Abu al Fadl Rashid ibn Abi Rashid al Walidi (d. 765 AH) transmitted from his shaykh Abu Muhammad Salih (d. 631 AH) that Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) built his madhhab on sixteen foundations. Five are from the Book of Allah: the explicit text, the apparent general wording, the proof of the Book which is mafhum al mukhalafa (this is the understood meaning through opposition’. Deriving a ruling from what is not directly stated in the wording, by taking the opposite implication), the understanding of the Book which is mafhum al muwafaqa, and the indication of the Book to the effective cause, such as in the verse:

فَإِنَّهُ رِجْسٌ أَوْ فِسْقًا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ بِهِ

‘For indeed it is filth, or sin that has been dedicated to other than Allah.’ (al Anam 143)

for this wording points to the effective cause behind the ruling. Their like in the Sunnah completes ten principles. To these Malik added consensus, analogy, istihsan, blocking the means, the practice of the people of Madinah, and the statement of the Companion, making sixteen principles in all. (Iyḍah al Masalik 116–117)

There is disagreement about whether consideration of disagreement itself should be counted as one of Malik’s foundations, since he sometimes considered it and sometimes did not. (al Bahja fi Sharh al Tuhfa 2/133)

Some Maliki imams further mentioned al awa’id, meaning custom, taking the more cautious course, the original presumption of freedom from liability, holding that the Sharia of those before us is Sharia for us, unrestricted interests, istishab, and inductive reasoning, and they pointed to works such as al Nur al Muqtabas by Abu Muhammad al Wansharisi and al Qabas by Abu Bakr ibn al Arabi (d. 543 AH) as evidence for these expansions. (al Nur al Muqtabas, Tetouan manuscript 542; al Qabas, Rabat manuscripts K 1916 and J 25)

Criticism of these principles came from some imams. Al Layth ibn Sa’d (d. 175 AH) wrote a well known letter challenging Malik on certain foundations, and al Shafii (d. 204 AH) spoke against Malik’s use of istihsan, his reliance on unrestricted interests, and his taking the practice of the people of Madinah as an independent proof. (Wafayat al Ayan 1/430; Tahdhib al Tahdhib 8/459; Tadhkirat al Huffaz 1/207; al Jawahir al Mudi ah 2/416)

Al Subki (d. 771 AH) said that the principles of the Maliki madhhab exceed 500, intending by this the legal maxims extracted from its subsidiary rulings that grew from these sixteen or from around twenty foundations and more.

He observed that Malik in reality explicitly uttered only a few maxims, and that most were taken from his method and the method of his companions in derivation, in identifying effective causes, and in gathering detailed rulings under overarching maxims. (al Fikr al Sami 2/165)

The Method of Imam Malik in His Own Words

Muhammad Ibrahim Ali explains that whoever reflects on the foundations of Islam and the rules of the Sharia will see that the foundations of Malik and the people of Madinah are the soundest foundations and rules. Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH) said this clearly in Majmu al Fatawa. (Majmu al Fatawa 20/328)

When one studies the methods of the imams and how they build their sources and exert effort in the Sharia, Malik appears as arranging these foundations in their proper order. He gives precedence to the Book of Allah and links it with transmitted reports, then prefers these reports over analogy and personal consideration.

He turns away from reports that were not transmitted by reliable and aware narrators, and from anything that contradicts the established living practice of the great multitude of the people of Madinah. He gives preference to following what has been handed down and rejects innovation, avoiding any departure from the paths of the salaf. (Tartib al Madarik 1/89)

Malik clarified his method when speaking about his Muwatta. He explained that most of what appears in it as “my opinion” was not personal reasoning in isolation. Rather, it was based on what he heard from more than one person of knowledge and excellence, from the followed imams from whom he learned, men known for their fear of Allah.

He said that the large number of reports transmitted to him led him to phrase matters as “my opinion,” although in reality they reflected the views of those imams, inherited generation after generation from the Companions and their followers.

He further clarified the meanings of his expressions. When he said, “I think,” he intended the view held by a group of earlier imams. When he said, “the agreed upon matter,” he referred to what the people of fiqh and knowledge had agreed upon.

When he said, “the matter with us” or “in our city,” he meant what the people of Madinah practised and what judicial rulings were based upon there. When he said, “some of the people of knowledge,” he was referring to scholarly views that he regarded as sound.

In matters he did not directly hear from them, he exerted effort while remaining within the madhhab of those he met. His independent reasoning stayed within the boundaries of the Sunnah, the way of the followed imams, and the established practice of Madinah from the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the rightly guided imams. (Tartib al Madarik 2/74; Ihkam al Usul 485; Nayl al Ibtihaj 192–193)

This method shows holding fast to the Book of Allah, to the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ, and to the practice of the people of Madinah among the Companions and the Followers, together with personal ijtihad where there is no way to avoid it, always confined by the principles he clarified. It gathers reflection and transmission but with stronger attachment to transmission. (Wamadat Fikr 2/59)

Malik said: “I am only a human being. I am sometimes correct and sometimes mistaken. So examine my opinion. Whatever agrees with the Book and the Sunnah, accept it. Whatever does not agree with them, leave it.”(al Muwafaqat 4/289)

Because of such statements, the scholars of the madhhab sought to identify and organise its foundations. Over time, they expanded their treatment of these principles to such an extent that the Maliki madhhab came to be regarded as the madhhab with the largest number of foundations. Some even claimed that they reach 500.

However, most scholars hold that the principal foundations number 16. (Abu Zahra, al Imam Malik 217, 218, 276; Umar al Jidi, Muhadarat fi Tarikh al Madhhab al Maliki 64–66; al Bahja fi Sharh al Tuhfa 2/133; al Fikr al Sami 1/384, 385, 387; al Jawahir al Thamina 115)

Al Qarafi’s Enumeration of the Main Principles

Among the Malikis, the most precise enumeration is that of al Qarafi (d. 684 AH), Shihab al Din Abu al Abbas Ahmad ibn Idris al Bahnasi al Masri, who was a leading imam in fiqh and usul and whose books were widely accepted. (al Dibaj al Madhhab 1/236–239)

He listed the foundations of the Maliki madhhab as: the Qur’an, the Sunnah, consensus, the consensus of the people of Madinah, analogy, the statement of a Companion, unrestricted interests, custom, blocking the means, istishab, and istihsan. (Abu Zahra, al Imam Malik 218)

Some of these, such as the Book, the Sunnah, consensus, and analogy, are foundations which all the madhhabs use. Some he shares with some other madhhabs.

What distinguishes Malik alone is his reliance on the consensus or the practice of the people of Madinah as a separate foundation on which he built his madhhab. This special reliance became a cause of extensive debate and discussion among jurists from the time of Malik رحمه الله onwards.

The Consensus and Practice of the People of Madinah

The practice of the people of Madinah is one of the principal issues of the Maliki madhhab. It is well known that according to Malik the practice of the people of Madinah is a proof.

Some people mention this without any explanation, some restrict it, and some attack the Malikis because of it while speaking about something different from the actual point of disagreement and without precision. (al Jawahir al Thamina 208)

Although Malik adopted this foundation and defended it, nothing is transmitted from the Companions or Followers to whom reliance on this practice is ascribed that defines its meaning in exact terms, nor did Malik himself state its limits or complete reality. (Fadl al Muwatta wa Inayat al Umma al Islamiyya bih 80)

In his letter to al Layth ibn Saʿd (d. 175 AH), Malik outlined his position in clear terms. He explained that when a matter in Madinah is established and consistently acted upon, he does not consider it permissible for anyone to oppose it. In his view, the people of Madinah possess an inheritance of knowledge and practice that others cannot claim.

He added that when people from other cities say, “This is the practice of our city, and this is what those before us followed,” their claim does not carry the same certainty or authority as the practice of the people of Madinah. (Tartib al Madarik 1/43; Siyar Alam al Nubala 8/136, 143–163; Mashahir Ulama al Amsar 191)

Because Malik did not give a full technical definition, the exact meaning of this practice became an area of ijtihad for later jurists, both Malikis and others. Qadi Iyad (d. 544 AH) set out the fields of its application and the Maliki positions on them in his Madarik, and Shaykh Hasan al Mashshat (d. 1399 AH) summarised that for Malik the practice of the people of Madinah is a proof wherever its basis is transmission and there is no place for personal reasoning in it. (al Jawahir al Thamina 212–213)

Ibn Taymiyyah explained that since the consensus of the people of Madinah is in many issues a point where the madhhabs of the majority have differed, it shows that their statement is the soundest statement of the regions, both in narration and in opinion. Sometimes it is a decisive proof, sometimes a strong proof, and sometimes a factor that gives preference to one evidence over another, and no other city has that particular rank. (Majmu al Fatawa 20/311; Muqaddimat Ibn Khaldun 243–244; al Fikr al Sami 1/388, 390)

Whoever studies the Maliki madhhab sees clearly that the most influential foundation in the development of the madhhab and the branching of its preferences is this principle of practice, because of the expansion of the Malikis in applying it. (Istilāh al Madhhab inda al Malikiyyah 50–57)

The Levels and Examples of the Practice of the People of Madinah

Shaykh Sa’id al Kamali explains that the usul of Malik are the foundations upon which he built his madhhab, his statements, and his reasoning. He notes that scholars differ whether Malik himself listed these usul or whether they were derived later, and the apparent view is that they were mainly derived, since Malik once said that correct judgement rests on two things: what is in the Book of Allah and what the Sunnah has made firm.

The usul commonly mentioned include the Book, the Sunnah, consensus, analogy, preference, consideration of benefit, blocking the means, custom, paying regard to disagreement, and the practice of the people of Madinah. Most of these are shared with other imams, but the practice of the people of Madinah is singled out as a foundation in which Malik stands apart.

Malik used to hold that when the people of Madinah agree on something it is not permissible for any other region to oppose them, because the great mass of the Companions settled and died there.

The practice discussed by the Malikis has three levels.

First, a practice of Madinah on which the other scholars also agree; this is a proof by consensus. Second, a practice on which the people of Madinah agree while others disagree; about this there is disagreement. Third, a practice about which even the people of Madinah themselves differed; this too is a matter of disagreement.

What is not disputed is that the practice of the people of Madinah is a proof when its basis is transmission rather than personal reasoning. When its basis is reasoning and independent judgement, the Malikis and others differed: some, such as al Qadi Abd al Jabbar al Fasi, considered it an independent proof, some Shafiis saw it as a factor that tips between evidences, and others such as al Abhari regarded it as neither proof nor factor of preference.

Malik’s statement, “I found the people of our city upon this,” does not refer to his personal reasoning. Rather, it reflects the established practice of his teachers, such as al Zuhri, Nafi, and Salim ibn Abd Allah. These imams had taken this practice from the sons of the Companions, or directly from the Companions themselves.

In the Maliki madhhab, this is regarded as a form of transmission passed down from group to group. For that reason, it is given a higher rank than a single chain of narration when there is a conflict.

The story of Abu Yusuf (d. 182 AH), the companion of Abu Hanifa (d. 150 AH), who came to Harun al Rashid’s court and debated Malik about the measure of the sa and mudd, shows this. When Abu Yusuf presented his own measure, Malik traced it back through inheritance to a Companion’s household and to the people of Madinah, and Abu Yusuf abandoned his own view and returned to Malik’s measure.

Similarly, the continuous practice in Madinah that no zakat is taken from vegetables, despite the farmlands of Taif near Makkah supplying produce in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, is taken as a transmitted practice showing that the general wording of the verse on what the earth produces does not include vegetables in zakat.

The adhan and iqama are further examples. In Maliki lands one hears tarji in the adhan, where the muadhdhin recites the testimony of faith quietly then repeats it aloud, and they say ‘the prayer is established’ once in the iqama. Malik did not invent this; he heard the adhan five times a day from birth until he died in a city whose people would not have kept silent about any change in such a constant act of worship.

His strong reaction to a man who placed his garment in front of him in the masjid, considering it an innovation, shows how he would not have accepted any alteration in the adhan or the iqama without transmitted proof.

Through these examples, the principle of the practice of the people of Madinah appears as a transmitted, living tafsir of the Book and the Sunnah, placed by Malik alongside the other principles of his madhhab and given a central role in how he understood, applied, and preferred evidences.

The Principles of the Madhhab of Malik –Taḥir ibn ʿAlī

Abu al Fadl Rashid ibn Abi Rashid al Walidi (d. 765 AH) mentioned in his book al Halal wal Haram, transmitting from his shaykh Abu Muhammad Salih (d. 631 AH), that the principles upon which Malik (d. 179 AH) built his madhhab are sixteen in number: the explicit text of the Book, the apparent wording of the Book, which is generality, the proof of the Book, which is mafhum al mukhalafa, and the indication of the Book, which is the indication of the effective cause, such as His saying, Exalted is He:

فَإِنَّهُ رِجْسٌ أَوْ فِسْقًا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ بِهِ

“For indeed it is filth, or sin that has been dedicated to other than Allah.” (Surah al An am 143).

for this is an indication of the effective cause of the ruling. These are five, and their like are found in the Prophetic Sunnah, so the total is 10.

Then consensus, analogy, istihsan, blocking the means, the practice of the people of Madina, and the statement of the Companion, so these are sixteen.

There is disagreement as to whether consideration of disagreement is counted among his principles or not; at times he considered it, and at times he did not consider it (see Sharh al Tasuli on al Tuhfah 2/133).

Some also added al awaid, which is al urf, and taking the more cautious course, and the original presumption of freedom from liability, and that the Sharia of those before us is Sharia for us, and the unrestricted interests, and al istishab, and al istiqra (see the margin of al Nur al Muqtabas fi Qawaid Malik ibn Anas by Abu Muhammad al Wansharisi, the son of the author, manuscript of al Khizanah al Aammah in Tetouan number 542). Abu Bakr ibn al Arabi (d. 543 AH) mentioned a number of these in his book al Qabas, in his explanation of the Muwatta of Malik ibn Anas (d. 179 AH) (see manuscript of al Khizanah al Aammah in al Rabat number K 1916 and number J 25).

Some imams discussed Malik (d. 179 AH) regarding these principles which he considered sources for his fiqh. Al Layth (d. 175 AH) stood to refute him in his well known letter (see his biography in Wafayat al Ayan 1/430, Tahdhib al Tahdhib 8/459, Tadhkirat al Huffaz 1/207, and al Jawahir al Mudi ah 2/416). and al Shafi i (d. 204 AH) also responded to him, for he rejected his use of istihsan, and his holding to al masalih al mursalah, and his holding to the practice of the people of Madina.)

Ibn al Subki (d. 771 AH) mentioned in al Tabaqat that the principles of the madhhab of Malik exceed five hundred, and by that he meant the maxims that were extracted from his madhhab’s subsidiary rulings which branched out from these sixteen principles, or from the twenty and more, knowing that Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) in reality only explicitly stated a few maxims, whereas the majority of them were taken from his method and the method of his companions in deriving rulings, giving effective causes to rulings, and placing each group under the maxim that suits it (see al Fikr al Sami 2/165).

Iyḍāḥ al-Masālik ilā Qawāʿid al-Imām Mālik by Taḥir ibn ʿAlī al-Wancharīsī page 116–117

The Principles Of The Maliki Madhhab – Muhammad Ibrahim ʿAli

The foundations of the madhhab of Malik (d. 179 AH): Whoever reflects on the foundations of Islam and the rules of the Sharia will find that the foundations of Malik and the people of Madinah are the soundest foundations and rules. (Majmu al Fatawa of Ibn Taymiyyah 20/328)

So, when you look at the approaches of these imams for the first time, and at how they establish their sources in fiqh and striving in the Sharia, you find Malik رحمه الله proceeding in these foundations according to their proper paths, arranging for them their levels and stages. He gives precedence to the Book of Allah, and sets it in order alongside the transmitted reports, then gives precedence to those reports over analogy and consideration.

He leaves aside from them what the trustworthy, well aware narrators did not carry, or what the great multitude of the people of Madinah were found to have acted contrary to and opposed. He preferred following and disliked innovation and departing from the paths of those who came before. (Tartib al Madarik 1/89)

The imam explained his method and the main lines upon which he built his opinions and his derivations in his Muwatta when he was asked, so he answered:

“As for most of what is in these books, it is my opinion. By my life, it is not actually my own opinion. Rather it is hearing from more than one of the people of knowledge and excellence, and from the imams who are followed, those from whom I took.

They were the ones who used to fear Allah. So the reports became many upon me, and I said, ‘my opinion’. That is my opinion, since their opinion is like the opinion of the Companions. They had met them upon it, and I met them upon that. This is an inheritance, inherited generation after generation until our time.

What is in it as ‘I think’ is the opinion of a group of those who came before from the imams. What is in it as ‘the agreed upon matter’ is that upon which the people of fiqh and knowledge agreed, not differing about it.

What I have said in it, ‘the matter with us’, is what the people act upon with us, what rulings have proceeded upon, and what the ignorant person and the learned one both know. Likewise what I have said in it, ‘in our city’.

What I have said in it, ‘some of the people of knowledge’, is something I find good from the saying of the scholars. As for what I did not hear from them, I exerted effort and looked according to the madhhab of those whom I met, until that fell in the place of the truth or close to it, so that it does not go outside the madhhab of the people of Madinah and their opinions, even if I did not hear that exact point from them.

So I attributed the opinion to myself after exertion together with the Sunnah and what the followed people of knowledge had proceeded upon and the matter that has been acted upon with us since the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the rightly guided imams, along with those whom I met. So that is their opinion; I did not go out to other than them.” (Tartib al Madarik 2/74, see also Abu al Walid al Baji Ahmad ibn Muhammad al Baji d. 474 AH, Ihkam al Usul fi Ahkam al Usul 485, Nayl al Ibtihaj bi Tartiz al Dibaj 192–193, al Mi yaar 6/360)

This is the method of Imam Malik in his Muwatta. It clearly shows holding fast to the Book of Allah, to the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ, and to the practice of the people of Madinah from the Companions and the Tabi’een, together with personal ijtihad where he could not find any way out from engaging in it, while remaining bound in his ijtihad by the principles that he explained. It is a method that brings together reasoned reflection and transmitted report, but with greater attachment to transmission. (Wamadat Fikr 2/59)

He said: “I am only a human being; I make mistakes and I am correct. So look into my opinion. Whatever agrees with the Book and the Sunnah, take it. Whatever does not agree with that, leave it.” (al Muwafaqat 4/289)

This method, whether he stated it openly in his Muwatta or included it within it, is enough to clarify the original, genuine foundations of the madhhab as the founder sees them. It draws lines with clear features for his students and for the scholars of the madhhab after him, so that they can set out in detail the foundations of the madhhab, its derivational rules, and what they reached by their induction of the imam’s views, his fatwas, his students’ understandings, and their extensions and extrapolations.

Because of that, the scholars of the madhhab undertook to count the foundations of the madhhab and arrange them. Rather, they expanded in that expansion that led to considering the madhhab of Malik the madhhab with the greatest number of foundations.

It has been said that they reach five hundred and do not fall short of that, although in the view of most scholars they are sixteen foundations. (Abu Zahra Muhammad d. 1394 AH, al Imam Malik 217, 218, 276; Umar al Jidi, Muhadarat fi Tarikh al Madhhab al Maliki fi al Gharb al Islami 64–66; Ali ibn Abd al Salam al Tasuli d. 1258 AH, al Bahja fi Sharh al Tuhfa 2/133; al Fikr al Sami fi Tarikh al Fiqh al Islami 1/384, 385, 387; al Jawahir al Thamina fi Bayan Adillat Alam al Madinah 115)

The most precise counting of the foundations of the Maliki madhhab is what al Qarafi (d. 684 AH) mentioned. (Al Qarafi is Shihab al Din Abu al Abbas Ahmad ibn Abi al Ala Idris ibn Abd al Rahman al Bahnasi al Masri, the unique scholar of his age, to whom leadership in fiqh on the madhhab of Malik came to an end.

He was an outstanding imam in fiqh, usul, and the intellectual sciences. His books travelled like the course of the sun and he was granted in them the exalted portion beyond reach. He authored beneficial books whose perfection the tongues of consensus acknowledged, al Dibaj al Madhhab 1/236–239)

He mentioned that the foundations of the madhhab are: the Qur an, the Sunnah, consensus, the consensus of the people of Madinah, analogy, the statement of a Companion, unrestricted maslahah, custom and usage, blocking the means, istishab, and istihsan. (Abu Zahra, al Imam Malik 218)

These are the principal foundations of Malik. Some of them, like the Book, the Sunnah, consensus, and analogy, are foundations upon whose use there is agreement between the madhhabs. Others he shares with some of the madhhabs.

Yet Malik alone, apart from all the madhhabs, relied on the consensus of the people of Madinah, or the practice of the people of Madinah, as a foundation among the foundations upon which he built his madhhab.

His reliance on this foundation was a cause of debate and discussion among the jurists. It began in the life of Malik رحمه الله تعالى and did not end so long as fiqh discussions continued between the madhhabs.

Because the positions regarding the meaning of this foundation and its evidential force differ, and because it had a strong role in the development of the Maliki madhhab, I present here a brief account of this foundation and its meaning.

The Consensus Of The People Of Madinah – Muhammad Ibrahim ʿAli

This proof is among the principal issues of the madhhab of Malik رحمه الله تعالى. It became well known that the practice of the people of Madinah is a proof according to Malik. Some people state this expression without restriction.

Some restrict it. Some attack the Malikis on account of this proof, but when they speak they speak about something that is not the point of disagreement, and without any precision of the issue. Some have not even understood the issue nor realised what it is. (al Jawahir al Thamina 208)

Although Malik adopted this foundation and defended it, nothing has been transmitted from any of the Companions or Followers to whom reliance on the practice of the people of Madinah is ascribed that clarifies the meaning of the practice of the people of Madinah and defines it. Even Malik, who considered it a foundation, did not state the limits of this foundation and did not explain its exact reality. (Muhammad ibn Alawi al Maliki al Hasani d. 1425 AH, Fadl al Muwatta wa Inayat al Umma al Islamiyya bih 80)

The imam رحمه الله drew broad lines for the meaning of the practice that constitutes a proof in his letter to al Layth ibn Sa d (d. 175 AH), where he says:

“If the matter in Madinah is clear and is acted upon, I do not see that anyone has any disagreement with it, because of what is in their hands of that inheritance which no one has any right to claim for himself or to ascribe to himself.

If the people of the other cities were to say, ‘This is the practice in our city, this is what those before us proceeded upon among us,’ they would not be upon any certainty because of that, nor would it be for them the same status that it is for the people of Madinah.” (Tartib al Madarik 1/43; al Layth ibn Sa d is al Imam al Hafiz Shaykh al Islam, the scholar of the Egyptian lands and their jurist, see al Dhahabi Shams al Din Muhammad ibn Ahmad d. 748 AH, Siyar Alam al Nubala 8/136, 143–163; Ibn Hibban Muhammad ibn Hibban al Busti d. 354 AH, Mashahir Ulama al Amsar 191)

Because of the lack of clarity in the practical stance of Imam Malik regarding this principle, defining what is meant by the practice of the people of Madinah became an area of ijtihad for jurists, both Malikis and others.

Qadi Iyad (d. 544 AH) gives us in his Madarik a detailed presentation of the fields where this principle is applied and of the Malikis’ positions regarding them.

Shaykh Hasan al Mashshat (d. 1399 AH) رحمه الله summarises this by saying:

“It follows from this that the practice of the people of Madinah is a proof according to Malik رحمه الله where its basis is transmission and there is no room for opinion in it.” (al Jawahir al Thamina 212–213)

Perhaps the word of truth regarding what occurred between the fuqaha of the regions about this foundation is what Imam Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH) expressed. He excelled in clarifying the stance of Malik رحمه الله, and summed up the matter by saying:

“When it becomes clear that the consensus of the people of Madinah is something regarding which the madhhabs of the majority of the imams have differed, it is known by that that their statement is the soundest of the statements of the people of the regions, in narration and in opinion.

At times it is a decisive proof, at times it is a strong proof, and at times it is a factor that gives preference to one evidence over another, for no other city among the cities of the Muslims has this special rank.” (Majmu al Fatawa of Ibn Taymiyyah 20/311; Ibn Khaldun Abd al Rahman ibn Muhammad d. 808 AH, Muqaddimat Ibn Khaldun 243–244; al Fikr al Sami 1/388, 390)

Whoever studies the Maliki madhhab will clearly see that the deepest of its foundations in effect upon the development of the madhhab and the branching of its preferences, according to its different schools, is the principle of “practice”, because of the expansion of the Malikis in their application of this principle.

Istilāḥ al Madhhab ʿinda al Mālikiyyah by Muhammad Ibrahim ʿAli page 50–57

Introduction to Imam Malik and Clarification of the Foundations of the Maliki Madhhab by Shaykh Saʿīd al Kamalī

The Usul of Imam Malik and the Practice of the People of Madina

Imam Malik رحمه الله had foundations.

When it is said the usul of Malik, it means the foundations upon which he built his madhhab, his statements, and his reasoning.

The scholars differ over whether Malik رحمه الله himself mentioned his usul or whether those who came after him among the scholars of his madhhab and its organisers derived them.

What appears is that they were derived, because he has said: “The judgement by which judgement is given is two things: what is in the Book of Allah and what the Sunna has made firm. This is the correct thing by which judgement is given.

As for a scholar who speaks by his opinion, perhaps he is given success.” So he mentioned two foundations: the Book and the Sunna. Of course the usul of Malik are many: the Book, the Sunna, consensus, analogy, preference, consideration of benefit, blocking the means, custom, paying regard to disagreement, and the practise of the people of Madina.

Most of these foundations he shares with other scholars. However he has some foundations in which he is alone. Among these foundations is the practice of the people of Madina.

Imam Malik رحمه الله used to consider that if the people of Madina agreed upon something then it is not permissible for any region among the regions to oppose them, for the reason I have mentioned to you, that the great mass of companions settled in Madina and died there.

Of course there is the correspondence that took place between him and the imam of the people of Egypt, al Layth ibn Sa’d رحمه الله (d. 175 AH), which is famous in this matter.

The practice that the Malikis speak about is of three levels. There is a practice they agreed upon and no other scholars disagreed with them about it. That is of course a proof by consensus.

There is a practice upon which the people of Madina agreed, but others among the people of the other lands disagreed with them. About this there is disagreement. And there is a practice upon which the people of Madina did not agree, and about this also there is disagreement.

What must be known is that about which there is no disagreement is that which is from the practice of the people of Madina that is based on transmission, not on personal reasoning. If the people of Madina agreed upon something, and the basis of their agreement was something transmitted, not something they reasoned, then there is no disagreement that it is a proof.

As for that which they reasoned and the people agreed upon, suppose that there was some independent reasoning in Madina and the people agreed upon it, this is a matter of disagreement too: is it a proof, as al Qadi Abd al Jabbar al Fasi from among the Malikis says, or is it not a proof but rather an element that tips one of two independent reasonings, as some Shafiis say, or is it not a proof and does not tip one of two independent reasonings, as al Abhari رحمه الله sees?

That is that which is based on reasoning. As for that which is based on transmission, there must be no disagreement about it.

Sometimes students and others from outside the Malikis find it difficult to accept and say: “How is it, you Malikis, may Allah guide you, that you consider the practice of the people of Madina a proof?

A hadith comes to you, there is a hadith, and you leave the hadith, O Maliki, may Allah guide you, and you go and say: ‘The practice of the people of Madina.'” Such a person has not fully understood the Maliki conception of this practice.

I said to you: this is a practice that is transmitted. What does transmitted mean?

Malik says to you: “I found the people of our city, the people of knowledge, upon this.”

He does not say: “I exercised independent reasoning and did such and such.”

He is describing to you a situation upon which he found his shaykhs. Who are his shaykhs?

Al Zuhri رحمه الله, Nafi رحمه الله, Salim ibn Abd Allah رحمه الله, meaning the followers or the sons of the companions.

These had taken this from the generation of the sons of the companions or from the companions. The Malikis see this as equivalent to a narration of groups from groups. This is what they call the practice of the people of Madina. It is not independent reasoning.

Which of them has more right to be followed: a solitary narration from an individual or a narration from groups from groups?

If there is a conflict, when there is no conflict, the subject is good and there is no problem. Sometimes even non Malikis say that this, by necessity, should not be a matter of disagreement.

For example, when Abu Yusuf رحمه الله (d. 182 AH), the companion of Abu Hanifa (d. 150 AH), came to the court of Harun al Rashid, and Malik was present, he debated with Malik about the sa and the mudd, about the measure of the sa and mudd.

He said: “You say that the sa is such and such and the mudd is such and such, and we say such and such.” Malik did not debate with him.

He said to him: “Go to your house and bring the sa that you have in your house.”

They brought it. He said: “Where did you get this sa from? From your house. And where did you get it from?”

He said: “I inherited it from my father.” “Who is your father?”

“So and so, the son of a companion.” “Where did your father get it?”

“Did he buy it from al Sham or Egypt or the Maghrib or from where?”

“No, we inherited it from our house.” At that moment Abu Yusuf left his own opinion and returned to Malik’s, because he saw that these measures are transmitted from the house of the Prophet ﷺ and his companions.

In matters like this, where people know the exact location of the grave of the Prophet ﷺ, or where he stood in prayer ﷺ, or his pulpit, or the scale of the mudd and the sa, or that vegetables have no zakat in them, it would be strange for someone to say, though we respect them of course, we praise Allah for what He has given the Muslims in the madhhabs of Abu Hanifa, Malik, al Shafii, and Ahmad, and the differences are a mercy for the umma; when we debate, it is a fiqh discussion and does not entail diminishing the rank of scholars; their ranks are preserved.

However when the Hanafis say, may Allah have mercy on them, that everything that grows from the earth has zakat in it, how can this be for the sake of a verse? For whom was this verse revealed? For the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

At al Taif, which is about sixty kilometres from Makkah, ever since it existed it has been the farmland for the people of Makkah; vegetables and fruit and everything used to come from there. It has not been transmitted that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ever took zakat from vegetables. This is transmission. Malik is not going to sit and debate with you in evidence.

He will not.

He will say: “We found the people did not take zakat from tomatoes, from apples, from bananas.” About bananas, Malik used to like bananas and say: “I do not know any fruit that is closer to the fruit of the Garden than it,” and when asked how, he said: “Whenever you want it, in summer or winter, you find it, and our Lord says: ‘Its fruit is everlasting and its shade.'”

This type of practice of the people of Madinah, according to the Malikis, is not something over which there should be disagreement.

They give as an example the issue of the adhaan and what is called doubling it. In many places today, one hears:

Allāhu Akbar, Allāhu Akbar
Allāhu Akbar, Allāhu Akbar

The Malikis hold that it is said twice at the beginning.

However, in Maliki lands, one will hear in the adhan what is known as tarjiʿ.

The muʾadhdhin says:

Allāhu Akbar, Allāhu Akbar

Ashhadu an lā ilāha illā Allāh
Ashhadu an lā ilāha illā Allāh

Ashhadu anna Muḥammadan Rasūl Allāh
Ashhadu anna Muḥammadan Rasūl Allāh

Then he repeats:

Ashhadu an lā ilāha illā Allāh
Ashhadu an lā ilāha illā Allāh

Ashhadu anna Muḥammadan Rasūl Allāh
Ashhadu anna Muḥammadan Rasūl Allāh

This repetition in a lowered voice and then repeating aloud is called tarjiʿ.

This is the Maliki method. This is the Maliki position regarding the adhan.

Where did they get it from?

We have the written text of the hadith. There is a hadith about it. Even if there was no hadith, from where did Malik get it? From where did he get it? Did he invent it? Did he like it and consider it good?

The adhan is heard five times every day from the time he was born until he died.

Where did change enter into the adhan in Madina from what it had been in the time of the Prophet ﷺ? If someone had altered the adhan that is heard five times every day in Madina, would everyone keep silent?

Imam Malik once saw a person praying in the masjid who had placed his garment in front of him. Malik almost threw him out of the masjid.

He said: “You have introduced into our masjid something new.” People did not place their garment in front of them when praying; they did not have this practice in the masjid. The one who considered the placing of a garment in the masjid of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ an innovation would not keep silent about changing the adhan.

Also the iqama for the prayer: you say: “The prayer is established, the prayer is established” twice. The Malikis say: “The prayer is established” once.

Someone may say to you: “May Allah guide these Malikis. They always oppose the hadith. The hadith has in it ‘the prayer is established’ twice, and they say it once.” O sir, may Allah guide you.

This is Imam Malik.

Author

ISHAQ. K

Usool (Principles) Of The Maliki Madhhab

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