Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī was an early Islamic jurist, renowned as one of the four great Imams. He developed the science of fiqh, unifying Islam's revealed sources—the Quran and hadith—with human reasoning to establish a legal foundation. His systematization of Sharia provided a unified legacy for all Muslims, preventing the rise of independent, regionally based legal systems. Al-Shāfiʿī authored over 100 books, most famously 'Al-Risala', which examined principles of jurisprudence.
The Epistle on Legal Theory is the oldest surviving Arabic work on Islamic legal theory and the foundational document of Islamic jurisprudence. Its author, Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (d 204 H/820 AD), was the eponym of the Shafi'i school of legal thought, one of the four rites in Sunni Islam. This book deals with this work.
Written in the second Islamic century by al-Imam al-Shafi'i (d. 204AH/ 820AD), the founder of one of the four Sunni schools of law, this important work gives the fundamental principles of Islamic jurisprudence, and its influence continues to the present day.