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The question

What is the religious ruling regarding Imam Al-Shafi'i's saying: "We blame time, though the fault lies within us, and time has no fault but us"?

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Source: FtawySummary from Ftawy's records · added here Sep 2, 20261 min readAlso available in العربية
The answer

The correction of the famous verse is: "We blame our time, though the fault is in us, and our time has no fault but us." Ibn Qutaybah al-Dinawari attributed it to Imam al-Shafi'i in "Uyun al-Akhbar" and in al-Shafi'i's Diwan. Ibn al-Banna attributed it to some wise men, and al-Bayhaqi narrated it with his chain of transmission from Muhammad ibn Shadil al-Hashimi. Al-Zirikli and Jalal al-Suyuti attributed it to al-Sahib Ibn Lankak, which is the more probable attribution. As for its attribution to al-Shafi'i, there is doubt, for if it were correct, al-Bayhaqi, who was among the most knowledgeable of people about him, would have narrated it. Al-Shafi'i's Diwan contains much poetry falsely attributed to him. However, the meaning of the verse is correct, for time itself has no fault; rather, the fault is attributed to the actions and morals of people.

Summary from Ftawy's records · added here

Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.

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Ftawy
Original fatwa ID
25724
Added here
. This is when the answer was added to El Fatwa, not the fatwa's date.
Text
Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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