Imam Jamal al- Din al- Istawi ( d . 704 AH / 772 AD ), his approach and resources in his book The ShafIi CIasses

Abstract

The subject of the research ( classes of Shafi^,I school ) included biographies of the people of the Shafi^,I school of thought, as the author began with a comprehensive translation of lmam Al-Shafi^,I, then his companions who lived with him and took from him, and they have twenty-five translations . These were arranged on the basis of the years of their death, then he followed them with a translation of the companions^, companions, and these were arranged according to another methodology, as it was adopted. Alphabets in their order, the number of translations has reached

 The book ( 1289 ) was translated, covering various Arab countries . The author was interested in providing comprehensive details about the biography of his translator, so he mentioned his name and lineage, and the titles by which he was known . Then he touched on his academic biography, mentioning his sheikhs from whom he learned, his scientific trips and the extent to which he benefited from those trips . He also touched on his social status, mentioning the children of the authors of the translations and their wives, then he dealt with their writings, and the jobs they held, the most important of which were teaching and judiciary, and dealt with the historical events in which the author of the translation had an involvememt, as well as information related to economic activity, and the geographical aspect of Specifying the locations, which demonstrated the author^, extensive knowledge of geography, routes, and roads .In conveying these details, lmam Abu Al- Hasan Al-Asnawi relied on resources from those who preceded him, in addition to his personal information about the author of the translation, who was his contemporary . It is worth noting that lmam Abu Muhammad al-Asnawi agreed with his methodology in others . .