Chafey Abu Abd-allah-mohammed Ben-edris, El

Chafey Abu Abd-Allah-Mohammed Ben-Edris, El founder of one of the four orthodox Mussulman sects, was born at Gaza, in Palestine, in the year 150 of the Hegira (A.D. 767). He took the surname of el-Chafey, from one of his ancestors. His disciples gave him the name of Areb-billah ("wisein God"). El-Chafey is the first imam who wrote about jurisprudence, civil as well as canonical, of the Mussulman law, and his decisions are still adopted in Egypt. They are in three treatises, called, Osszd, Saman, and Mesned. The sultan Salahed-Din, wishing to eradicate the principles of the sect of Ali, which the Fatimites had imposed upon all Egypt, summoned the doctors of Islam to Cairo, and charged them to preach the orthodox doctrine. The sect of the Chafeyites received from him particular support and encouragement; and in the year 569 of the Hegira he built, near the tomb of imam Chafey, a magnificent college for theology and Mussulman jurisprudence, where no other doctrine was permitted. El- Chafey died in Egypt in the year 204 of the Hegira (A.D. 821). See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Générale, s.v.