Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Ḥasan al-Dāraquṭnī said: Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Sahl al-Nābulusī, the martyr, narrated to us; Abū Saʿīd ibn al-Aʿrābī narrated to us; I heard Tamīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Rāzī say, “I heard Abū Zurʿah say, ‘I heard Qutaybah ibn Saʿīd declare:
“‘Sufyān al-Thawrī has died—and with him, scrupulous piety; al-Shāfiʿī has died—and with him, the sunnahs; when Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal dies, innovation will break loose.’” (1)
Abū Thawr al-Kalbī said, “I have never seen anyone comparable to al-Shāfiʿī, nor has he ever seen anyone comparable to himself.” (2)
Ayyūb ibn Suwayd remarked, “I never thought I would live long enough to behold the like of al-Shāfiʿī.” (3)
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—through several lines of transmission—reported the saying: “Allah appoints for the people, at the head of every century, someone who will teach them the sunnahs and purge lies attributed to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.” He continued, “When we considered the matter, we found that at the head of the first century it was ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, and at the head of the second it was al-Shāfiʿī.” (4)
(1) Al-Bayhaqi, Manaqib, vol. 2, p. 250. Qutaybah’s statement is clearly hyperbolic: the Sunan (hadith corpora) did not perish with al-Shafi‘i; on the contrary, they were later collected, written down, checked, and preserved.
(2) Ibn ‘Asakir, Tarikh Dimashq, vol. 14, p. 411, no. 2.
(3) Adab al-Shafi‘i, p. 40; al-Bayhaqi, Manaqib, vol. 2, p. 246; Abu Nu‘aym, Hilyat al-Awliya’, vol. 9, p. 94; Ibn Hajar, Tawali al-Ta’sis, p. 55.
(4) Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 2, p. 62; al-Bayhaqi, Ma‘rifat al-Sunan wa-l-Athar, vol. 1, p. 138; Abu Nu‘aym, Hilyat al-Awliya’, vol. 9, pp. 97–98; Ibn ‘Asakir, Tarikh Dimashq, vol. 14, p. 412, no. 2; Ibn Hajar, Tawali al-Ta’sis, p. 48. ‑- The phrase “Indeed Allah appoints…” is taken from a hadith reported by Abu Dawud (4291), al-Hakim, 4:522, and al-Bayhaqi, Manaqib, 1:137, through the isnad: Ibn Wahb — Sa‘id b. Abi Ayyub — Shirahil b. Yazid al-Ma‘afiri — Abu ‘Alqama — Abu Hurayra — from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: “Allah will send to this ummah at the beginning of every hundred years someone who will renew its religion.” All the transmitters are reliable, and the chain is sound, as al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar states in Tawali al-Ta’sis, p. 48.