Ibn Abī Ḥātim related: al-Rabīʿ narrated to us, saying, “I heard al-Shāfiʿī declare, ‘Reading hadith is better than performing voluntary prayer.’ He also said, ‘Seeking knowledge is superior to supererogatory prayer.’⦗1⦘
Ibn Abī Ḥātim further said: Yūnus narrated to us. I asked al-Shāfiʿī, ‘Our colleague al-Layth says, “If I were to see a follower of misguided desires walking on water, I would still not accept him.”’ Al-Shāfiʿī replied, ‘He has fallen short; even if I saw him walking in mid-air, I would not accept him.’⦗2⦘
Al-Rabīʿ reported: I heard al-Shāfiʿī say to some scholars of hadith, ‘You are the pharmacists, and we are the physicians.’⦗3⦘
Zakariyyā al-Sājī said: Aḥmad b. Mardak al-Rāzī narrated to me, “I heard ʿAbd Allāh b. Ṣāliḥ, the companion of al-Layth, say, ‘We were in al-Shāfiʿī’s gathering when he began discussing the validation of a solitary report traced back to the Prophet ﷺ. We recorded his words and took them to Ibrāhīm b…’”
= Al-Bukhari 5/175–176, in the Book of Gifts; Muslim 1625 (25), through other chains from Abu Salama, from Jabir, who said: “The Prophet ﷺ ruled that an ʿumra (life-grant) belongs to the person to whom it is given.”
ʿUmra is when someone says to another: “My house is yours for as long as you live,” or: “This house of mine is yours for my lifetime.” Once the donor utters that formula and hands the property over, the beneficiary acquires full ownership and may dispose of it as he wishes. Upon his death, it is inherited from him, whether or not the donor also said, “and after you, to your descendants” or “to your heirs.” Al-Baghawi reports that this is the opinion of Zayd b. Thabit and Ibn ʿUmar; it was likewise adopted by ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr, Sulayman b. Yasar, Mujahid, and by al-Thawri, al-Shafiʿi, Ahmad, Ishaq, and the Hanafi jurists.
Malik, however, held that an ʿumra reverts to the donor unless he explicitly says, “It is for you and for your descendants.”
See: Sharh al-Sunnah 8/293; Fath al-Bari 5/176; al-Umm 3/176, 189–191; Sharh al-Zarqani on the Muwattaʾ 3/146; Sharh Maʿani al-Athar 4/90, 94; Sunan al-Bayhaqi 6/171, 176; al-Mughni by Ibn Qudama 6/302.
(1) Adab al-Shafiʿi, p. 97; Hilyat al-Awliyaʾ 9/119; Tawalī al-Taʾsīs, p. 73; al-Intiqāʾ, p. 84; Tahdhib al-Asmāʾ wa-l-Lughāt 1/53–54.
(2) Adab al-Shafiʿi, p. 184; Manāqib al-Shafiʿi by al-Bayhaqi 1/453.
(3) Ibn ʿAsakir, Tarikh Dimashq 14/411/2, citing Imam Ahmad: “The jurists used to be physicians and the hadith scholars pharmacists; then came Muhammad b. Idris, who was both physician and pharmacist.”