A Syrian poet was surprised to show two of his poems as sayings of Imam Shafi'i, in the series "The Imam's Message", which is set in the period lived by Imam Shafi'i in Egypt.

The poet Hudhaifa Al-Araji said in a tweet attached to a video clip of the Egyptian actor Khaled Al-Nabawy, in a scene from the series while repeating, "And our world narrows, so we think that we are... We will die in despair or die in mourning, and if with God's kindness it falls suddenly. He raises hearts from the crumbs", as they belong to Imam Shafi'i.

Some loved ones send readers messages with a clip of the actor Khaled Nabawi playing the role of #الإمام_الشافعي in a series presented these days, and in the clip the actor and actress sing with him two verses of mine from the first written ten years ago, as it is for Al-Shafi'i, may God have mercy on him. pic.twitter.com/BMK1gZCr2x

— Hudhaifa Al Araji (@al_arje) March 27, 2023

Al-Araji confirmed that these words he had written 10 years ago, which was confirmed by a post on his Facebook account since 2013.

The poet suggested that there will be other lapses in the series, which he described as "disasters", doubting that those in charge of it have read the biography of Al-Shafi'i.

What happened in the series indicates a terrible ignorance of the makers of the work of this great imam and his poetic language specifically, and you can imagine what will be of other disasters, if such a simple detail did not pay attention to him, that one of them did not bother to browse the Shafi'i Diwan to check the two verses, and I doubt that they read his biography originally.

— Hudhaifa Al Araji (@al_arje) March 27, 2023

Al-Araji said: "The two houses are famous, and they have long been attributed to Shafi'i and I have always explained this mistake, and I have already said: The imam is more deserving of them than me, and he is greater than every saying attributed to him. What happened in the series indicates a terrible ignorance of the makers of the work of this great imam and his poetic language specifically, and you can imagine what will be of other disasters, if such a simple detail did not pay attention to him, that one of them did not bother to browse the Shafi'i Diwan to make sure of the two verses, and I doubt that they read his biography originally."

According to the website "Al-Diwan" specialized in poetry, the two verses are documented in the name of the Syrian poet, and are not located in the Diwan of Imam Shafi'i in the site, which includes more than 11,<> poems by more than a thousand poets.

The series, which was called "Imam al-Shafi'i", and was replaced and changed to "The Imam's Message" as requested by Al-Azhar, is a historical drama produced by the United Company, dealing with the last years of the life of Imam Muhammad bin Idris al-Shafi'i, one of the most famous scholars of jurisprudence and interpretation, which he spent in Egypt.

Activists denounced the historical errors in the series, which a number of tweeters attributed to the writer's laziness in referring to reliable historical references, and relying on the Google search engine.

Fact 1: Caliph al-Ma'mun entered Baghdad in 204 AH, despite assuming the caliphate in 198 Fact 2: Caliph al-Ma'mun embraced the saying of "the creation of the Qur'an" in 212 AH, after which what was known as the "fitna of the creation of the Qur'an" or "tribulation"
began. Fact 3: Imam Shafi'i died in 204 AH in Egypt

Fact 4: Imam Shafi'i did not meet al-Ma'mun

— Ashraf F. Hassan (@ashraf1974108) March 26, 2023

The makers of the series and those who returned it were their sources the pages of social media channels https://t.co/MhT0ur5zsR

— Muhammad Abdelhamed (@m7abdelhamed) March 28, 2023

Who is like you Mr. Huthaifa Al-Araji?? @al_arje
Imam Shafi'i sings your poems in the second century AH!! 🤣🤣🤣

When the lazy writer of the series resorts to Google, instead of referring to the Diwan of #الشافعي, this is the result!! 🙈 #رسالة_الإمام@KhaledElNabawy pic.twitter.com/Qveri1GVU3

— Dr. Hassan Al-Husseini (@7usaini7) March 27, 2023

Some criticized the characters' mixing of classical language and colloquial dialect, and felt that this did not fit with a series set in the Abbasid era.

We received a question about the language of the Egyptians at the time of #الإمام_الشافعي, specifically the dialect of Imam al-Bawiti, the companion of al-Shafi'i.
We say:
🔴 There were two groups of languages in Egypt, not a third
, not including what is known today (in the Egyptian dialect or colloquial).

🔷 The first👇
group is pure Arabic or what is called "classical Arabic"... pic.twitter.com/ZfIVHGbh2U

— Mahmoud Salem El Gendy (@DrMahmoudSalemE) March 26, 2023

This is what the author of the series, Muhammad Hisham Obaya, responded to in press statements, saying that "the use of colloquial language in dialogue between the protagonists, although it did not actually exist in the period of Imam Shafi'i, came with the aim of facilitating reception for the public."

The writer pointed out that "the language used at the time of Imam Shafi'i was the Coptic language, then the classical Arabic language entered, and from the two the colloquial language was gradually born," stressing that "the makers of the work decided to use the colloquial instead of Coptic for ease of reception."

A few days before the series aired, Obaya confirmed in televised statements that the fact that the series is historical and deals with the biography of Imam al-Shafi'i, had to be "based on a historical and scientific review and scrutiny of the content provided by the Islamic Research Academy at Al-Azhar Al-Sharif."

The series stars Khaled Al-Nabawy, Arwa Jouda, Nidal Al-Shafei, Hamza Al-Eli, Khaled Anwar, Ahmed Al-Rafi'i, Salma Abu Deif, Khaled Al-Qish, Farah Bseiso, and Mohammed Al-Amrousi, and is written by Muhammad Hisham Abya, and directed by Laith Hajo.