Yahya al-Qattan said—as cited by al-Bayhaqi in his Madkhal: “I have never seen anyone more intelligent—or, he said, more learned in jurisprudence—than al-Shafi‘i. I pray to Allah for him, and single him out with that supplication.” (1)
Al-Hakim related: Al-Zubayr ibn ʿAbd al-Wahid narrated to us; al-ʿAbbas ibn al-Fadl at Arsuf (2) narrated to me; Muhammad ibn ʿAwf narrated to us; I heard Ahmad ibn Hanbal say, “Al-Shafi‘i is a philosopher in four matters: language, the disputes of men, meanings, and jurisprudence.” (3)
Ibrahim al-Harbi said: “I asked Ahmad about al-Shafi‘i, and he replied, ‘His hadith is sound, and his opinion is sound.’ I then asked him about Malik, and he recounted the incident.” (4)
Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ʿUbaydah reported: Yunus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿla said, “Whenever al-Shafi‘i began commenting on the Quran, it was as though he had witnessed the revelation itself.” (5)
Al-Bayhaqi said—in the authorisation transmitted to us by Ibn ʿAllan and Fatimah bint ʿAsakir, from Mansur—
= Al-Bayhaqi writes in his Manaqib, 1/43: “Al-Shafi‘i traces his pure paternal lineage to Banu Abd al-Muttalib b. Abd Manaf, and through his grandmothers to Banu Hashim b. Abd Manaf.”
Imam Ahmad adds: “By singling out Banu Hashim and Banu al-Muttalib to receive the share of the ‘near relatives’ (dhu al-qurba) and by declaring, ‘Banu Hashim and Banu al-Muttalib are one,’ the Prophet granted them another distinction: God has forbidden them to take alms and has compensated them with this portion of the khums (one-fifth of war booty). His statement, ‘Alms are not lawful for Muhammad or for the family of Muhammad,’ shows that the family for whom we are commanded to invoke blessings with him are precisely those who may not receive alms and who have been given this share of the khums instead.
(1) The report was cited above, p. 20, note (2).
(2) In Al-Ansab the initial hamza is read with a ḍamma (Ursuf), while in Muʿjam al-Buldan it is with a fatḥa (Arsuf). It was a coastal town on the Mediterranean between Caesarea and Jaffa, formerly inhabited by many frontier volunteers (murabitun).
(3) Al-Bayhaqi, Manaqib, 2/41; Ibn ʿAsakir, Tarikh, 14/415/2.
(4) The same report appeared above, p. 47, note (4).
(5) Al-Bayhaqi, Manaqib, 1/284; Al-Razi, Manaqib, p. 70; Al-Suyuti, Tawali al-Taʾsis, p. 58.