A school of law that traces its teaching to Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi`i. It is now prevalent in Indonesia and some parts of the Middle East.
The Shafi`ites took the lead in developing usul al-fiqh (legal theory); the other schools except for the Hanafites use a system of usul al-fiqh similar to that of the Shafi`ites.
Two great Shafi`ites were the Ash`arite theologian and Sufi al-Ghazali, and the jurist al-Nawawi.