Matnu Abī Shujā’ – Al-Ghāyatu Wa At-Taqrīb

The Polymath Imām Shihābuddīn Abū At-Tayyib Ahmad bn Al-Husayn Abū Shujā’ Al-Isfahānī, who lived in the 6th Hijrah Century and passed away 593 H is one of the Luminaries who are well known in the Shāfi’ī Schools. About him, Abu Tahir As-Silafi [died 576 A.H] said:

“Qadi Abi Shujā’ is from the most impeccable men of his time! He studied and taught the school of Imam Ash-Shafi’i for 40 years in Basrah. He mentioned this [hadith] to me around 500 A..H. and he lived for an extremely long time after that. I asked him about when he was born and he told me 434 A.H. in Basrah, and that his father was born in Abadaan and his grandfather was from Asbahan.”

His work Al-Ghāyatu Wa At-Taqrīb is one of those works that you would study as a Student of the Shāfi’ī Madh’hab and it is regarded one of the most important texts on the Shāfi’ī Madh’hab

Though written before the Ar-Rāfi’ī and An-Nawawī Tarjīh period, it is still used as a Primer for Fiqh in most Shāfi’ī Schools and contains a lot of positions that are not the Rājih (Preponderant) positions in the Madh’hab. For that reason, it is highly important to study this text under someone who has a grasp of the Choices of the Madh’hab in order not to get confused or to attribute otherwise positions to the Shāfiī Madh’hab as the Predominant or Preponderant positions.

There are several commentaries on the Ghāyah. Of them are Ibn Daqīq Al-‘Īd’s Tuhfatu Al-Labīb, Al-Khatīb’s Al-‘Iqnā’ and others.

May Allāh be merciful to all our Predecessors and Bearers of the Torches of Ilm, Āmīn