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Al-Shafi'i

الشافعي

Abbasid era · 767–820 CE

Founder of the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence, whose methodology shaped how Islamic law is derived to this day.

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Al-Shafi'i, active in the late 8th and early 9th centuries, founded the Shafi'i school of Islamic jurisprudence and is widely credited with systematising the methodology by which Islamic law is derived from the Qur'an, hadith, consensus, and analogy. His approach continues to shape Islamic legal reasoning across the Sunni Muslim world, particularly in East Africa, the Levant, and Southeast Asia.