My heart is at ease knowing that what was meant for me will never miss me, and that what misses me was never meant for me.

Imam Al Shafi`i

All humans are dead except those who have knowledge; and all those who have knowledge are asleep, except those who do good deeds; and those who do good deeds are deceived, except those who are sincere; and those who are sincere are always in a state of worry.

Imam Al Shafi`i

Knowledge is not what is memorised.

Knowledge is what benefits.

Imam Al Shafi`i

Never do I argue with a man with a desire to hear him say what is wrong, or to expose him and win victory over him. Whenever I face an opponent in debate I silently pray - O Lord, help him so that truth may flow from his heart and on his tongue, and so that if truth is on my side, he may follow me; and if truth be on his side, I may follow him.

Imam Al Shafi`i

My sin burdened me heavily. But when I measured it against Your Grace, O Lord, Your forgiveness came out greater.

Imam Al Shafi`i

To be able to thank Allah for a blessing is a blessing within itself.

Imam Al Shafi`i

I complained to Waki' about the weakness of my memorisation, 

So he instructed me to abandon disobedience;

He informed me that knowledge is a light,

And the light of Allah is not given to a sinner.

Imam Al Shafi`i

To admonish your brother in private is to advise him and improve him. But to admonish him publicly is to disgrace and shame him.

Imam Al Shafi`i

You say that you are just a body, but inside of you is something greater than the Universe.

Imam Al Shafi`i

When my heart became constricted and my paths became narrow

I took my hope in Your pardon and forgiveness as an opening and an escape

My sins seemed very great to me but when I compared them to Your forgiveness

I found Your forgiveness to be greater

Imam Al Shafi`i

Wealth remains behind on earth while ibadaah accompanies you into the grave.

Imam Al Shafi`i

Be hard on yourself, easy on others.

Imam Al Shafi`i

How strange! You seek guidance, yet you do not tread its path, surely a boat does not sail on land.

Imam Al Shafi`i

Only someone who is sincere recognizes what showing off is.

Imam Al Shafi`i

Do not vie with others in the accumulation of wealth. Vie with them in Ibadaah.

Imam Al Shafi`i

The loftiest in status are those who do not know their own status, and the most virtuous of them are those who do not know their own virtue.

Imam Al Shafi`i

Whoever is not made glorified by taqwa can find no glory.

Imam Al Shafi`i

The one who admonishes his brother secretly, he has advised sincerely and has honored him. If he does it outwardly (among others) then he has dishonored and shamed him.

Imam Al Shafi`i

There is not on the face of the earth-after the Book of Allah - a book which is more sahih than the book of Malik.

Imam Al Shafi`i

Muhammad ibn Idris ibn al-`Abbas, al-Imam al-Shafi`i, Abu `Abd Allah al-Shafi`i al-Hijazi al-Qurashi al-Hashimi al-Muttalibi (d. 204), the offspring of the House of the Prophet, the peerless one of the great mujtahid imams and jurisprudent par excellence, the scrupulously pious ascetic and Friend of Allah, he laid down the foundations of fiqh in his Risala, which he said he revised and re-read four hundred times, then said: "Only Allah’s Book is perfect and free from error."