Al-Muzanī said: “When al-Shāfiʿī arrived in Egypt I said to myself, ‘If anyone can elicit what lies within me regarding the matter of pure monotheism (tawḥīd), it is he.’ This story has been cited earlier (1); what follows is the version that Zakariyyā al-Sājī heard directly from al-Muzanī.
He continued: ‘So I put the question to him, whereupon he grew angry and said, “Do you realise where you are? This is the very spot in which Pharaoh was drowned. Has any report reached you that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ever commanded us to ask about such a thing?”
I replied, “No.”
He said, “Then did the Companions ever speak about it?”
I answered, “No.”’
Al-Ḥasan ibn Rashīq, the ḥāfiẓ, reported: ‘Faqīr ibn Mūsā ibn Faqīr al-Aswānī told us; Abu Ḥanīfah Qaḥzam ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Aswānī told us; al-Shāfiʿī told us; Abu Ḥanīfah ibn Simāk ibn al-Faḍl al-Khawlānī al-Shihābī told us; Ibn Abī Dhīb narrated from al-Maqburī, from Abū Shurayḥ al-Kaʿbī:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said on the day of the Conquest: “Whoever has had someone of his killed is free to choose between two options: if he wishes to accept the blood-money, he may do so; and if he prefers, he has the right to exact retaliation.”’
Al-Dāraquṭnī also transmitted it from Ibn Rashīq (2).
Yusuf – as claimed by Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Balawi, the notorious fabricator, in the travel account he attributed to al-Shafii – was mistaken in this matter. In reality, al-Shafii arrived in Baghdad on his first visit in 184/800, where he met Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani, who received him warmly; there was no animosity between them, contrary to what some ill-informed writers allege.
Al-Dhahabi states in al-Mizan 2/491: “Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Balawi, reporting from Ammar ibn Yazid… al-Darqutni said: he fabricates hadiths.”
Ibn Hajar says in al-Lisan 3/338: “He is the author of Rahlat al-Shafii, a work he expanded and ornamented; most of what it contains is fabricated.”
Tawali al-Tasis adds: “The journey narrative attributed to al-Shafii, transmitted through Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Balawi, was published by al-Abari, al-Bayhaqi and others, both in full and in abridged form. Fakhr al-Razi reproduced it in his Manaqib al-Shafii without isnad, relying on it. It is spurious: most of it is forged, and parts are stitched together from disparate reports.”
(1) See p. 31 of this volume.
(2) Abu Hanifa ibn Simak is listed by al-Dulabi in al-Kuna wal-Asma 1/159-160. Al-Dulabi notes that al-Shafii narrated from him, and then transmits this hadith through the chain of al-Rabi ibn Sulayman from al-Shafii with the same isnad; the remaining transmitters are trustworthy. The report is also found in al-Shafii’s al-Risala, p. 450, and was recorded by al-Bayhaqi in his Sunan.