The series "The Imam's Message", which is presented by a number of Egyptian channels in the holy month of Ramadan, raised controversy about the way in which the language, culture and composition of Imam Shafi'i were presented, so the actor in the starring role speaks in contemporary Egyptian colloquialism, which differs even from the signs of Egyptian colloquial in the Middle Ages that began to appear after the death of Imam Shafi'i, and at other times he pronounces Arabic with unmistakable grace, with a style that hardly approximates the language of an eloquent Qurashi man who lived among the Arabs moving between Mecca And the city and the valley of the Arabian Peninsula for many years like Shafi'i.

The argument of those in charge of working on these shortcomings is that dramatic artistic production is not subject to historical logic, and this is a response to it, as creative works of art appeared that took into account the artistic and dramatic aspects, and did not depart from the logic and historical and heritage context under which they arose, reviving history after a favor, including the film "The Message", which starred the Egyptian artist Abdullah Ghaith, as well as historical dramas in the last twenty years, especially those supervised by the creative writer Walid Seif and the late director Hatem. Ali.

This controversy and shortcomings prompted Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the Faculty of Arts, Menoufia University, Egypt, Khaled Fahmy, to describe the series "The Imam's Message" as "an absurdity that amounts to a crime"; a crime in terms of Al-Shafi'i's language, faculties, jurisprudence and style, who were presented in the series in a way that completely contradicts what we knew about him in his autobiography that he told about himself, as well as dozens of eyewitnesses, historians and proofs who spoke against him, and about his linguistic and jurisprudential genius that he even confessed His violators. Such a controversy begs us to ask: What was the language and eloquence of Imam Shafi'i? And where to learn this language? How did the sources of Arab history and heritage describe al-Shafi'i's eloquence and tongue?

In Diyar Hadeel

It is known on the most correct accounts that Muhammad bin Idris bin Shafi' al-Muttalib al-Qurashi was born in Gaza City on the Mediterranean coast to a Qurashi father from Bani al-Muttalib in the limits of the year 150 AH, and the Muttalib had three brothers, namely Hashim, whose descendants are the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, and Abd Shams, and his descendants are the companion Othman bin Affan, the Umayyads, and then Nofal. Thus, the lineage of al-Shafi'i corresponds to that of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in the grandfather 'Abd Manaf.

Al-Shafi'i's father died young, and the boy and his young widowed mother knew the meaning of poverty and orphanhood at a young age, when he was then two years old, so she decided to take him to his people Quraish in the stomachs of Mecca, in order to be raised among them, and to get luck from the "share of relatives", which is money allocated to the relatives of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, according to known shares. Then Al-Shafi'i remained among them until he completed memorizing the Holy Qur'an, and learned by Mecca scholars such as Sufyan bin Uyaina, Al-Zanji and others, and then aspired himself to love the Arabic language and literature to increase this aspect when the Arabs felt and the most eloquent of them, the tribes of Hadhil, whose homes were located around Mecca, and they have a number and immunity[1].

The choice of Shafi'i to stay among the tribes of Hadhil was not arbitrary or because of their proximity to his home in Mecca only, but because they were already the most eloquent and poetic Arabs in the pre-Islamic era and until the time of Shafi'i in the second century of migration, which began to overlap the committee because of the contact with non-Arabs, and for this Ibn Hazm says in them: "In Hadhil Nef and seventy famous poets"[2], and the stay of Shafi'i among them long, as it reached seventeen years in its entirety, and for this when he met Musab grandson of Zubair bin Awwam and Shafi'i He is still a boy, he said about him: "I wrote about a boy from Bani Shafi' from Hadeel's poems and facts, and he read: My eyes did not see like him." His nephew Zubayr ibn Bakkar asks him: "What uncle! You say my eyes have not seen like him?! He said, "Yes, my eyes have not seen anything like him."[3] This is the first recognition by a prominent Qurashi figure of the genius of al-Shafi'i when he was still a young boy, and he even takes away from him the literature and poems of the Hadhil tribe, which he learned during his stay among them.

Imam in Language and Statement

Al-Shafi'i was famous for this language and eloquence among the Arabs who came to Mecca, including the most famous linguist of that era, Abd al-Malik bin Qarib al-Asma'i, known as the "narrator of the Arabs", who says: I corrected the poems of the Al-Hadhaliyin on a young man from Quraish in Mecca called Muhammad bin Idris[4]. Al-Shafi'i's love for the poems of Al-Hadhlis was not limited to only, but it seems that he understood the poetry of Arab Fatahel before and after Islam, including the famous tramp poet Al-Shanfari. Once the jurist of Egypt, historian and disciple Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abd al-Hakam once heard him say: I heard al-Shafi'i say I narrate to three hundred crazy poets. This is why bites the son of Abdul Hakam Egyptian on his hands bemoaning that met Shafi'i late, because he was born in 186 AH while died Shafi'i in 204 AH, he sees a mountain in every science of Arabic and Sharia, he says: "If I realized Shafi'i and I am a man to extract from between his sides a lot of science, what was completed in every art! I read him the poems of Hadeel, and I did not mention a poem to him but I sang it from beginning to end. However, he died and had fifty-four"[5], Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam says, lamenting the death of this sign at that age.

For this eloquence, which was known by Al-Shafi'i since he was a boy and a young man, it became a destination for the people of Arabic and specialists in Arab languages and literature, and you see them in his hands in Mecca, Medina, Baghdad or Fustat, as if they meant a sheikh of literature and languages of the Arabs, not a man who founded the science of jurisprudence and Sharia, and a new doctrine of the four major schools in the world of Islam. This is why one of his disciples was saying: "Some of the people of Arabic used to disagree (attend) to the Shafi'i Council with us, and sit on the one hand, he said: I said to one of their superiors: You do not deal with science (i.e. do not care about the principles of jurisprudence and jurisprudence taught by Shafi'i), so why do you disagree with us? They said, 'We hear the language of al-Shafi'i."[6] The other student Yunus bin Abdul Ala al-Masri says: "Shafi'i if he took in Arabic I said he knows this, and if he spoke in poetry and chanting I said he knows this, and if he spoke in jurisprudence I said he knows this"[7].

As his sheikh Imam Malik, the imam and founder of the Maliki school, recognized him with status, knowledge and eloquence, his student Ahmad bin Hanbal, founder of the Hanbali school, recognized this status, until he used to say: "The words of Al-Shafi'i in the language are an argument"[8]. Although al-Shafi'i did not devote his time to classifying literature and languages, as did the imams of Arabic such as al-Khalil ibn Ahmad, al-Asma'i, al-Amash, al-Mubarrad and others who were interested in this type of classification in the Arab heritage, the Sharia won him a great mujtahid[9], and a defender of the Sunnah of the Prophet that he learned from his sheikh Imam Malik.

While Malik and Ahmad ibn Hanbal are imams of jurisprudence and hadith, a man like al-Jahiz, the writer of his time and time, acknowledges al-Shafi'i's literary and linguistic status and sees him as one of the geniuses of the Islamic world in this field. Al-Jahiz, as we know, was a Mu'tazili, while al-Shafi'i was a Sunni committed to the Sunnah in the manner of his sheikh, Imam Malik, hating the Mu'tazila, and condemning them. Despite this, Al-Jahiz admits this talent when he says: "I looked at the books of these geniuses who excelled in science, and I did not see the best composition of the demander, as if his mouth organizes a pearl to a role"[10]. Al-Jahiz's great appreciation of Imam Shafi'i appears when he quotes him in some of his books and then praises him, saying: "May Allah be pleased with him."

(Social Media)

Al-Shafi'i's knowledge of the language of the Arabs, their poems, their days and their literature had a great impact on his later writings, as they contain clear eloquence and pure eloquence. I influenced his style, which was loved by everyone who read it, so that Imam Malik, his teacher, had explored it and loved him to hear the Muwatta when he saw it as eloquent and not melody or misreading, so he sealed it on him in a few days. For this reason, al-Shafi'i emerged in the interpretation of the strange hadith of the Prophet and the Qur'an, so that Sufyan bin Uyaina, the sheikh of the people of Mecca and its jurist, asked his disciple al-Shafi'i one day, while sitting in his hands, about the meaning of the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): "Approve the bird on its machines."

This story is narrated by Imam al-Bayhaqi in his book "The Virtues of al-Shafi'i" who says: "Al-Shafi'i said to Ibn 'Uyaina: A man from the Arabs (before Islam) used to say that if he wanted to travel, he went out of the house and passed by the bird in his position, he would fly it. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Acknowledge the bird for its status"[11] (i.e. do not irritate it to fly and fly with it, as Islam forbade the bird).

It is in the interpretation of the Holy Qur'an like him in eloquence like him in the interpretation of hadith and poetry of the Arabs and strange languages, and it is not surprising that Shafi'i grew up as a preserver of the Holy Qur'an, familiar with the Sunnah of the Prophet, educated in the school of Abdullah bin Abbas, the greatest interpreter in Islam in Mecca. He was received by disciples of Nahl, including al-Shafi'i, and Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah was as it is due to al-Shafi'i in the strange hadith if a questioner asked him about the interpretation of a verse he turned to al-Shafi'i and said: Ask this. This is why the student of Shafi'i Yunus bin Abd al-'Ala al-Masri says: "I was first sitting with the owners of the interpretation and looking at it, and if Shafi'i mentioned the interpretation as if he had witnessed the download"[12].

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However, al-Shafi'i deliberately chose the easy word in his works, such as "mother", "message", "interpretation", "Musnad" and others. This inimitable language that distinguished Imam Shafi'i made a man who spent his life in the study of literature and the Arabic language, investigating its words, strange and abandoned, specializing in it, which is Imam Muhammad bin Ahmed Al-Harawi Al-Azhari, the author of the famous dictionary "Refinement of the language" - attributed not to Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, but to his grandfather Al-Azhar - made him trace the strange words of Imam Shafi'i purely Arabic and collect them in a book entitled "Al-Zahir fi Gharib The words of Al-Shafi'i" explained by Al-Azhari and made it easier for students of knowledge and even scholars who are difficult for this inimitable language.

Al-Azhari has stated this in the introduction to his book above after tracking the works of jurists and scholars of Iraq and the Hijaz says: "And Alfit Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Idris Al-Shafi'i - God enlightened his proof and met him Radwana - pierced insight, and the most brilliant statement, and the most knowledgeable, and the most eloquent tongue, and Ajzlhm words, as his words - may God have mercy on him - purely Arabic, and from the Ajama of the generators inviolable, and estimated the interpretation of what surprised them"[13]. Another time, he says, "If we sat around him, we didn't know how he spoke like magic."

It is noteworthy that Al-Shafi'i's language in debate, explanation and indoctrination in the councils of his knowledge was more explicit than in his books, because he wanted his written language to be easier for the public and students of knowledge. His student was spring confirms that he says: "If you saw Shafi'i and good statement and eloquence to marvel him, although he wrote these books on his Arabic, which was speaking with us in the debate was not able to read his books for his eloquence, and the strangeness of his words, but he was in his authorship strives to explain to the public"[14].

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The investigator of his book "The Message" in the origins of jurisprudence, Sheikh updated Ahmed Shaker Al-Azhari, has been on the Hanafi school of study and specialist, has fallen in love with the language of Shafi'i and his knowledge of fundamentalism and genius, where he admits in the introduction to his investigation of the book of the message of Imam Shafi'i says: "If it is permissible for a scientist to imitate a scientist was the first people I have to imitate: Shafi'i. I believe – neither expensive nor extravagant – that this man did not appear like him in the scholars of Islam, in the jurisprudence of the Qur'an and Sunnah, and the influence of looking at them and the accuracy of deduction. With the power of the beam, the light of insight, and the deposit in the establishment of the argument and the scrupulation of its views. Eloquent, clear in the statement, at the highest peak of eloquence. He politely took the sciences and knowledge from the people of Hatra, until he heard about every world before and after him"[15].

After what we have given of conclusive evidence that Imam Shafi'i reached the peak in the world of the Arabic language and its eloquence, and his probing of its depths, and the recognition of his fans and opponents of his talent, we see that it is surprising that his character is embodied in a dramatic work that makes him speak in the contemporary Egyptian colloquial, similar to his dialogue with his student Al-Bawiti, who says to him in the series: "Sure I heard it a lot, but I will say it again: Nort Al-Fustat", to which Al-Shafi'i responds: "Fustat is enlightened by its people!"

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Sources

  • [1] Ibn Hazm: Genealogy of the Arabs, p. 198.
  • [2] Ibn Hazm: previous, p. 197.
  • [3] Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani: Succession of Establishment by His Excellency Muhammad bin Idris, p. 59.
  • [4] Refinement of names and languages, p. 50
  • [5] Succession of establishment, p. 60, 61.
  • [6] Yaqut: Dictionary of Writers 17/299.
  • [7] Dictionary of Writers 17/300.
  • [8] Succession of establishment, p. 57.
  • [9] Abdul Ghani Al-Daqr: Imam Al-Shafi'i, the greatest Sunni jurist, p. 270.
  • [10] Succession of establishment, p. 59.
  • [11] Al-Bayhaqi: Virtues of Al-Shafi'i 1/308.
  • [12] Succession of establishment, p. 58.
  • [13] Al-Azhari: Al-Zahir in the strange words of Al-Shafi'i, p. 17.
  • [14] Succession of establishment, p. 77.
  • [15] Al-Shafi'i: Kitab al-Risalah, introduction to the investigator Sheikh Ahmed Shaker, p. 5.