[1] It was founded by the Arab scholar Al-Shafi'i in the early 9th century.[2] The other three schools of Sunni jurisprudence are Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali.[1]

The Shafi school predominantly relies on the Quran and the Hadiths for Sharia.[2][3] Where passages of Quran and Hadiths are ambiguous, the school first seeks religious law guidance from Ijma – the consensus of Sahabah (Muhammad's companions).[4] If there was no consensus, Shafi'i school relies on individual opinion (Ijtihad) of the companions of Muhammad, followed by analogy.[2]

The Shafi'i school was, in the early history of Islam, the most followed ideology for Sharia. However, with Ottoman Empire's expansion and patronage, it was replaced with the Hanafi school in many parts of the Muslim world.[3] One of the many differences between the Shafi'i and Hanafi schools is that the Shafi'i school does not consider Istihsan (personal preference of Islamic legal scholars) as an acceptable source of religious law because it amounts to "human legislation" of Islamic law.[5]

The shafi'i school is now predominantly found in Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, eastern Egypt, the Swahili Coast, Yemen, Kurdish regions of the Middle East, Palestine, Lebanon, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, some coastal parts of Sri Lanka, India, Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand, Brunei, and the Philippines.[6]

Principles

The Shafi'i school of thought stipulates authority to five sources of jurisprudence. In hierarchical order, the school relies upon the following sources for Islamic law: the Quran, the hadiths - that is, sayings, customs and practices of Muhammad, the ijmā' (consensus of Sahabah, the community of Muhammad's companions),[7] the individual opinions of Sahaba with preference to one closest to the issue as Ijtihad, and finally qiyas (analogy).[2] The Shafi'i school rejects two sources of Sharia that are accepted in other major schools of Islam - Istihsan (juristic preference, promoting the interest of Islam) and Istislah (public interest).[8][9] The jurisprudence principle of Istihsan and Istislah admitted religious laws that had no textual basis in either the Quran or Hadiths, but were based on the opinions of Islamic scholars as promoting the interest of Islam and its universalization goals.[10] The Shafi'i school rejected these two principles stating that these methods rely on subjective human opinions, its potential for corruption and adjustment to political context and time.[8][9]

The foundational text for the Shafi'i school is Al-Risala (or, The Message) by the founder of the school, Al-Shafi'i. It outlines the principles of Shafi'i fiqh as well as the derived jurisprudence.[11] Al-Risala became an influential book to other Sunni Islam fiqhs as well, as the oldest surviving Arabic work on Islamic legal theory.[12]

Shafi'i school

An approximate color map showing where Shafi'i school (dark blue) is found.

History

The Shafi'i madhab was spread by Al-Shafi'i students in Cairo, Mecca and Baghdad. It became widely accepted in early history of Islam. The chief representative of the Iraqi school was Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi, whilst in Khorasan Shafi'i school was spread by al-Juwayni and al-Iraqi. These two branches merged around Ibn al-Salah and his father, before being reviewed and refined by al-Rafi'i and al-Nawawi.

The Shafi'i jurisprudence was adopted as the official law during the Great Seljuq Empire, Zengid dynasty, Ayyubid dynasty and later the Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo), where it saw its widest application. It was also adopted by the Kathiri state in Hadhramawt and most of rule of the Sharif of Mecca.

With the establishment and expansion of Ottoman Empire in West Asia and Turkic Sultanates in Central and South Asia, Shafi'i school was replaced with Hanafi school, in part because Hanafites allowed Istihsan (juristic preference) that allowed the rulers flexibility in interpreting the religious law to their administrative preferences.[5] The Sultanates along the littoral regions of the Horn of Africa and the Arabian peninsula adhered to the Shafi'i school and were the primary drivers of its maritime military expansion into many Asian and East African coastal regions of the Indian Ocean, particularly from the 12th through the 18th century.[13][14]

Demographics

The Shafi'i school is presently predominant in the following parts of the Muslim world:[6]

Shafi'i school is the second largest school of Sunni madhhabs by number of adherents, states Saeed in his 2008 book.[1] However, a UNC publication considers the Maliki school as second largest, and the Hanafi madhhab the largest, with Shafi'i as third largest.[6] The demographic data by each fiqh, for each nation, are unavailable and the relative demographic size are estimates.

Views

Saladin and Guy of Lusignan after Battle of Hattin, upheld Shafi'i law.

Apostasy

Shafi'i madhhab considers apostasy, that is the act of leaving Islam or converting to another religion or becoming an atheist, as a religious crime.[17][18][19] The school requires a waiting period of three days to allow the Muslim apostate to repent and return to Islam. After the wait, execution is the traditional recommended punishment for both men and women apostates.[19][20]

Shafi'i school, as with other Muslim fiqhs, considers apostasy as a civil liability in addition to it being a criminal offense.[20] Therefore, (a) the property of the apostate is seized and distributed to his or her Muslim relatives; (b) his or her marriage annulled (faskh); (c) any children removed and considered ward of the Islamic state.[20] In case the entire family has left Islam, or there are no surviving Muslim relatives recognized by Sharia, the apostate's property is liquidated by the Islamic state (part of fay, الْفيء).[21][22] Shafi'i Sunni school of jurisprudence does not consider any wait as mandatory before the Islamic authorities can seize the children and property of the apostate.[23][21]

Blasphemy

Shafi'i school considers blasphemy as any action, speech or behavior that degrades, insults or questions Allah, Muhammad, beliefs, symbols, holy texts, fatwas and customs common in Islam.[24] The school considers blasphemy as a separate offense from apostasy, but accepts the repentance of blasphemers. If the blasphemer does not repent, the punishment is death for both men and women.[25][26]

Stoning

Shafi'i jurists state that adultery by a married man or woman, or other religiously disallowed sex (homosexuality), must be punished by Rajm (stoning).[27] If the accused is unmarried, the stoning punishment is reduced to public lashing. For evidence, Shafi'i fiqh accepts the following: self confession, or testimony of four male witnesses (female witness is not acceptable), or contested pregnancy.[28] Unlike Maliki scholars who always considered contested pregnancy in an unmarried woman as "public evidence of zina", some Shafi'i jurists, however, disagreed. They stated that stoning is unwarranted in a divorced but currently unmarried pregnant woman, because the Quran and Hadiths do not reveal pregnancy as acceptable evidence of zina crime, and that a pregnancy may last 4 to 7 years.[29]

Like Hanafi school, Shafi'i Islamic law literature specifies two types of stoning. One, when the punishment is based on bayyina, or concrete evidence such as four male witnesses or pregnancy. In this case the person is bound, a pit dug, the bound person placed and partially buried inside the pit so that he or she may not escape, thereafter the public stoning punishment is executed.[27] A woman sentenced to stoning must be partially buried up to her chest.[30] The first stones are thrown by the Imam or his deputy in all cases, under Shafi'i law, followed by the Muslim community witnessing the stoning punishment.[30] In second type of stoning, when the punishment is based on self confession, the stoning is to performed without digging a pit or partially burying the person. In this case, after the stoning has started and the person flees, the person is allowed to leave.[27]

Brideprice

Mahr is the religiously mandatory dower (brideprice) a Muslim man or his family must pay to the bride in order to enter into a legal marriage in Islam. Shafi'i school, unlike other schools of Sunni Islam, does not place any minimum amount requirement on Mahr. Al-Shafi'i, the founder of the school, explained the rational as follows,[31]

The dower is a price (thaman) among prices, so whatever they consent to as a dower that has a value (qima) is permitted, just as whatever a buyer and seller (mutabaian) of anything that has a value [agree to] is permitted.
– Al-Shafi'i[31]

Slavery

Shafi'i legal scholars, like Maliki jurists, dedicated a significant portion of their legal analysis on slave law.[32] The slave law literature discussed ownership rights over slaves captured in war or purchased in slave markets, the duties of the slaves, punishment of slaves who steal or have illegal sex or commit other crimes, rights of men to force sex on a slave with or without consent, requirements of master's permission and the process by which a slave can legally marry, inheritance of slavery by a slave's children, how masters can will, gift or sell their slaves.[33][32][34]

In their war doctrine, Shafi'i jurists established four valid choices before Muslims, after any successful raid or war against unbelievers, regarding civilian male and female captives taken – execute them, ransom them and demand wealth for their release, exchange them for Muslim prisoners with the unbelievers, and condemn them as your slaves for own use or to sell them.[35] Some Shafi'i jurists suggested that captives may be released without ransom, in some cases, under Islamic law.[36] The legal scholars also developed the doctrine for emancipation of slaves of those who convert to Islam, at the desire of the master, and their consequent rights as free person.[37][38] The resultant Sharia doctrines on slavery remained in use, in parts of the Muslim world, till early 20th century, when they were abolished under global pressure for secular human rights in matters related to slavery.[36]

The Shafi'i school did not consider slavery, including sexual use of slaves, as anything other than a transaction of goods. Al Shafi'i and Abu Hanifa (founder of Hanafi Sunni school) compared sexual use of slave with marriage.[39] In both cases, stated Al-Shafi'i, the essential similarity is that they are both a transaction granting sexual licitness for compensation.[39] Buying a slave girl gives the Muslim man the legal right to have sex with her, with or without consent. The difference between paying for a slave girl and paying for a marriage, under Shafi'i interpretation of law, is that the man has more limited access rights over his wife and his children from the Muslim wife have property inheritance rights.[39] Shafi'i scholars also clarified that while a Muslim man can legally have sex with slave girls he owns, a Muslim woman cannot legally have sex with slave boys she owns and any such sexual activity is zina.[40][41]

Like other Sunni schools of Sharia, in Shafi'i school, a slave must have his or her master's permission to be married. However, Shafi'i school required that the slave must get the permission before marriage, unlike others which allowed the Muslim master to grant permission after-the-marriage.[42]

Other views

Notable Shafi'i's

In Hadith:

In Tafsir:

In Fiqh:

In Arabic Language Studies:

In Aqidah:

In Sufism

In History

Statesmen

Contemporary Shafi'i scholars

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Abdullah Saeed (2008), The Qur'an: An Introduction, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415421256, p. 17
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Hisham M. Ramadan (2006), Understanding Islamic Law: From Classical to Contemporary, Rowman Altamira, ISBN 978-0759109919, pp. 27-28
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Shafi'iyyah Bulend Shanay, Lancaster University
  4. ↑ Syafiq Hasyim (2005), Understanding Women in Islam: An Indonesian Perspective, Equinox, ISBN 978-9793780191, pp. 75-77
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Wael B. Hallaq (2009), Sharī'a: Theory, Practice, Transformations, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521861472, pp. 58-71
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Jurisprudence and Law - Islam Reorienting the Veil, University of North Carolina (2009)
  7. ↑ Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi (1393), Al-Bahr Al-Muhit, Vol 6, pp 209
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Istislah The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, Oxford University Press
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Istihsan The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, Oxford University Press
  10. ↑ Lloyd Ridgeon (2003), Major World Religions: From Their Origins To The Present, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415297967, pp. 259-262
  11. ↑ Majid Khadduri (1961), Islamic Jurisprudence: Shafi'i's Risala, Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 14-22
  12. ↑ Joseph Lowry (Translator), Al-Shafi'i - The Epistle on Legal Theory, Risalah fi usul al-fiqh, New York University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0814769980
  13. ↑ Randall L. Pouwels (2002), Horn and Crescent: Cultural Change and Traditional Islam, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521523097, pp 88-159
  14. ↑ MN Pearson (2000), The Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, in The History of Islam in Africa (Ed: Nehemia Levtzion, Randall Pouwels), Ohio University Press, ISBN 978-0821412978, Chapter 2
  15. ↑ UNION OF THE COMOROS 2013 INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT U.S. State Department (2014), Quote: "The law provides sanctions for any religious practice other than the Sunni Shafi’i doctrine of Islam and for prosecution of converts from Islam, and bans proselytizing for any religion except Islam."
  16. ↑ Islam in Azerbaijan (Historical Background), Altay Goyushov, CAUCASUS ANALYTICAL DIGEST No. 44, 20 November 2012
  17. ↑ Mohamed El-Awa (1993), Punishment in Islamic Law, American Trust Publications, ISBN 978-0892591428, pp 1-68
  18. ↑ Frank Griffel (2001), Toleration and exclusion: al-Shafi ‘i and al-Ghazali on the treatment of apostates, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 64(03): 339-354
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 David Forte, Islam’s Trajectory, Revue des Sciences Politiques, No. 29 (2011), pages 92-101
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Peters & De Vries (1976), Apostasy in Islam, Die Welt des Islams, Vol. 17, Issue 1/4, pp 1-25
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Samuel M. Zwemer, The law of Apostasy, The Muslim World, Volume 14, Issue 4, pp. 373–391
  22. ↑ Kazemi F. (2000), Gender, Islam, and politics, Social Research, Vol. 67, No. 2, pages 453-474
  23. ↑ Peters & De Vries (1976), Apostasy in Islam, Die Welt des Islams, Vol. 17, Issue 1/4, pp 7-8
  24. ↑ Aḥmad ibn Luʼluʼ Ibn al-Naqīb (Trans: Noah Ha Mim Keller, 1997), The Reliance of the Traveller, ISBN 978-0915957729
  25. ↑ L Wiederhold L, Blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad and his companions (sabb al-rasul, sabb al-sahabah) : The introduction of the topic into Shafi'i legal literature, Jrnl of Sem Studies, Oxford University Press, 42(1), pp. 39-70
  26. ↑ P Smith (2003), Speak No Evil: Apostasy, Blasphemy and Heresy in Malaysian Syariah Law, UC Davis Journal Int'l Law & Policy, 10, pp. 357-373;
    • F Griffel (2001), Toleration and exclusion: al-Shafi ‘i and al-Ghazali on the treatment of apostates, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 64(3), pp. 339-354
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Elyse Semerdjian (2008), "Off the Straight Path": Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo, Syracuse University Press, ISBN 978-0815631736, pp. 22-23
  28. ↑ Elyse Semerdjian (2008), "Off the Straight Path": Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo, Syracuse University Press, ISBN 978-0815631736, p. 25
  29. ↑ James Hastings et al, Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, Volume 7, Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 869
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Elyse Semerdjian (2008), "Off the Straight Path": Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo, Syracuse University Press, ISBN 978-0815631736, pp. 23-25
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 K Ali (2010), Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam, Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0674050594, pp. 56-57
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Chibli Mallat (2007), Introduction to Middle Eastern Law, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0199230495, pp. 48-125
  33. ↑ K Ali (2010), Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam, Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0674050594
  34. ↑
    • Joseph Lowry (Translator), Al-Shafi'i - The Epistle on Legal Theory, Risalah fi usul al-fiqh, New York University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0814769980, pp. 363-403
    • Josef Meri (2005), Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415966900, pp. 757-762
  35. ↑ Majid Khadduri, War and Peace in the Law of Islam, Lawbook Exchange, ISBN 978-1584776956, pp. 127-132
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im (1998), Slavery, in Liberal Islam: A Source Book (Ed: Charles Kurzman), Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195116229, pp. 228-232
  37. ↑ Majid Khadduri, War and Peace in the Law of Islam, Lawbook Exchange, ISBN 978-1584776956, p. 25
  38. ↑ A. S. Tritton, Non-Muslim Subjects of the Muslim State, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, Volume 74, Issue 01, January 1942, pp. 36-40
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 K Ali (2010), Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam, Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0674050594, pp. 55-59
  40. ↑ K Ali (2010), Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam, Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0674050594, pp. 178-185
  41. ↑ Yohanan Friedmann (2006), Tolerance and Coercion in Islam: Interfaith Relations in the Muslim Tradition, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521026994, pp. 163-189
  42. ↑ K Ali (2010), Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam, Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0674050594, p. 185
  43. ↑ Lynn Welchman (2000), Beyond the Code: Muslim Family Law and the Shariʼa Judiciary, Brill, ISBN 978-9041188595, pp. 108-110
  44. ↑ K Ali (2010), Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam, Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0674050594, pp. 178-179
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 45.2 Majid Khadduri (2001), The Islamic Law of Nations, Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 978-0801869754, p. 58
  46. ↑ Elfatih Salam (2006), Islamic Doctrine of Peace and War, The Int'l Stud. Journal, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp 43-74
  47. ↑ Ma'n H. Abdul-Rahman (2004), UNTYING THE GORDIAN KNOT: IS JIHAD THE BELLUM JUSTUM OF ISLAM?: IS JIHAD A JUST WAR? WAR, PEACE, AND HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER ISLAMIC AND PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW (STUDIES IN RELIGION AND SOCIETY, VOL. 53, Emory Int'l Law Review, Vol. 18, pp. 493-494.
  48. ↑ The Word of Islam - Page 102, John Alden Williams - 1994
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 L. Ali Khan and Hisham M. Ramadan (2011), Contemporary Ijtihad: Limits and Controversies, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0748641284, pp. 72-75
  50. ↑ M Cook (2010), Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521130936, pp. 91-103, 145-182
  51. ↑ Sahih al-Bukhari, 2:15:72,
    Sahih al-Bukhari, 7:69:494v,
    Sunan Abu Dawood, 34:4218,
    Quran 53:61
  52. ↑ MA Cook (2003), Forbidding Wrong in Islam: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521536028, pp. 31-42, 60-68, 104-129
  53. ↑ Aḥmad ibn Luʼluʼ Ibn al-Naqīb (Trans: Noah Ha Mim Keller, 1997), The Reliance of the Traveller, ISBN 978-0915957729, Section 40
  54. ↑ Thomas W. Arnold (2004), Painting in Islam: A Study of the Place of Pictorial Art in Muslim Culture, Gorgias Press, ISBN 978-1593331214, p. 9
  55. ↑ Zaky Hassan (1944), The attitude of Islam towards painting, Bulletin of the Faculty ofArts (Cairo University), Vol. 7, pp. 1-15
  56. ↑ Isa Salman (1969), Islam and figurative arts, Sumer, Vol. 25, pp. 59-96
  57. ↑ Anne Meneley (1996), Tournaments of Value: Sociability and Hierarchy in a Yemeni Town, University of Toronto Press, ISBN 978-0802078681, p. 84, footnote 8
  58. ↑
  59. ↑ Reliance of the Traveller - Page 58, Nuh Mim Keller - 1994

References

  • Yahia, Mohyddin (2009). Shafi'i et les deux sources de la loi islamique, Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, ISBN 978-2-503-53181-6
  • Rippin, Andrew (2005). Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 90–93. ISBN 0-415-34888-9.
  • Calder, Norman, Jawid Mojaddedi, and Andrew Rippin (2003). Classical Islam: A Sourcebook of Religious Literature. London: Routledge. Section 7.1.
  • Schacht, Joseph (1950). The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence. Oxford: Oxford University. pp. 16.
  • Khadduri, Majid (1987). Islamic Jurisprudence: Shafi'i's Risala. Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society. pp. 286.
  • Abd Majid, Mahmood (2007). Tajdid Fiqh Al-Imam Al-Syafi'i. Seminar pemikiran Tajdid Imam As Shafie 2007.
  • al-Shafi'i,Muhammad b. Idris,"The Book of the Amalgamation of Knowledge" translated by A.Y. Musa in Hadith as Scripture: Discussions on The Authority Of Prophetic Traditions in Islam, New York: Palgrave, 2008

Further reading

  • Joseph Lowry (Translator), Al-Shafi'i - The Epistle on Legal Theory (Risalah fi usul al-fiqh), New York University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0814769980
  • Cilardo, Agostino, Shafi'i Fiqh, in Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God (2 vols.), Edited by C. Fitzpatrick and A. Walker, Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2014. ISBN 1610691776

External links