Likewise, the testament attributed to al-Shāfiʿī that is transmitted through al-Ḥusayn ibn Hishām al-Baladī is unauthentic (1).
Shaykh al-Islām ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf al-Hakkārī said in his book The Creed of al-Shāfiʿī: “Abū Yaʿlā al-Khalīl ibn ʿAbd Allāh, the ḥāfiẓ, informed us; Abū al-Qāsim ibn ʿAlqamah al-Abharī informed us; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥātim related to us; Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us; he said: I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Shāfiʿī say—when he was asked about the attributes of Allah, exalted is He, and what a believer must hold regarding them—‘Allah has names and attributes that His Book has transmitted and that His Prophet ﷺ has conveyed to his community. It is not permissible for anyone against whom the proof has been established to reject them, for the Quran was revealed with them and it is soundly reported from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he affirmed them. So if someone opposes…’
Hatim, in “Adab al-Shafi‘i” (p. 216), relates: “I heard al-Shafi‘i say: ‘There is no sound hadith from the Messenger of Allah concerning either the prohibition or the permissibility of approaching women from the anus; by qiyas (analogy) it is lawful.’
Al-Dhahabi records this in “al-Mizan,” biography of Ibn ʿAbd al-Hakam (3/612), and remarks: “This is a reprehensible statement; rather, analogy demands prohibition, and there is an authentic hadith on the subject. Al-Shafi‘i himself said, ‘When a hadith is authentic, throw my view against the wall.’”
Ibn al-Sabbagh, in “al-Shamil,” immediately after citing the story, reports al-Rabiʿ as saying: “By Allah, he has lied about al-Shafi‘i, for al-Shafi‘i declared it forbidden in six of his works.”
I add: The hadiths that forbid a man to approach his wife from her anus are sound and well attested; they are cited in “Zad al-Maʿad” 4/257, 261 and in “Sharh al-Sunna” 9/104 (our critical edition).
A further proof supporting al-Rabiʿ’s claim that the report transmitted from al-Shafi‘i through Ibn ʿAbd al-Hakam is false is that al-Shafi‘i—may Allah have mercy on him—quotes the hadith of Khuzayma b. Thabit in “al-Umm” 5/173–174 through the chain: from his uncle, from Ibn al-Saʾib, from Ibn al-Hallaj, from Khuzayma b. Thabit, which includes: “Allah is not shy of the truth; do not approach women from their anuses.” He judged the hadith sound and then said, “I do not grant any licence in this; rather, I prohibit it.”
This is an explicit, unequivocal statement showing that al-Shafi‘i—may Allah have mercy on him—considered it unlawful for a man to approach his wife from her anus.
Consult also “al-Sunan al-Kubra” 7/196, 199 and “Manaqib al-Shafi‘i” 2/10, 13.
In “al-Umm” 5/94 he likewise argues for the prohibition of anal intercourse with women on the basis of the Qur’anic verse and the hadith of Khuzayma b. Thabit, stating: “Approaching from the anus, once it reaches the extent of vaginal penetration, is forbidden by evidence of the Book and then the Sunnah.”
(1) The reliable testament from him is cited by al-Bayhaqi in “Manaqib” 2/288–289 and appears also in “al-Umm” 4/48, 51.