[Gastonleruanich]

Assalamu Alaikum,

As a convert who's basically self taught, I chose the shafi'i madhab for several reasons:

1. There are very few (if any) classically trained, traditional scholars in my area. It's overwhelmingly salafi in orientation, so following the madhab of my area isn't an option.

2. My spouse doesn't follow a madhab. He's a very knowledgeable guy mashaAllah, but I have no desire to become an ibn Hazm groupie. So, following the madhab of my spouse isn't an option.

3. Before I chose a madhab, I had started reading some classical scholars from centuries past. Two that I found very influential were Imam Nawawi and Imam al Ghazali. When I started to learn about madhabs, I found these two were shafi'i, and thought that was as good a reason as any to follow the shafi'i madhab

4. There are a decent amount of shafi'i resources available in english, books on fiqh and scholars available online to answer questions