them after the conclusive proof has reached him, he is a disbeliever. Before that proof is established, however, he is excused on account of ignorance, for knowledge of these matters is not attained by intellect, reflection, or speculation. We do not pronounce anyone an unbeliever because of ignorance of them until the report has come to him. We affirm these attributes while denying any likeness (tashbīh) in them, just as He has denied it of Himself when He said, “There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing” (Ash-Shūrā 11).
Musʿab ibn ʿAbd Allāh said, “Al-Shāfiʿī would stay up conversing with my father until dawn.” (1)
Al-Mubarrad said, “Al-Shāfiʿī was among the most gifted poets, the most refined in conduct, and the most knowledgeable of people concerning the Quranic readings.” (2)
Among the merits of this Imām is the Prophet’s ﷺ saying: “The Banū Hāshim and Banū al-Muṭṭalib are one and the same; they never left us, whether in the time of ignorance or in Islam.” Recorded by al-Bukhārī. (3)
(1) Al-Bayhaqi, Manaqib, vol. 2, p. 46.
(2) Al-Bayhaqi, Manaqib, vol. 2, p. 48; Ibn Asakir, Tarikh Dimashq, vol. 15, fol. 6/1; Yaqut, Muʿjam al-udabaʾ, vol. 17, p. 312.
(3) Al-Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 173-174 (Book of Jihad, chapter: Proof that the khums belongs to the imam and that he may give it to some relatives and not others); p. 389 (Book of Virtues, chapter: Merits of Quraysh); vol. 7, p. 371 (Book of Expeditions, chapter: The Expedition of Khaybar). The hadith is transmitted through two chains from al-Layth, from ʿUqayl, from Ibn Shihab, from Ibn al-Musayyab, from Jubayr ibn Mutʿim, who said: “ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan and I went to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and said: ‘You granted the Banu al-Muttalib a share of the khums of Khaybar but left us, though our kinship to you is the same.’ He replied: ‘The Banu Hashim and the Banu al-Muttalib are but one.’” Jubayr added: “The Prophet did not allocate anything to the Banu ʿAbd Shams or the Banu Nawfal.”
Also recorded by Abu Dawud (2978–2980); al-Nasaʾi, vol. 7, pp. 130-131; Ahmad, vol. 4, pp. 81, 83, 85; Ibn Majah (2881); al-Tabari, vol. 13, p. 556; al-Bayhaqi, al-Sunan, vol. 6, pp. 340-341; Abu ʿUbayd, al-Amwal, p. 331; and al-Shafiʿi, al-Umm, vol. 4, p. 71.