Cairo
Imam Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i, founder of the Shafi'i school, was born in Gaza in 150 AH, studied under Imam Malik in Madinah and came to Egypt at the…
Imam Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i, founder of the Shafi'i school, was born in Gaza in 150 AH, studied under Imam Malik in Madinah and came to Egypt at the end of his life, where he wrote the later works of his school. He passed away in 204 AH and was buried in the Qarafa beside the tombs of the Banu Abd al-Hakam. The great wooden dome over his tomb was built by the Ayyubid sultan al-Kamil in 1211, and Mazarat Misr calls it the largest shrine in Egypt. The mosque beside it is from the nineteenth century, and the shrine has been restored in recent years. The district around it is called al-Imam al-Shafi'i after him.