Jupiter burst forth from her private parts, then swooped down upon Egypt, after which splinters of it fell into every town. The dream-interpreters explained that she would bear a scholar whose knowledge would first benefit the people of Egypt and would thereafter spread to all lands. (1)

This report, however, has a broken chain of transmission.

According to a narration cited by Ibn Abī Ḥātim, conveyed through the nephew of Ibn Wahb, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Shāfiʿī said:

“I was born in Yemen—that is, among the tribe, for my mother was from the Azd. My mother feared that I might become lost and said, ‘Join your own people so that you may grow up like them; I fear that your lineage will be effaced.’ She therefore outfitted me for Mecca, and I entered it at the age of ten. I stayed with a relative and began seeking knowledge, but he would tell me, ‘Do not busy yourself with this; turn to something that will benefit you.’ Yet all my pleasure was in learning.” (2)

Ibn Abī Ḥātim relates: I heard ʿAmr ibn Sawwād say, “Al-Shāfiʿī told me, ‘I was born in ʿAsqalān, and when I was two years old my mother brought me to Mecca.’”

Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam reports that al-Shāfiʿī said to him, “I was born in Gaza in the year 150 AH and was carried to Mecca when I was two.”