Unfortunately, Al-Shafiis school of religious law has fallen out of popularity with the contemporary Muslim world at large. More progressive adherents to Islam are often followers of Al-Shafiis school of law. Much of the Islamic world now follows much more conservative precedents. These sects of Islam take the word of Muhammad and interpret it literally with no recourse to critical consideration or interpretation. This has been and will continue to be a source of conflict between Al-Shafii Muslims and other less progressive Muslims. For a long time however, mostly during the Islamic golden age, Al-Shafii law was the premiere way of settling disputes. The Imam differed from the more commonplace Sunni fundamentalism in that he did not stress a literal interpretation of the Quran, but rather its underlying universal principles. He further differentiated himself from mainstream Islam by asserting that there were four pillars that were necessary to making an informed and correct judicial decision, all of the judicial systems at that time only at most suggested that there were two. The four pillars that Al-Shafii laid down were The Quran, The sunna, qiyas, and ijma (Delstone, 2009). The Quran is the common ground on which all Muslim law stands. Every branch of Islam looks to it as their primary source of religious insight and rules. This makes sense, as it is the holy text of the religion and was supposedly written by Muhammad himself. It is from the Quran that Al-Shafii drew the actual statements made by Muhammad that govern Muslim law. The differences in opinion between the different sects of Islam occur when religious scholars have differences in opinion in the interpretation of these texts. No one Islamic scholar is going to look at the Quran and see the same thing. It will speak differently to everyone, and this is evident in the creation of so many different Islamic subgroups (Kelsay, pg. 104).
The Sunna of the prophet (more commonly referred to merely as sunna), which is the second pillar of Al-Shafii judicial law, has to do specifically with the way Muhammad went about life. As the last messenger of God, Muhammad (570-632) brought the Quranic teachings to life through his interpretation and implementation as leader of the Muslim community. The sunna of the Prophet generally means tradition and includes the following three categories sayings of the Prophet his deeds and his silent or tacit approval of certain acts which he had knowledge of. The record of the Prophets words and deeds were recorded in narrative ahadith, reports that were transmitted before finally being compiled in authoritative collections decades after the death of the ProphetIn the first centuries of Islam, it should finally be stressed that there was no suggestion, at this stage, that the Prophet was other than a human interpreter of the divine revelation his authority lay in the fact that he was the closest, in time and spirit, to the Quran and as such was the ultimate starting-point of the Islamic sunna(Contemporary Womens Issues Database, 2009). So the sunna is the way Muhammad went about living his life. Being the prophet of god, Muhammad is viewed as being the most pious of individuals by Islam. His actions and words are considered to be good archetypes for how Muslims should go about living their lives. The more one imitates the prophets actions and sayings, the closer a person can be to god. Sunna is another more common pillar of Islamic law, as it is implemented by multiple different schools of thought. Al-Shafii did place new interpretations on the tenant, making it his own. He also placed a much greater importance of the sunna, raising it to the importance of Quran, which had previously trumped the sunna when it came to importance of interpretation (Makdisi, pg. 12). He stated that he sought to create a balance between what the Quran said and what the sunna suggested. By this he tempered his actions combining Muhammads rarified teaching in the Quran with his everyday commonsense practices.
The third pillar and one of great importance to Al-Shafii law was Qiyas, or analogy. That which Allah requires His creation to seek through Ijtihad. This is Qiyas. According to al-Imam al-Shafii, Qiyas is a method for reaching a legal-decision on the basis of evidence (a precedent) in which a common reason, or an effective cause, is applicable (Al-Alwani, 2009). Qiyas is essentially the use of analogy to reach a decision. This means Al-Shafii used previous legal precedent to help make decisions for law. This is important because it suggests that each legal case does not exist within a vacuum but indeed helps to build a body of legal knowledge and understanding. With the implementation of qiyas Al-Shafii hoped to create a more balanced and fair judicial system, one which did not personal judgment as much as it did as formal and well structured legal system. Other Islamic systems of law both reject and apply qiyas to greater or lesser degrees, but none use it as tactfully as Al-Shafiis.
The fourth and potentially the most revolutionary and controversial part of Al-Shafii law is ijma. Ijma is essentially the concept that when the three other pillars of Islamic law fail to provide the answers to a particular legal issue that a consensus among jurors is the best way to reach an agreement. This tenant is what truly sets apart Al-Shafii law from the rest. He insisted that should all other courses of fail to produce results, which it often enough, that the people charged with coming to a legal decision should consult with each other and reach an informed decision together. Ijma constitutes the unanimous agreement of a group of jurists of a particular age on a specific issue and constitutes the fourth and final source of law in Shafiis methodology. If questions arose about a Quranic interpretation or an issue where no there no guidance from either the Quran or sunna, jurists applied their own reasoning (ijtihad) to come to an interpretation (Haddad, 2009). The true genius of the philosophy behind ijma is that it is still quite alive today, both in Islamic religious courts, but even more strikingly found in the secular world. Every country around the world that utilizes a jury of peers that must unanimously come to a decision on a legal case owes its existence to Imam Al-Shafii.
In conclusion, Imam Al-Shafii showed great wisdom in his creation of a legal system that acknowledged intelligent discourse as well as critical analysis as being integral to the lawmaking process. As discussed here, the controversies caused by his system were many, the first of which was that he did not stress a literal interpretation of the Quran, but rather its underlying universal principles. He further demonstrated his fortitude and progressive thinking by asserting that there were four pillars that were necessary to making an informed and correct judicial decision, while all of the judicial systems at that time only at most suggested that there were two. Another matter that led to great controversy for a short time in Al-Shafiis life was his brush with the law in Yemen- due to the accusations of a rival who falsely had him arrested for political involvement his case was swiftly dismissed due to his reputation as a man of great integrity and courage in sharing his views. With these facts all taken into consideration, in addition to his effectiveness as an authority figure on the four-source theory of law he promoted, led to the emergence of the definitive Sunni (Traditionalist) approach to the law- which places a heavy emphasis on the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.
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