al-Ḥasan. Al-Rashīd then realised that al-Shāfiʿī was innocent of the charges levelled against him, and Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan put him up in his own house. Abū Yūsuf (1) had died the year before—some say two years earlier. Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan (2) honoured him greatly, and al-Shāfiʿī copied from him enough material to load a camel. Al-Rashīd subsequently bestowed upon him two thousand dinars; others say five thousand.
Al-Shāfiʿī returned to Mecca and distributed most of what he had received among his family and the relatives of his paternal clan.
He went back to Baghdad in 195 AH, and on this occasion a number of scholars gathered around him, among them: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Abū Thawr (3), al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-Karābīsī, al-Ḥārith ibn Surayj al-Naqqāl (4), Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Shāfiʿī, al-Zaʿfarānī, and others.
Thereafter he returned to Mecca, and again to Baghdad in 198 AH, after which he moved on to Egypt, remaining there until his death in 204 AH, as will be mentioned.
In Egypt he composed his book al-Umm, which counts among his later writings, for it is transmitted by al-Rabīʿ ibn Sulaymān, an Egyptian. Imām al-Ḥaramayn (5) and others have claimed that it belongs to his earlier period, but this is remote and astonishing coming from someone of his stature. Allah knows best.
Many of the great imāms praised al-Shāfiʿī. Among them was ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī (6), who asked him to write a treatise on jurisprudential principles; so he composed al-Risālah (7). Ibn Mahdī thereafter prayed for him continually, and his teacher Mālik ibn
(1) He is Yaqub ibn Ibrahim ibn Habib al-Ansari al-Kufi, the judge known as Abu Yusuf and a disciple of Imam Abu Hanifa. The author provides his biography under the events of 182 AH.
(2) In manuscript A and in al-Adab.
(3) He is Ibrahim ibn Khalid al-Kalbi, known as Abu Thawr, the renowned jurist, died 240 AH.
(4) In manuscript A the name appears as al-Harith ibn Shurayh al-Qaffal; in manuscript Z and in the printed edition of al-Baqqal it reads al-Harith ibn Surayj an-Naqqal, Abu Umar, originally from Khwarazm, one of the jurists accused in hadith. See Tarikh Baghdad (18:209); Mizan al-I‘tidal (1:433).
(5) He is Abd al-Malik ibn Abd Allah ibn Yusuf al-Juwayni, nicknamed Imam al-Haramayn for having resided in Mecca four years. Considered the most learned among the later followers of the Shafi‘i school. Died 478 AH.
(6) Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi ibn Hassan, known as Abu Said al-Anbari al-Lu’lu’i, was one of the great preservers of hadith; al-Shafi‘i said, “I know no equal to him in this field.” He died 198 AH. See Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala (9:192–209).
(7) In the Uṣul section the work is titled al-Risala; this is confirmed in the printed edition of the Risala on uṣul al-fiqh, which is available in print. Al-Dhahabi notes in Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala (10:44): “Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi wrote to al-Shafi‘i, while still young, requesting a book encompassing the meanings of the Quran, a collection of authenticated reports, proof of consensus, and an exposition of naskh (abrogation). He then composed for him the book al-Risala.” In a margin note of the critical edition it is added: “This is the early Risala composed in Iraq and sent to Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi together with al-Harith ibn Surayj an-Naqqal al-Khwarazmi, later of Baghdad—hence his nickname an-Naqqal. That early Risala is now lost; the only extant version is the new printed edition, critically edited by Shaykh Ahmad Muhammad Shakir (may God have mercy on him).”