Sa'īd—meaning 'Abd al-Wāhid ibn Abī al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī—say:

‘Our leading scholars in his time, and the worthy members of our school, believed him to possess such perfection, excellence, and praiseworthy qualities that, had it been possible for Allah to send a prophet in his time, it could only have been he, given his exemplary conduct, scrupulousness, asceticism, and religious devotion, together with his consummate excellence.’”

[Abū Muhammad al-Juwaynī on the Creed of al-Shāfi'ī’s Followers]

Abū Muhammad said at the end of a book he wrote, entitled The Creed of the Followers of Imām al-Muttalibī al-Shāfi'ī and All the People of the Sunnah and the Community. Abū al-Qāsim ibn 'Asākir quoted this from him in his book entitled Tabyīn Kadhib al-Muftarī (Exposing the Slanderer’s Lies).

Abū Muhammad said:

“We believe that, among scholars exercising independent judgment in fundamentals and subsidiary matters, only one is correct. In fundamentals, which of them is correct must be determined; in subsidiary matters, this can sometimes be determined and sometimes not. Shaykh Abū al-Hasan’s position is that all scholars exercising independent judgment in subsidiary matters are correct. This is not al-Shāfi'ī’s position. Abū al-Hasan is one of al-Shāfi'ī’s followers; thus, whenever he differs with him on a matter, we set aside his view on that matter.

“An example of this is his statement that words—that is, speech—have no verbal form. Few and rare are