Ahmad ibn Abi Surayj said: I heard al-Shafi‘i remark, “I spent sixty dinars on Muhammad’s books; then I examined them closely and, beside every single issue, I wrote a hadith—meaning that I refuted his position with prophetic evidence (1).”

Harun ibn Saʿid reported that al-Shafi‘i told him, “For one full year I chewed lubān (mastic) (2) to aid my memory, and the year after that I was afflicted with a continual flow of blood.”

Abu ʿUbayd said, “I have never seen anyone more intelligent than al-Shafi‘i,” and Yunus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿla said the same, adding, “If an entire nation were gathered together, his intellect would suffice for all of them (3).”

I say: This is a figure of hyperbole. A person of perfect intellect—were about a quarter of his mind diminished—would certainly show some deficiency, and there would still remain his peers. If half of that intellect were lost, the shortcoming would be unmistakable; how much more so if two-thirds were gone! Indeed, were you to take the minds of three individuals, for example, and combine them into one, you would obtain a fully complete intellect and something extra besides.

A group narrated: al-Rabiʿ told us, “I heard al-Humaydi say: I heard Muslim ibn Khalid al-Zanji say to al-Shafi‘i, ‘Issue fatwas, Abū ʿAbd Allah, for—by Allah—it is high time you did so.’”