About Shafii

The Shafii madhab (Arabic: شافعي‎ ​) is one of the four schools of fiqh, or religious law, within Sunni Islam. The Shafii school of fiqh is named after its founder, Imam ash-Shafii. The other three schools of thought are Maliki, Hanafi, and Hanbali.

The Shafii School of thought stipulates authority to four sources of jurisprudence, also known as the Usul al-fiqh. In hierarchical order the usul al-fiqh consist of: the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet, ijma' (consensus), and qiyas. The Shafii school also refers to the opinions of the Prophet's companions (primarily Al-Khulafa ar-Rashidun). The school, based on Shafii's books ar-Risala fi Usul al-Fiqh and Kitab al-Umm, which emphasizes proper istinbaat (derivation of laws) through the rigorous application of legal principles as opposed to speculation or conjecture.

The Shafii school is considered one of the more conservative of the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence, but there are many adherents of the Shafii tradition who maintain liberal views in practicing their religion