Dar Al Taqwa

Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (767-820) was one of Islam's key foundational legal thinkers who regarded law, through which humans fulfil their duty of obedience to God, as vital to the social and cosmic order. Based on his studies and engagements with prominent thinkers of his time, his legal theory, set out in his most famous work the Risala, expressed innovative ideas about the nature of revelation, and the necessary, if subordinate, role of human reason in drawing legal rules from revealed texts. This innovative study assesses Imam Shafi'i's life in its intellectual and social context, his engagement with other important early legal figures, and the development of his legal thought and teachings. It also examines how he became the posthumous 'patron saint' of a legal school; and why he remains today a figure of popular interest and veneration as well as a powerful symbol of orthodoxy.

Kecia Ali is Assistant Professor of Religion at Boston University. Her research centers on Islamic religious texts, especially jurisprudence, and women in both classical and contemporary Muslim discourses. She serves as co-chair for the Study of Islam Section of the American Academy of Religion and is a member of its Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession. She has held research and teaching fellowships at Brandeis University and Harvard Divinity School. Her previous books include Sexual Ethics in Islam (also published by Oneworld).