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= Mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi‘i =

History of the Site and the Patron up to its Foundation
Imam Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad al-Shafi‘i of the Quraysh tribe of the prophet was a famous scholar and teacher who was responsible for creating the Shafi‘i school of Islamic law. His book, al-Risala, is said to be the foundation of Islamic jurisprudence.

al-Shafi‘i died and was buried in 820 at the site of his future mausoleum which is located south of Cairo in the Qarafa al-Sughra cemetery. Ibn al-Zayyat, a biographer in the Abbasid dynasty, claims that the part of the cemetery in which he was buried was part of a family plot of the historian, Ibn ‘Abd al-Hakam. Therefore when construction of the mausoleum began many tombs were relocated to Maqbarat al-Ayna. Ibn Taghribirdi, a historian in the Mamluk dynasty, disagrees. He claims that before building on the area began the land was an open courtyard. Either way the grave had already been a popular pilgrimage spot for many Muslims before the mausoleum was even built.

In the eleventh century the Seljuq vizier, Nizam al-Mulk, attempted to move al-Shafi‘i ’s bones to a madrasa that was being built in Baghdad. However legend has it that the population of Cairo began rebelling against the exhumation of the bones. The demonstrators threw rocks at the officials but the protest was soon put down. The workmen started to dig up the grave, but then intoxicating fumes rose up from the ground which caused the workmen to go mad. The officials gave up and allowed the bones of Imam al-Shafi‘i to remain in the original location in Cairo. Mystical events such as this that occured at the grave made the area even more prestigious in the eyes of the public.

Salah al-Din (aka Saladin) was the first to establish the grave of Imam al-Shafi‘i by providing a turbah to the grave site. He also built a madrasa near the grave of Imam al-Shafi‘i around 1176-77. Salah al-Din was a great military leader who led the Muslims against the Crusades. He was also the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Some argue that the Salah al-Din’s goal in building a madrasa for Imam al-Shafi‘i was to promote Sunnism and discourage Shiism. But many others argue that it was part of an intra-Sunni conflict between Shafi‘i and Hanbali Muslims that was occuring at the time. The Hanbalis believed that the Quran should be read in a very literal form. In contrast the Shafi‘i’s thought that an excess of literal reading could lead to viewing Allah through a lens of anthropomorphism which was frowned upon by Islamic law. The current dynasty, the Ayyubids, favored the Shafi‘i school. By founding this madrasa at the mausoleum Salah al-Din claimed an important place for Shafi‘is. The construction also served in displaying the grandeur and power of Shafi‘ism.

Although Salah al-Din was responsible for the madrasa, Shayk al-Khabushani is the patron of the mausoleum itself. al-Khabushani is said to have been a man who held a considerable amount of influence over the sultan. Legends portray that Salah al-Din and others believed that the shayk had the ability to curse those who angered him. Al-Khabushani is said to have been a devout Shafi‘i who hated the Hanbalis. It is likely that al-Khabushani patronized the construction in order to display the superiority of Shafi‘ism.

What is known today as the Mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi‘i was not established in the area of the grave until 1211 (as is marked by the foundation inscriptions). The fourth sultan of the Ayyubid dynasty, al-Malik al-Kamil, was responsible for the construction. He began construction after the death of his mother. She was buried in the Mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi‘i. After the death of al-Malik al-Kamil he too was buried in the mausoleum.