He insisted that the ulama were required to ask for textual evidence, that the gate of ijtihad was not closed and that the mujtahid was to do ijtihad independent of any maddhab, a view which stemmed from his opposition to taqlid for a mujtahid, which he deemed to be a vice with which the Shariah had been inflicted.

He is credited with developing a series of syllabi for attaining various ranks of scholarship and used a strict system of legal analysis based on Sunni thought. Ash-Shawkani refers both to his major fatwas, which were collected and preserved as a book, and to his 'shorter' fatwas, which he said 'could never be counted' and which were not recorded. Of his work issuing fatwas (judicial verdicts), ash-Shawkani stated 'I acquired knowledge without a price and I wanted to give it thus.' Part of the fatwa-issuing work of many noted scholars typically is devoted to the giving of ordinary opinions to private questioners. Shawkani is considered as a mujtahid, or authority to whom others in the Muslim community have to defer in details of religious law. He also opposed Sufism and mystical practices of numerous Sufi orders considering them to be an affront to Tawhid (monotheism). As a result, Shawkani opposed much of the Zaydi doctrines and engaged in vigorous Sunnification campaigns across Yemen during his tenure as Chief Qadi. He called for a return to the textual sources of the Quran and hadith. Biography īorn into a Zaydi Shi'a Muslim family, ash-Shawkani later on converted to Sunni Islam. The surname 'ash-Shawkani' is derived from Hijrah ash-Shawkan, which is a town outside Sanaa. His full name was Muhammad Ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Shawkani. Influenced by the teachings of the medieval Hanbali polemicist Ibn Taymiyya, Al-Shawkani became noteworthy for his staunch stances against the practice of Taqlid (imitation to legal schools), calls for direct interpretation of Scriptures, opposition to Kalam (speculative theology) as well as for his robust opposition to various folk practices which he condemned as shirk (idolatry).

His teachings played a major role in the emergence of the Salafi movement.

Shawkani was one of the most influential proponents of Athari theology and is revered as one of their canonical scholars by Salafi Muslims. Muḥammad al-Shawkānī (1759–1834 ) was a prominent Yemeni Sunni Islamic scholar, jurist, theologian and reformer.

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