Shāfiʿī Uṣūl Thought in Late Third-Century AH: Edition, Translation, and Interpretation of Chapters on Uṣūl al-fiqh in al-Wadāʾiʿ by Ibn Surayj (d. 306/918)

Abstract

Ibn Surayj, a prominent figure in the formative period of the Shāfiʿī law school, has played an important role in both the transformation of Shāfiʿī substantive law and the development of early Islamic legal theory. Ibn Surayj reportedly wrote approximately four hundred works, few of which are extant today. Thanks to his contribution to the school, he is known as “the second al-Shāfiʿī (al-Shāfiʿī al-ṣaghīr);” indeed, according to some modern scholars, Ibn Surayj is the true founder of the Shāfiʿī school and Islamic legal theory. Although Ibn Surayj’s works on Islamic law are no longer available, the later chapters of al-Wadāʾiʿ li-manṣūṣ al-sharāʾiʿ, one of his two extant works, bear the following titles: abrogation (naskh), prophetic traditions (sunan), single-transmitter report (khabar al-wāḥid), consensus (ijmāʿ), analogy (qiyās), and knowledge (ʿilm). This study presents the edition and translation of relevant titles in al-Wadāʾiʿ to provide Ibn Surayj’s views on uṣūl. In addition, this paper discusses Ibn Surayj’s place in the evolution of Islamic legal theory, and how Ibn Surayj interprets al-Shāfiʿī’s understanding of uṣūl.

Keywords

• Islamic legal theory
• Shāfiʿī law school
• Ibn Surayj
• al-Wadāʾiʿ

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