Imam Ash-Shaafi`ee
Shafi'i said: God has placed His Apostle-[in relation to] His religion, His commands and His Book-in the
position made clear by Him as a distinguishing standard of His religion by imposing the duty of obedience to
Him as well as prohibiting disobedience to Him. He has made His merits evident by associating belief in His
Apostle with the belief in Him. For God, Blessed and Most High, said:
So believe in God and His Apostles, and do not say: " Three." Refrain; [it will be] better for you. God
is only one God. Glory be to Him. His having a son is something alien to him [Q. IV, 169].
And He said:
The believers are only those who have believed in God and His Apostle, and who when they are
with him on some common affair do not go away until they ask his permission [Q. XXIV, 62].
Thus [God] prescribed that the perfect beginning of the faith, to which all other things are subordinate,
shall be the belief in Him and then in His Apostle. For if a person believes only in Him, not in His Apostle, the
name of the perfect faith [1. I.e., Islam] will never apply to him until he believes in His Apostle together with
Him. [Cf. Tabari, Tafsir, Vol. IX, pp. 422-23; Baydawi, pp. 137-38, 474-75.]
So the Apostle laid down the sunna [of reciting the Prophet's name together with that of God] for testing the
faith of every man [as the following tradition indicates]:
Malik b. Anas told us from Hilal b. Usama from `Ata, b. Yasar from 'Umar b. al-H.akam, who said:
I went to the Apostle of God with a slave-girl and I asked him: 'I have taken an oath [to free a slave];
may I free her?' 'Where is God?' the Apostle asked her. 'Above the heaven,' she answered. ' And
who am I? ' asked he. 'You are the Apostle of God,' she answered. 'You may free her,' [the
Prophet] said. [Malik, Vol. II, pp. 776-77.]
[The transmitter's name, Umar b. al-Hakam] -Shafi'i says- should read Mu`awiya b. al-Hakam, for Malik, I
believe, has not correctly reported the name, as others did.
87. Shafi'i said: God has imposed the duty on men to obey His divine communications as well as the
sunna of His Apostle. For He said in His Book:
O our Lord, raise up amongst them an Apostle, one of themselves, to recite to them Thy signs and
to teach them the Book and Wisdom and to purify them. Verily Thou art All-mighty, All-wise [Q. II,
123].
And He, glorious be His praise, said:
And also we have sent among you an Apostle, one of yourselves, to recite to you our signs, and
purify you, to teach you the Book and the Wisdom, and to teach you what you did not know [Q. II,
146].
And He said:
God bestowed a favor upon the believers when He raised up amongst them an Apostle, one of
themselves, to recite His signs to them, to purify them and to teach them the Book, although they
had formerly been in manifest error [Q. III, 158].
And He, glorious be His praise, said:
It is He who has raised up an Apostle among the untutored people, one of their number to recite to
them His signs, to purify them, and to teach them the Book and the Wisdom, though formerly they
had been in manifest error [Q. LXII, 2].
And He said:
But remember the goodness which God has shown you and how much of the Book and the
Wisdom He has sent down to you to admonish you thereby [Q. II, 231].
And He said:
God has sent down to thee the Book and the Wisdom, and has taught thee what thou did not know
before; the bounty of God towards thee is ever great [Q. IV, 113].
And He said:
And call to mind the signs of God and the Wisdom which are recited in your houses; verily God is
gentle, well-informed [Q.XXXVI, 34].
So God mentioned His Book-which is the Qur'an-and Wisdom, and I have heard that those who are
learned in the Qur'an-whom I approve-hold that Wisdom is the sunna of the Apostle of God. This is like what
[God Himself] said; but God knows best! For the Qur'an is mentioned [first], followed by Wisdom; [then] God
mentioned His favor to mankind by teaching them the Qur'an and Wisdom. So it is not permissible for
Wisdom to be called here [anything] save the sunna of the Apostle of God. For [Wisdom] is closely linked to
the Book of God, and God has imposed the duty of obedience to His Apostle, and imposed on men the
obligation obey his orders [See paragraph 22 in ar-Risalah]. So it is not permissible to regard anything as a
Duty save that set forth in the Quran and the sunna of His Apostle. For [God], as we have [just] stated,
prescribed that the belief in His Apostle shall be associated with the belief in Him.
The sunna of the Apostle makes evident what God meant [in the text of His Book], indicating His general
and particular [commands]. He associated the Wisdom [embodied] in the sunna with his Book, but made it
subordinate [to the Book]. Never has God done this for any of His creatures save His Apostle.
Source: "On the Obligation to Accept the Authority of the Prophet" by Imam ash-Shaafi`ee
