Abu Ḥātim said, “Ḥarmalah narrated to us—I heard al-Shāfiʿī say: ‘The caliphs are five: Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, and ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (1).’
Al-Ḥārith ibn Surayj said: I heard Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān say, ‘I pray to Allah for al-Shāfiʿī, and I single him out in that (2).’
Abū Bakr ibn Khallād said, ‘After every prayer I supplicate to Allah on behalf of al-Shāfiʿī (3).’
Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-Karābīsī reported that al-Shāfiʿī said, ‘Anyone who speaks on the basis of the Book and the Sunnah is dealing with what is truly serious; anything else is mere babble.’
Ibn Khuzaymah and others related: Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā narrated to us that al-Shāfiʿī said, ‘Regarding the foundational texts, one does not ask, “Why?” nor “How?” (4).’
Yūnus also heard al-Shāfiʿī say, ‘The foundation is the Quran, the Sunnah, and analogy drawn from the two; and consensus outweighs a solitary hadith (5).’
(1) Al-Adab al-Shafiʿi, p. 189; al-Bayhaqi, Manaqib, 1:448; Ibn ʿAsakir, Tarikh Dimashq, 14:407:1; al-Intiqa, pp. 82-83. Ibn Rajab writes in Jamiʿ al-ʿUlum wa-l-Hikam, p. 249: “Many leading scholars have explicitly counted ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAziz among the rightly guided caliphs (*khulafaʾ rashidun*). This is supported by the hadith recorded by Imam Ahmad (4:273) from Hudhayfa, who reports that the Prophet said: ‘Prophethood will remain among you as long as Allah wills; then He will remove it. After that there will be a caliphate upon the Prophetic model (*khilafa ʿala minhaj al-nubuwwa*); it will last as long as Allah wills, then He will remove it. Next will come a biting, hereditary monarchy (*mulk ʿadid*) for as long as Allah wills, and He will remove it when He wishes. Then there will be a coercive kingship (*mulk jabriya*) for as long as Allah wills, and He will remove it when He wishes. Thereafter a caliphate upon the model of Prophethood will return.’ He then fell silent.”
(2) Al-Bayhaqi, Manaqib, 2:243; Ibn ʿAsakir, Tarikh Dimashq, 14:405:2; Maʿrifat al-Sunan wa-l-Athar, 1:24.
(3) Ibn ʿAsakir, 14:409:1.
(4) See al-Bayhaqi, Manaqib al-Shafiʿi, 2:30.
(5) Abu Nuʿaym, Hilyat al-Awliyaʾ, 9:105; Al-Adab al-Shafiʿi, pp. 231, 233; Manaqib …