Al-Shafi'i was born and lived during the Abbasid period.

He lived during a time of political stability and national prosperity.

The era was characterized by the revival of science and advanced Islamic thinking.

During this bright period of Islamic history, all the old cultures met and blended under the auspices of Islam.

The Abbasi caliphs encouraged their translators to translate major books of other cultures, which added to the rich intellectual environment of this period.

It was the age of productive independent, intellectual fertility.

The narrators of hadith were working hard t authenticate the true hadith of the Messenger of Allah (P. B. U. H) and identify the false.

The various groups and scholars were brandishing the swords of reason to make way for their opinions.

Al-Shafi'i intermingled with all of them, debated their masters, and took from their scholars what he thought to be correct.

The scholars of fiqh and narrators of hadith were travelling all over the land seeking knowledge.

Al-Shafi' i continuously met them, particularly around the Ka'ba, which had become a gathering place for people c knowledge.

The scholars of fiqh who depended on opinion and the scholars of fiqh who depended on hadith debated one another in search of the truth and each took what the other had to offer.

Fiqh was collected in books so that jurists could see the opinion of others written down and read it, study it, criticize it, and accept what each thought was closer to the Quran and sunna.

Al-Shafi'i lived during this great intellectual era, benefiting from its wealth of scholarship. (pa: 8)

His school of thought and the opinions that he offered were a result of his incredible talent, thorough research and clear direction