The author
Imam al-Shafi'i is remembered as the jurist who first set out the sources of law as a coherent discipline, which earned him the title of the founder of usul al-fiqh.
Scholar Books Library
الرسالة
Al-Risala
Imam al-Shafi'i · d. 204 AH · Shafi'i · Usul al-Fiqh
1 volume · c. 600 numbered paragraphs
Introduction
How it came about
Al-Risala was written in response to a request from the hadith scholar Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi for a treatise explaining how revelation is to be understood and applied.
Method and structure
It moves from the categories of clarification (bayan) in the Quran, through the authority of the Sunnah and the conditions of sound transmission, to abrogation, consensus and analogy.
Standing in the school
Every later work of legal theory in Sunni Islam, in all four schools, is written in the vocabulary this treatise established.
Loading the book text…