767-820
Theologian And Jurist

Trial. Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i was a Qurashi Arab of fairly noble lineage born in Gaza, Palestine in the early Abbasid era. After studying with the great authority of the Madinan school of law, Malik ibn Anas, al-Shafi'i obtained employment in a government office in Yemen, where he was arrested by the khalifal police, accused of belonging to an illegal organization, and sent to Iraq for trial before the Khalifah Harun al-Rashid himself. In Iraq, he was able to defend himself against the charges and win his liberty. Knowing of the serious differences between the legal schools of Iraq and Madinah, the latter being his own school, al-Shafi'i sought out Muhammad ibn Hasan al-Shaybani (750-805), the main living exponent of the Iraqi school, for an exchange of views. Later, al-Shafi'i traveled back and forth between Madinah and Iraq many times...