His legacy and teaching on the matter provided it with a systematic form, thereby "fundamentally influenc[ing] the succeeding generations which are under his direct and obvious impact,"[8] and "begin[ning] a new phase of the development of legal theory.

"[9] Being born in Gaza, Palestine, to the Banu Muttalib clan of the Quraysh tribe,[2] he was relocated at the age of two and raised in Mecca.

[12][13][14][page needed] The oldest surviving biography goes back to Ibn Abi Hatim al-Razi (d. 938/939 CE), but is only a collection of anecdotes, some of them fantastical.

Similarly, a biographical sketch written by Zakariyya ibn Yahya al-Saji was later reproduced, but even then, a great deal of legend had already crept into the story of al-Shafi'i's life.

[15] The first real biography was written by al-Bayhaqi (d. 1065/1066 CE), but is filled with what a modernist eye would qualify as pious legends.

At ten, he had committed Malik ibn Anas's Muwatta to heart, at which time his teacher would deputise him to teach in his absence.

[15] Whilst other conspirators were put to death, al-Shafi'i's own eloquent defence convinced the caliph to dismiss the charge.

Other accounts state that the famous Hanafi jurist, Muhammad al-Shaybani, was present at the court and defended al-Shafi'i as a well-known student of the sacred law.

[citation needed] It was here that al-Shafi'i actively participated in legal arguments with the Hanafi jurists, strenuously defending the Maliki school of thought.

[15] In Mecca, al-Shafi'i began to lecture at the Sacred Mosque, leaving a deep impression on many students of jurisprudence, including the founder of the Hanbali school, Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

By this time, his stature as a jurist had grown sufficiently to permit him to establish an independent line of legal speculation.

The precise reasons for his departure from Iraq are uncertain, but it was in Egypt that he would meet another tutor, al-Sayyidah Nafisah, who would also financially support his studies,[5][6][7] and where he would dictate his life's works to students.

[3] At least one authority states that al-Shafi'i died as a result of injuries sustained from an attack by supporters of a Maliki follower named Fityan.

Fityan's supporters were enraged by this treatment and attacked al-Shafi'i in retaliation after one of his lectures, causing him to die a few days later.

[40] In the Islamic sciences, Burton credits him with "the imposition of a formal theoretical distinction" between ‘the Sunnah of the Prophet’ and the Quran, "especially where the two fundamental sources appeared to clash".

[47] The extant works of his which are accessible today are: In addition to this, al-Shafi'i was an eloquent poet, who composed many short poems aimed at addressing morals and behaviour.

[48] In the words of Ibn Hanbal, "at no time was there anyone of importance in learning who erred less, and who followed more closely the sunnah of the Prophet than al-Shafi'i.