Aswhab al-Wujuh: Imam Abu Zayd Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Marwazi al-Fashani (r.a.) in Brief?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is adapted and extracted from “Biographies of Some of the Aswhab al-Wujuh in the Shafi’i Madzhab.”  The Aswhab al-Wujuh are the scholars who developed and transmitted the Shafi’i madzhab from the time of the immediate students of Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi’i (r.a.), circa 200 AH, to the time of Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali (r.a.), circa 500 AH.  Thereafter there was a pressing need for recension of all this development into a single body of work.  This task was met by Imam Abu al-Qasim ‘Abd al-Karim ibn Muhammad ar-Rafi’i (r.a.) and Imam Abu Zakariya Yahya ibn Sharaf an-Nawawi (r.a.), who became known as the Shaykhayn in the madzhab. 

Imam Abu Zayd Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Marwazi ibn ‘Abdullah al-Fashani (r.a.) came to be known as Abu Zayd al-Marwazi.  The famous Khurasani school, which blossomed such fruits as Imam al-Haramayn Dhiya’ ad-Din ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Yusuf al-Juwayni (r.a.), and Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali (r.a.), started with him.  He stood above all others in his time with regards to asceticism, scrupulousness, and knowledge.  He was a great preserver of the madzhab and had impeccable discernment.  He studied under Imam Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ahmad al-Marwazi (r.a.), and then resided for several years in Makkah.  He held a number of unique views regarding thawaf and repeating prayers due to nakedness if travelling or resident.