Aswhab al-Wujuh: Imam Abu Muhammad ar-Rabi’ ibn Sulayman al-Muradi (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 Muhammad ar-Rabi’ ibn Sulayman al-Muradi (r.a.) was one of the direct disciples of Imam ash-Shafi’i (r.a.) in Egypt.  There is a difference of opinion about his lineage and dates of birth and death.  His name occurs frequently in Imam an-Nawawi’s (r.a.) books, especially Rawdhah ath-Thalibin, and Sharh al-Muhadzdzab.  He recorded Imam ash-Shafi’i’s (r.a.) view that singing the Qur’an is makruh. 

He heard from Imam Abu Muhammad ‘Abdullah ibn Wahb al-Fihri al-Miswri (r.a.), Imam Bishr ibn Bakr at-Tunisi (r.a.), Imam Ayyub ibn Suwayd ar-Ramli (r.a.), Imam Muhammad ibn Idris al-Muthlabi (r.a.), and many more.  Those who narrated from him include Imam Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn al-Ash’ats as-Sijistani (r.a.), Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Majah (r.a.), Imam Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahman Ahmad ibn Shu’ayb an-Nasa’i (r.a.), and many others.  His name was famous among the people of ahadits.  He spent most of his life gaining knowledge and transmitting it.