Abu Shuja' al-Isfahani and his legal preferences in His Ghayat al-ıkhtisar

One of the prominent scholars of the Shafi'i school of thought, Abu Shuja' al-Isfahani, is considered to be one of the important jurists of the school. His long tenure as a judge and his involvement with the Shafi'i school for over forty years make the examination of Abu Shuja's jurisprudence important for our topic. Additionally, his work "Gayat al-ıhtisar" which has been used as a textbook in madrasas for teaching the legal rulings of the school since its composition, has gained great fame among his works. The composition of "Gayat al-ıhtisar" can be observed towards the end of the period of istiqrar of the school. Although many works of the school were composed during this period, strong opinions on disputed issues had not yet been clearly distinguished from weak ones. In the subsequent tankeeh period, the presence of opinions within the school that were not considered strong by the author can be observed. This situation can pose difficulties for newcomers to the school. Therefore, in our study, after providing information about Abu Shuja's life, his era, a general introduction to "Gayat al-ıhtisar," and its significance within the school, weak opinions of the author within the school were identified. For this identification, the explanations and glosses of the work were utilized. Furthermore, in order to reflect the accuracy of the findings more, it was compared with the works of Râfiî and Nevevî, scholars of the tankeeh period. The preferences of Nawawi, who made serious selections within the school were taken as basis in determining the weak views and the views that were considered to be mufta bih in the school. Ultimately, it has been determined that Gayat al-Ihtisar, which has maintained its importance within the school until today, is contrary to the strong views of the sect on some issues.