Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ash-Shaybani

Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ash-Shaybani (750-805 CE) was the principal codifier of the Hanafi school of jurisprudence and one of the most prolific legal authors in Islamic history. Born in Wasit, Iraq, he grew up in Kufa and began attending the lectures of Imam Abu Hanifah while still a teenager. After Abu Hanifah's death, he continued studying under his senior student Abu Yusuf and also spent three years in Medina learning from Imam Malik, attending his famous sessions on al-Muwatta.

Ash-Shaybani's monumental achievement was the systematic codification of Hanafi legal thought in six books known as Zahir ar-Riwayah (The Manifest Narrations): al-Mabsut, al-Jami as-Saghir, al-Jami al-Kabir, az-Ziyadat, as-Siyar as-Saghir, and as-Siyar al-Kabir. These works recorded the opinions of Abu Hanifah, Abu Yusuf, and ash-Shaybani himself, preserving them in a format that could be studied and applied by generations of judges and jurists. His works on siyar (Islamic international law) are considered the earliest comprehensive treatises on the subject.

Ash-Shaybani also served as a teacher to Imam ash-Shafii, who acknowledged his debt to ash-Shaybani's knowledge of Iraqi fiqh. He was appointed as a judge by Harun ar-Rashid and served until his death in the city of Ray (near modern Tehran) in 189 AH (805 CE). The caliph reportedly lamented his death alongside that of the grammarian al-Kisai, who died the same day, saying he had buried both Arabic language and jurisprudence.