Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Shafi'i and Early Islamic Law -- Shafi'i's Life -- Works Attributed to Shafi'i -- Previous Studies of Shafi'i's Legal Thought and the Risala -- Method -- This Study -- Conventions -- Chapter One Shafi'i's Concept of the Bayan -- I. Introduction -- II. The Idea at the Heart of the Risala: Shafi'i's Concept of the Bayan -- A. Shafi'i's Definition of the Bayan -- B. The First Mode of the Bayan: Stand-alone Qur'anic Texts -- C. The Second Mode of the Bayan: Qur'an and Redundant Sunna -- D. The Third Mode of the Bayan: Qur'an and Explanatory Sunna -- E. The Fourth Mode of the Bayan: Stand-alone Sunnaic Texts -- F. The Fifth Mode of the Bayan: Ijtihad and Qiyas -- G. Implications of Shafi'i's Concept of the Bayan -- H. Mention of the Bayan Schema Elsewhere in the Risala -- III. The Bayan and the Structure of the Risala -- IV. Previous Scholarly Accounts of Shafi'i's Notion of the Bayan -- V. The Reception of Shafi'i's Concept of the Bayan -- A. Jahiz -- B. The Case of Jassas -- C. Shafi'i's Bayan in Other Usul Works: A Very Brief Tour -- VI. Conclusion -- Chapter Two Hermeneutical Techniques -- I. Introduction -- II. General Hermeneutical Terms and Principles -- III. Hermeneutical Rubrics Describing Source Interaction -- A. 'Amm and Khass -- 1. Structure of the Risala's Discussion of 'Amm and Khass -- 2. Inheritance -- 3. Ablutions -- 4. Theft -- 5. Unlawful Sexual Intercourse -- 6. Division of the Spoils of War -- 7. Other Appeals to and Uses of 'Amm and Khass -- B. Abrogation (Naskh) -- 1. Shafi'i's Theory of Naskh -- 2. The Penalty for Unlawful Sexual Intercourse -- C. The Jumla:Nass Rubric -- 1. Independent Qur'anic Injunctions: Ramadan -- 2. Quasi-Self Sufficient Qur'anic Texts: Spousal Accusations of Adultery -- 3. Why Have Redundant Hadiths? The Case of Ablutions.

4. Jumla: A Legal Rule Expressed Jointly by the Qur'an and the Sunna -- 5. Divorce and Remarriage -- 6. Inheritance -- 7. Jumla and 'Amm -- 8. Sunna as Nass -- IV. Hermeneutical Rubrics Specific to the Hadith -- A. Shafi'i's Outline of Hermeneutical Difficulties Affecting the Sunna -- B. The Distinction between Contradiction and Source Interaction Reiterated -- C. Specific Techniques for Resolving Contradictions within the Hadith Corpus -- 1. Ikhtilaf al-Hadith -- a. Prayer during Battle Conditions -- b. Humanitarian Law and the Law of War -- 2. Prohibitions in the Hadith (Nahy) -- V. Ijtihad and Qiyas -- A. The Function of Ijtihad and Qiyas and the Authority for Using Them -- B. Examples of Applied Ijtihad as Metaphors for Legal Epistemology -- C. Types of Qiyas -- D. When Qiyas May not be Used -- E. Examples of Applied Qiyas -- 1. Shabah-Based Qiyas -- 2. Ma'na-Based Qiyas and Reasoning A Fortiori -- VI. Conclusion -- Chapter Three Prophetic Sunna and Hadith in the Risala -- I. Introduction -- A. The Term Sunna Prior to Shafi'i -- II. The Authority of the Sunna -- A. Shafi'i's General Arguments for the Authority of the Sunna -- B. Shafi'i's Claim that Hikma in the Qur'an Means "Sunna" -- 1. Shafi'i's Qur'anic Proof Texts -- 2. Extra-Exegetical Currents -- III. The Khabar al-Wahid and its Wider Implications -- A. Authority for Using the Khabar al-Wahid -- B. Hermeneutical Aspects of the Khabar al-Wahid -- 1. Personal Qualities of Transmitters -- 2. The Analogy with Testimony -- 3. Formal Characteristics of Isnads -- C. Epistemological Aspects of the Khabar al-Wahid and Lesser Varieties of Hadith -- 1. Recurrence vs. Non-Recurrence -- 2. Defective Isnads in Prophetic Hadith -- 3. Non-Prophetic Reports (Athar) and the Limits of Revelation -- IV. Conclusion -- Chapter Four The Qur'an in Shafi'i's Risala -- I. Introduction.

II. Shafi'i's Discussion of the Qur'an -- A. The Relative Authority of the Qur'an and the Sunna -- B. Shafi'i's Description of the Qur'an as a Source of Law -- C. Shafi'i's Claim that the Qur'an Contains only Arabic -- III. Shafi'i's Use of the Qur'an -- A. The Law Governing Prayer and its History -- B. The Prayer of Fear -- 1. Structure of the Authorities for the Prayer of Fear -- 2. Early Jurists' Discussions of the Prayer of Fear -- 3. The Prayer of Fear in Early Exegesis -- IV. Conclusion -- Chapter Five Shafi'i's Epistemology -- I. Introduction -- II. Shafi'i's Concept of Knowledge ('Ilm) -- III. Objectively Correct Answers -- A. Epistemically Ideal Conditions and their Absence -- B. Speci? c Impediments to Attaining the Objectively Correct Result -- C. Language -- D. Problems in Transmission -- E. Modest Subjectivity in Legal Interpretation -- F. Accidental vs. Structural Ijtihad -- IV. Shafi'i's Epistemological Dualism -- V. Conclusion -- Chapter Six Internal Evidence for the Risala's Polemical Context -- I. Introduction -- II. Dramatis Personae -- A. The Ahl al-'Ilm and Related Groups -- B. The Relationship between the Various Groups of Scholars -- C. Specialists -- D. Transmitters and Analyzers -- E. Legal Experts: f-q-h and f-t-y -- F. Persons Associated with the Hadith -- G. The Ahl al-'Uqul -- H. Shafi'i's Attitude toward Non-Arabs -- I. Conclusion -- III. The Risala as Theological Polemic -- A. God's Attributes -- B. God's Foreknowledge and Foreordainment of Events -- C. The Idea of Justice ('Adl) -- D. The Role of Reason ('Aql) -- IV. Conclusion -- Chapter Seven Ijma' in the Risala -- I. Introduction -- II. Previous Conceptions of Ijma' -- III. The Authority of Ijma' and its Relationship to the Sunna -- IV. Ijma' as a Tool of Legal Reasoning -- V. Example Problems in which Shafi'i Appeals to Ijma'.

VI. Schacht and Calder on Ijma' in Shafi'i's Legal Thought -- A. Schacht: Ijma' of the Specialists vs. Ijma' of the Community at Large -- B. Calder: Universal Ijma' on the Most Basic Matters -- VII. Conclusion -- Conclusion The Risala and its Relationship to Mature Usul al-Fiqh -- Positive Law (Furu') -- Capacity for Abstraction -- Speculative Theology -- Language -- Function -- Appendix -- Introduction -- Does the Text Require Rearrangement? -- Khadduri's Rearrangement of the Text -- Shafi'i's Tables of Contents and Caesurae -- Interpolations -- The Four, or Five, Modes of the Bayan -- Bibliography -- Indices -- Indices Index of Qur'an Citations -- Index of Risala Citations -- Index of Arabic Terms from the Risala -- Index of Legal Issues -- Index of Proper Names.