Risala Fi Usul Al-Fiqh - The foundations of Islamic law "of Imam Shafi'i"

"The foundations of Islamic law" Original title: Risala Fi Usul Al-Fiqh

Imam al-Shafi'i (Allah have mercy on him) was born in the year 150 AH and died after the Maghrib prayer, the night of last Friday of the month of Rajab in the year 204 the age of 54 years. He is the founder of the Shafi'i school and one of the famous scientists among the former (Salaf). His school has created the most prestigious Muslim imams as Imam al-Nawawi, Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, etc.

His book Al-Risala fî usul al-fiqh, which is a summary on the foundations of Islamic jurisprudence, is the first written treaty on this branch of knowledge (Usul al-fiqh) and one of its most prestigious works.

The Imam al-Châfi`î deals with various topics in this book; he develops the rules and methods of inference and interpretation; it is explicit evidence of its legal opinions and methodology he applied to take the judgments of the Qur'an and Sunnah; it provides explanations of his research on the hadith and Athar (traditions of the Companions) and the method that enabled him to ensure their authenticity.

Al-Risala was collected by Rabi ibn Sulayman, an eminent student of Imam al-Shafi'i, who collected which does not fit in the famous book Al-umm.

The foundations of Imam Châfi`î

The Imam al-Châfi`î summarized the foundations on which it relied in its case law and the rules he followed in his ijtihad, interpretation efforts and deduction of legal laws. These foundations he has clearly explained in his book Al-umm later became the pillars of its legal school. Indeed, in this book he has striven to give legal judgment with his evidence taken from the Qur'an or the Sunnah while explaining the mechanism linking the judgment obtained and the proposed argument, rules and ijtihâd foundations of deduction he used.

The methodology of Imam al-Châfi`î globally was to draw the evidence in the Noble Qur'an and the Sunnah and follow the apparent meaning of the past unless an independent argument shows that the real meaning is different from the meaning apparent. The Imam al-Châfi`î accepted the tradition recorded by a single narrator (al-ahad hadith) as the narrator in question is a trusted man, known for his rectitude, his truthfulness, accuracy and good memory.