The Shafi'i school is one of the four major Sunni madhabs, widely followed in Southeast Asia, East Africa, Yemen, and parts of Egypt and the Levant. It was founded by Imam Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (767-820 CE), who is also credited with systematizing the principles of Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh).
On Zakat, the relied-upon (al-azhar) position of the Shafi'i school is that permissible jewelry is not zakatable (Minhaj al-Talibin; al-Majmu' 6/6), while prohibited jewelry and gold or silver vessels are. A second, weaker opinion within the school makes jewelry zakatable.
The Shafi'i methodology emphasizes the primacy of Hadith in deriving rulings and is known for a balanced approach between textual evidence and reasoning. In Zakat matters, the Shafi'i school generally requires the Nisab to be maintained throughout the entire Hawl period, which is a stricter standard than the Hanafi position.