MUSTAFī？ REPORTS IN SHāFI？ī LEGAL THEORY

It is generally accepted that the majority of the fuqahā？ (legal experts), except for the ？anafī school, divide the reports from the Prophet, with regard to the number of transmitters, into two parts: al-mutawātir and al-ā？ād. ？anafīs, on the other hand, accept, beside these two, a third category in between: al-mashhūr. However, contrary to this widely accepted view, we see that Shāfi？ī u？ūl al-fiqh (legal theory) tradition contains discussions about mustafī？ reports along with al-mutawātir and al-ā？ād. This study deals with discussions about the presence, acceptance and epistemological value of mustafī？ reports in the Shāfi？ī legal theory. Furthermore, al-mustafī？’s similarity or dissimilarity to the ？anafīs’ al-mashhūr and its categorical relations with the mutawātir and ā？ād reports will also be examined. We may argue that discussions of Shāfi？ī’s on mustafī？ reports have eventually approximated their position to the ？anafīs’ tripartite division of reports and minimized the differences between the two schools