The article deals with a review of the book The Methodology of Understanding Hadith by Imām
al-S̲h̲āfiʿī by Professor Muammar Bayraktutar. Such studies are of great importance. al-Shāfiʿī ıs a
scholar and a jurist who formed the al-Shāfiʿī school of thought. He has the credit and precedence for
identifying the beginnings of jurisprudence and has significant judgments and assessments in the area
of the Prophet's hadith. In his book, the author did not aim to open a debate about the validity or
falsity of Imam al-Shāfiʿī's conclusions and opinions, but rather tried to understand his methodology,
especially since the judgments and assessments put forward by al-Shāfiʿī are closely related to his
time. al-Shāfiʿī adopted an interpretation and approach based on the literal reference and the
apparent meaning of the texts as a reaction against the chaos that arose at the time. Because of the
various eras and situations in which they lived, the various sources of evidence they regarded, and
the various approaches they took, there were disagreements in the understanding of the mud̲j̲tahids.
The author noted that al-Shāfiʿī has two different basic approaches to understanding the Sunnah,
namely literal interpretation and meaning-oriented interpretation; al-Shāfiʿī was keen to adhere to
the apparent meaning of the texts, although he did not always adhere to it, and the author gave
examples that show this.