The late great shaykh, Dr Mustafa b. Sa’id b. Mahmud al-Khin al-Maydani al-Shafi’i (may Allah have mercy on him), was one of the eminent scholars of Syria in the 20th Century. Growing up in the conservative Damascus suburb of Maydan (Midan in the local dialect), he attended the lessons of the noble Hassan al-Habbanaka al-Maydani, from the age of nine. He quickly rose to prominence and became a teacher of Shari’ah and Arabic at universities in Syria and Saudi Arabia during the 1950s and 60s. He later traveled to Egypt to obtain his PhD, whilst already a distinguished scholar, from al-Azhar in 1971. I am attaching the thesis, titled, ‘Athar al-Ikhtilaf fi al-Qawa’id al-Usuliyah fi Ikhtilaf al-Fuqaha.’ 

http://islamclass.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/d8a7d8abd8b1-d8a7d984d8a7d8aed8aad984d8a7d981-d981db8c-d8a7d984d982d988d8a7d8b9d8af-d8a7d984d8a7d8b5d988d984d98ad8a9-d981db8c-d8a7d8ae.pdf

In this thesis, the shaykh elaborates how the legal principles (usul) upon which the scholars built their schools lead to differences in law (furu’). This is a subtle point that is lost…