Abridgement of Kitab al-Umm fi al-Fiqh by Imam Al-Shafi'i, Muhammad ibn Idris ibn al-Abbas ibn Uthman ibn Shafi', whose lineage traces back to Ibn Hashim ibn al-Muttalib. He is one of the four great Imams who established the schools of thought for Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah, along with Abu Hanifa, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and Malik ibn Anas.

He possessed great prowess in literature and a noble lineage. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: 'The Banu Hashim and the Banu al-Muttalib are one and the same.' He was a memorizer of the book of his Lord, knowledgeable of its obligations and recommendations, and his ijtihad (scholarly reasoning) in all branches of knowledge was beyond the reach of others. Furthermore, he was a jurist of the transmitted traditions (Sunnah), an expert in distinguishing the authentic from the flawed. He contributed to the principles of jurisprudence (Usul), the rulings on mursal (disconnected) and mawsul (connected) narrations, and was adept at discerning the various facets of texts, including their general and specific applications.

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal said of him: 'I have not seen anyone with a better understanding of the Book of Allah than this young man from Quraysh: Muhammad ibn Idris.'

He was born in 150 AH, the same year Imam Abu Hanifa passed away, in Gaza (Asqalan). He passed away in 204 AH. He authored numerous works, the most significant being his book 'Al-Umm,' in which he compiled his scholarly reasoning and legal school (madhhab) on the rulings of worship, transactions, and other areas of jurisprudence.