This article is a translation and summary of the book, Imām Mālik ibn Anas, Imām Dār al-Hijrah (Imam Malik ibn Anas, The Imam of the Abode of Migration) byʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Daqr.

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Navigation Menu of the Summary

His Private Life and His Manner at Home

The Beginning of His Path in Knowledge

Navigation Menu of the Full Book

His Traits and His Private Matters

His Home, His Food and Drink, and His Manners With His Family

Malik’s Work in His Worldly Life

Madinah – Its Virtue and The Knowledge From There

The Knowledge of the People of Madinah

The Beginning of His Path in the Lands

The Beginning of His Appearance and His Sitting for Narration and Verdicts

His Gathering in al Masjid al Nabawi

The Beginning of Writing Down Prophetic Narrations

The Rank of Malik in Classifying Prophetic Narrations

Malik’s Memorisation and His Eagerness for Hadith

Malik’s Selection of Narrators and His Criticism

The First to Speak on Rare Vocabulary in the Language of Prophetic Narrations

Does Anyone Have the Right to Bring Forward or Put Back Words in Prophetic Narrations

Some Common Terms Among Hadith Scholars

The Shaykhs of Malik in the Muwatta

The Muwatta and What It Contains of Connected Sound Narrations, Missing Links, Reports Without Full Chains, and Other Than That

The Rank of the Muwatta Among the Books of Prophetic Narrations

Malik Being Asked About What People Say About His Muwatta

He Was Careful in Reporting and Presentation, and He Did Not Report in the Season

The Rare Narrations from Malik and the Missing the Companion Narrations

Malik’s Scribe Who Read in His Gathering

The Early Abbasid Caliphs and the Muwatta

al Maʾmun and His Taking from Malik

Some Abbasid Caliphs Presenting Things to Malik Despite Their Strong Respect

Those Who Wrote on al Muwatta, Explained It, Abridged It, or Did Something With It

The Foundations of Malik

The Influence of Rabiʿah al Ra’y on Malik

The Practice of the People of Madinah

Malik’s Letter to al Layth

The Reply of al Layth to Malik

The Fiqh of Malik

The Most Well Known Early Books of the Madhhab

“I Do Not Know” and Caution in Knowledge

Disliking Argument in Religion

Malik’s View of the People of Iraq

Criticising the One Who Claims the Madhhab and Rejects the Evidence

The Narrators Who Reported from Malik

Those of His Teachers Who Reported from Him

Those of His Equals Who Reported from Him

A Report That Abu Hanifah Reported from Malik

Some of His Students Who Reported from Him

His Companions Who Reported from Him and Studied His Fiqh

ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Qasim al ʿUtayqi

Ashhab ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz al Qaysi

ʿAbd al Malik ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn ʿAbd Allah al Taymi, Abu Marwan al Madani, Ibn al Majishun

Ibrahim ibn Abi Salamah, the last to report from Malik

Malik’s advice to the student of knowledge

The lands where the madhhab spread, in earlier times and later times

Those who differed with Malik from his companions

Malik honours his companions and treats them well

Malik’s creed

Malik’s view about the Qur’an being Allah’s speech

The unclear matters with Malik

Malik’s view about the Murjiʾah

Malik’s view about preferring some major Companions over others

Malik’s attack against desires and innovations

Miscellaneous Matters

Malik’s View of Some Who Claimed Tasawwuf

Malik’s View of Standing Up for People

His Discipline of Those Who Claimed Lineage to the Prophet ﷺ

His View of Those Who Explain the Qur’an

Malik’s Humility and Sincerity

His Wisdom, His Words, and His Advice

Malik’s Awe and His Entry upon Rulers

His Scholarly Rank and His Imamah

Was He Called to the Judiciary and Refused

His Dislike of Being Asked His Age

His Regret Over Issuing Fatwas Near His Death

Summary

The Era of Imam Malik

Imam Malik lived about 87 years. Around 40 of those years were under the Umayyads, and around 47 were under the early Abbasids. He was born during the caliphate of al Walid ibn ʿAbd al Malik, lived through the strength and then weakening of the Umayyad state, and then lived into the rise of the Abbasids.

In this period, hadith, fiqh, tafsir, and ijtihad all grew in depth, while innovations also began to spread more openly. In that setting, Malik became the leading imam of Madinah, and one of the greatest hadith scholars and mujtahids of his age in the whole Islamic universe.

His Birth and Lineage

Abu ʿAbd Allah Malik ibn Anas ibn Malik ibn Abi ʿAmir was most strongly said to have been born in 93 AH, in Dhu al Marwah, in the year Anas ibn Malik died. He was from a pure Arab Himyari, Yaʿrubi lineage, traced through Dhu Asbah. Because of that he was known as al Asbahi. The ulama of lineage and narrator criticism agreed on his Arab origin.

Alongside that, his family had an old alliance with Taym ibn Murrah from Quraysh, and the stronger conclusion given is that he and his fathers were allies of Taym, not clients. That dispute became one cause of his sharp hostility toward Ibn Ishaq, who claimed otherwise.

His Family and Household

His mother was al ʿAliyah bint Sharik al Azdiyyah, also from the Arabs of Yemen. A famous report says she carried him for 3 years, while others said 2 years, but the stronger judgement in the book is that this report does not stand after close checking, even if it became well known. His father, Anas ibn Malik, was not known for a large share in hadith.

It was said that he earned by making arrows, and that he was physically disabled. His grandfather, Malik ibn Abi ʿAmir, was among the senior Tabiʿin, narrated from major Sahabah, was trusted, carried ʿUthman رضي الله عنه to burial, and was among those consulted by ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz. His great grandfather, Abu ʿAmir, was said by some to be a Sahabi, while others held that he lived in the Prophetic age but did not meet the Prophet ﷺ, making him a senior Tabiʿi.

Imam Malik had learned relatives around him. His paternal uncles included Abu Sahl Nafiʿ, who was trusted and narrated hadith, as well as Uways and al Rabiʿ. He also had a brother, most likely al Nadr, who was first more famous than him, so that Malik was once known as “the brother of al Nadr,” until knowledge raised Malik above him. He had sisters as well, and one of them prepared his breakfast of bread and oil.

He had children named Yahya, Muhammad, Hammad, and Fatimah, and there is also a report that one daughter memorised his knowledge and would correct mistakes in the reading of al Muwatta from behind the door by knocking so that her father would notice and correct the reader. This shows that knowledge lived inside his household, not only in his public circle.

His Private Life and His Manner at Home

Imam Malik was described as tall, broad, handsome, very fair tending slightly to light brown, large headed, bald later in life, with large eyes, a broad beard, and a strong, dignified presence. He took great care with his appearance, clothing, perfume, and the outward honour of knowledge.

He preferred fine and often white clothing, disliked worn garments, and saw dignified dress as part of honouring knowledge. He wore a silver ring with black stone, engraved with “Allah is enough for us, and He is the best Disposer of affairs,” and “With a noble Book.” Reports also mention that he avoided riding in Madinah out of reverence for the soil in which the Prophet ﷺ is buried, though there are earlier reports of him riding.

He first lived in al ʿAqiq, then in Madinah. He lived in a rented house, arranged it well, honoured guests in it, and was known for good manners with his family. His daily life was not one of display without substance. He broke his fast with bread and oil, was careful to provide meat for his household, preferred bananas among fruits, and said in summer he drank sugar water and in winter honey.

The stronger report mentiosn that he traded in cloth, though it was also said that he once made arrow heads. When he turned seriously to knowledge, he spent heavily from his own wealth until he even removed and sold the wood of his roof. After Allah opened the universe to him, he still kept the dignity of knowledge and thought the scholar should not cheapen himself in ways that make common people fail to recognise his rank.

The Beginning of His Path in Knowledge

The beginning of his path was not one of instant greatness. In his early life he was distracted by raising pigeons. Then his father tested him with a question, his brother answered correctly, and Malik answered wrongly.

His father told him, “The pigeons distracted you from seeking knowledge.” That rebuke changed the direction of his life. He became angry for Allah’s sake and then devoted himself to Ibn Hurmuz for 7 years, scarcely mixing him with anyone else.

He would even give dates to Ibn Hurmuz’s children so they would tell visitors the shaykh was busy. He stayed with him from early morning until night.

After that, he combined hadith with fiqh. He learned narrations from Ibn Hurmuz and legal understanding from Rabiʿah al Raʾy. His mother prepared him for that road, dressed him, placed a turban on him, and said, “Go to Rabiʿah and learn his manners before his knowledge.”

He pursued knowledge with full seriousness, to the point that his father explained his isolation by saying that he was preserving the narrations of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He also showed early intelligence before the the senior scholars of knowledge.

Safwan ibn Sulaym once asked him to interpret a dream while Malik was still a small boy, and then foretold that if he lived he would become a “Malik.” His eagerness for hadith was equally strong. He used to stand in the noon heat waiting for Nafiʿ to come out, then ask him carefully about what Ibn ʿUmar said regarding specific issues.

Madinah and His Early Rise

Malik’s rise cannot be separated from Madinah. Madinah was the land of migration, revelation, the lived Sunnah, and the great store of the Companions’ knowledge. Madinah was the strongest centre of inherited Prophetic knowledge, where rulings, narrations, and legal understanding were preserved through the Companions, the Tabiʿin, the 7 jurists, and then the later imams.

Malik grew inside that living inheritance and saw the knowledge of Madinah as having a special weight because most of the rulings of the Qur’an descended there and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ lived there among the people who carried his words, actions, approvals, and legal practice.

He appeared early. He excelled in knowledge while still young, sat for teaching and verdicts before the age at which men are usually thought fit for that, and did not sit until 70 senior ulama testified that he was worthy to give fatwa. He moved from Rabiʿah’s circle, then soon his own circle became like Rabiʿah’s circle or even greater. Shubah heard from him while Malik was only a little over 20.

It was even said that he sat for people while he was the son of 17 years. His place in al Masjid al Nabawi became one of the most honoured places in the masjid, in al Rawdah, then at the place of ʿUmar رضي الله عنه between the grave and the pulpit.

His Creed

Malik’s creed is the creed of Ahl al Sunnah, taken from the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the way of the Salaf from the Companions and the Followers. He strongly hated theological argument and saw kalam as a road to deviation, not a road to certainty. He said, “Whoever seeks the religion through theological argument becomes a heretic.” His position throughout was one of protecting the religion, preserving the inherited creed, and standing hard against desires and innovations.

In faith, he held that iman is “speech and action,” and that it “increases and decreases.” He also affirmed that some faith is better than other faith. At times he would stop at saying “it increases,” out of caution in wording, but the general transmitted position from him is clear. Against the Qadariyyah, he was severe.

He identified them as those who deny that Allah created disobedience, or who say that ability belongs independently to the servant. He warned against sitting with them, praying behind them, or joining them in travel.

He also clearly affirmed that the Qur’an is Allah’s speech and not created. He said, “The Qur’an is Allah’s speech,” and, “There is nothing from Allah that is created.”

He viewed the claim that the Qur’an is created as a dangerous innovation that the great imams had to resist when the Muʿtazilah began to speak about the Book of Allah without knowledge.

When asked about Allah’s rising over the Throne, he gave the famous answer that the rising is known, the “how” is not grasped, belief in it is required, and asking about it is innovation. That answer shows the base of his creed: affirmation without invented speculation.

He affirmed that Allah will be seen in the Hereafter by the believers, and that this seeing is with the eyes. When asked whether “Faces that day will be radiant, looking toward their Lord” means actual seeing, he replied, “Yes, with these two eyes.” He rejected the reinterpretation that it only means waiting for reward, and argued from Musa عليه السلام asking to see his Lord.

He also stood firmly against the Murjiʾah, holding that deeds are part of faith. He used Allah’s saying that He would not let the believers’ “faith” be lost, meaning their prayer, as proof that prayer is included in iman. He considered the Murjiʾah’s claims a grave mistake.

His war against desires and innovations was plain and forceful. He did not like the people of desires to be greeted, preferred their avoidance, and defined the people of innovations as those who began speaking about Allah’s Names, Attributes, Speech, Knowledge, and Power in ways the Companions and Followers had not spoken.

He also held that whoever left these desires and innovations, while still having sins short of shirk, had hope of entering Paradise after repentance. In this whole section, he appears not merely as a jurist and hadith imam, but as a guardian of inherited creed.

His Trial and Beating

Like the other great imams, Malik was tested. The most famous cause of his trial was his fatwa that the divorce of a person under coercion does not take effect.

The early Abbasids wanted to bind people’s allegiance to them with oaths linked to divorce and emancipation, and Malik’s fatwa threatened that method. During the rising of Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al Hasan, al Nafs al Zakiyyah, people asked Malik about allegiance to Abu Jaʿfar. He answered that they had only given allegiance under coercion, and that there is no binding oath on the coerced person.

That answer shook the matter. Other causes were also reported, including remarks connected to preferring ʿUthman رضي الله عنه over ʿAli رضي الله عنه, and another report linked to his view that temporary marriage is haram, but the strongest and most well known cause remains the issue of coercion.

He was spoken against to Jaʿfar ibn Sulayman, the uncle of al Mansur. The judge of Madinah advised that he be beaten. He was summoned, stripped, whipped, and his shoulder was dislocated.

One report says his head was shaved and he was put on a camel and told to call out about himself in disgrace. Instead, he called out with firmness that he was Malik ibn Anas ibn Abi ʿAmir al Asbahi and that the divorce of the coerced person is nothing.

So even under humiliation and torture he did not withdraw the fatwa he believed to be true. The book presents this as one of the clearest signs of the authority of knowledge over rule, and of Malik’s strength in the truth. It also reports that al Mansur later swore he had not ordered the beating and even gave Malik the right to retaliate against Jaʿfar.

His Final Days and Death

Near death, Imam Malik looked back over his life, his ijtihad, and his fatwas, and what hurt him most was not negligence in religion, but fear that he had sometimes given fatwa by opinion. Al Qaʿnabi entered upon him in the illness in which he died and found him crying. Malik said, “By Allah, I wish that for every issue I gave a fatwa in by my opinion, I had been struck with a whip, a whip.

I had room to do otherwise. I wish I had not given fatwas by opinion.” The book connects this to his lifelong caution, his habit of answering only a limited number of questions, and his readiness to say, “I do not know,” whenever certainty was not strong enough. (Mirʾat al Jinan 1/376, Wafayat 1/556, Tartib 1/152)

He remained ill for 22 days. The exact illness is not named. On the day he died, when asked how he felt, he said, “Truly you will see tomorrow, from Allah’s pardon, what you did not have in your reckoning.” He died on Sunday, after 10 nights of Rabiʿ al Awwal in 179 AH, which the book gives as the best known report, though other dates were also mentioned.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim, the amir of Madinah, led the funeral prayer, attended his janazah on foot, and helped carry his bier. Malik’s will was that he be shrouded in white clothes, prayed over at the place of funerals, and he was buried in al Baqiʿ. At death he testified and then said, “The matter belongs to Allah, before and after.” His age was most famously given as 87 years, and one report adds that he remained a mufti in Madinah for 60 years.

His Estate

When he died, he left an estate that included 1000 dinars in cash, 29 dinars, and 1000 dirhams, making roughly 3300 and some extra in total. He also left 100 turbans besides other furnishings and clothing. So his life joined knowledge, dignity, gravity, household care, and the honour of a scholar whose name remained greater after death than it was in life.

Beginning of The Full Book

The Era of Imam Malik

Imam Malik (d. 179 AH), may Allah have mercy on him, lived for about eighty seven years. Around forty years of that were during the Umayyad era, and around forty seven years were during the early Abbasid era. During his life he overlapped with nine Umayyad caliphs.

The first of them was al Walid ibn ʿAbd al Malik (d. 96 AH), and Imam Malik was born during his caliphate. Then came Sulayman ibn ʿAbd al Malik (d. 99 AH), then ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz (d. 101 AH). Malik’s age when ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz died was about nine years. Then came Yazid ibn ʿAbd al Malik (d. 105 AH), and after him Hisham ibn ʿAbd al Malik (d. 125 AH).

Umayyad rule, up to the time of Hisham, was strong, awe inspiring, and stable, firmly holding the state’s reins. After him, weakness began to creep into the Umayyad caliphate under al Walid ibn Yazid (d. 126 AH).

People resented him because of his play and his obsession with singing, even though he was brave and generous. His rule did not last more than one year and three months, until the supporters of Yazid ibn al Walid al Naqis (d. 126 AH) killed him.

They called for Yazid as caliph, but he remained in the caliphate only about five months until he died of the plague. Yazid al Naqis is described as devoted and righteous, to the point that it was said about him: “There was no one among Banu Umayyah like him and like ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz.”

He was called “al Naqis” because he reduced the soldiers’ stipends after al Walid had increased them. During this caliphate of Yazid, trials became many, and most regions removed their governors. Then the weak, who only wished for rule, took over the caliphate. Among them was Ibrahim ibn al Walid (d. 126 AH), the brother of Yazid.

He was weak and overpowered in his affairs. He did not remain caliph except seventy days, when Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan (d. 132 AH), nicknamed “al Himar”, rose against him. He was called “al Himar” because his saddle pad did not dry from fighting those who rebelled against him, and he endured the hardships of war. He was also called “al Jaʿdi”, in attribution to his tutor al Jaʿd ibn Dirham (d. 124 AH), the first to speak about al qadar and to become a zindiq.

This Marwan was firm and brave. He, like his predecessors, opened many lands, but he was unable to keep the Umayyad caliphate standing after its decline and collapse.

The Abbasids were fully prepared to destroy this structure. They had been planning in intense secrecy for more than thirty years before the end of Umayyad rule. When they saw the chance, they struck in a single strike, and they harvested by the sword everyone their hands could reach. Among the first to be bitten by the sword was Marwan al Himar.

In this way the Umayyad caliphate perished, except in al Andalus, and the Abbasid caliphate came. During Imam Malik’s life he overlapped with five Abbasid caliphs: Abu al ʿAbbas al Saffah (d. 136 AH), Abu Jaʿfar al Mansur (d. 158 AH), al Mahdi (d. 169 AH), al Hadi (d. 170 AH), and al Rashid (d. 193 AH). Malik died during the caliphate of al Rashid, which continued until the year 193 AH.

Umayyad rule, even in its weaker period, was marked by many conquests, firm determination, and many brave, skilled commanders. It was also marked by Arab rule and an Arab army, under the Islamic banner and its message.

This rule is criticised, as the Abbasids are criticised, for killing some of the great grandsons of the Prophet ﷺ. If they had thought even a little about their connection, they would have restrained their hands.

It is also criticised for stirring tribal partisanship and pre Islamic pride, and for many caliphs encouraging that. They even supported the Yemenis against the Qaysis, and they turned away when killing raged between them. Some of them even helped it.

They were kept busy with that from what was more important, which was spreading the religion of Allah. The Muslim caliph, in principle, is the imam in religion first, protecting it and spreading it. Then he is an imam looking after the affairs and conditions of the subjects.

But the caliphate among Banu Umayyah, then among Banu al ʿAbbas, turned into kingship. The greatest need of kingship is collecting wealth, wasting it, and keeping it from its people. This is what is criticised about the Abbasid era after it.

This is a summary of the political life during Malik’s life in the time of Banu Umayyah.

As for scholarly life in hadith and understanding the religion, it reached its peak in narration from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the Sahabah in hadith and fatawa.

Even tafsir began, as people began narrating from the Prophet ﷺ and from the Sahabah their statements about some Qur’an verses. There were specialised imams for this field. In this era there were many of the Tabiʿin, like al Zuhri (d. 124 AH), Ibn Jurayj (d. 150 AH), and Rabiʿah al Raʾy (d. 136 AH). They took from some Sahabah, and they also took from the senior Tabiʿin, like Saʿid ibn al Musayyib (d. 94 AH) and those like him.

Along with narration there was fiqh and ijtihad, mostly relying on the text from the Book or the Sunnah. If no text came, they performed ijtihad by bringing things close to their parallels and examples, so they would give what had no text the ruling of what had a text, if a clear shared cause appeared in both.

This was the beginning of qiyas. There were also people whose share of texts was small, so they relied on ijtihad with some support. In this era, the first appearance of some imams of ijtihad happened, among them al Awzaʿi (d. 157 AH), Sufyan al Thawri (d. 161 AH), Abu Hanifah (d. 150 AH), and Malik (d. 179 AH). Each of them had followers who imitated them, took from their knowledge, and spread it. Each imam had his own way and method, and he gathered for it, supported it, and argued for it.

In this era innovations began to appear. The first to speak about al qadar was Maʿbad al Juhani. He rose in Basrah, then moved to al Madinah and spread his madhhab there. From him Ghaylan al Dimashqi took.

Then came al Jaʿd ibn Dirham (d. 124 AH), an innovator and misguided man with reports of zandaqah. From his students was the Umayyad caliph Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan (d. 132 AH), nicknamed al Himar and also al Jaʿdi, as mentioned earlier.

Then after him came Jahm ibn Safwan (d. 128 AH), the shaykh of the Murjiʾah. He was killed politically because he supported the Yemenis. This is besides what existed from the Rafidah, the Khawarij, and the Muʿtazilah.

As for the Abbasid era, it was an era of strength and firm drive. The area of rule was extremely vast, from the farthest of Khurasan in the east to the Atlantic in the west, and from the Arabian Sea in the south to the lands of the Romans and Azerbaijan in the north.

The credit for conquering these lands and widening the rule does not return to the Abbasids, but to the ones known for conquest, the Umayyads. This era was not free from trials and revolts. Among the Umayyads and those connected to them were people who revolted many times, and this rule silenced their revolts.

There were also the Sufyanis, who claimed the appearance of “al Sufyani”, and the “Sufyani” they claimed were only the Umayyads connected to Abu Sufyan. The rule would not finish with one group except that others appeared, and in this thousands perished.

Among those who revolted were some men from Ahl al Bayt, and the Abbasid force did not leave them until they perished. Hundreds of Khawarij also perished among those who perished. As for the Umayyads, their cousins, they used the sword against them and inflicted severe killing on them. None survived except those whom their hands did not reach. These trials decreased during the time of al Rashid (d. 193 AH).

What is criticised about the early Abbasids is that they sought help from the Persian element, then from the Turkish element. Al Mutawakkil sought help from it in destroying the Umayyads, even though they were Arabs like them. In fact, both sides were from Banu ʿAbd Manaf, Qurashi. But it is rule. Seeking help from these elements had consequences, until authority and action went to these non Arab elements, and often the killing of Abbasid caliphs was by their hands if the caliphs opposed them in an order.

It is also criticised that pre Islamic partisanship continued. If the Umayyads were partisan to the Yemenis, then the Abbasids were partisan to the Qaysis.

There were few conquests in the Abbasid era. The early Abbasids were busy with stabilising and organising the rule, and those after them were busy, due to weakness, with pushing back the blows of time.

As for the religious sciences, they did not differ in this era from the Umayyad era except in development, deeper detail, and the emergence of thoughts in organising them and their foundations. The science of tafsir of the Book of Allah appeared more clearly, or it developed. Transmission of reports in it increased from the Prophet ﷺ or from some of the Sahabah, and the ulama began to explain according to Arabic language along with reports.

Hadith remained as it was in the Umayyad era, but distinguishing sound hadith from weak and fabricated increased, and something began to emerge that was later called the technical terms of hadith.

As for fiqh, the ulama turned to deriving from the Book and the Sunnah, performing ijtihad, and they developed from foundations what the era of the Tabiʿin did not know, let alone the era of the Sahabah.

In the Abbasid era, Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) was the most famous hadith scholar of his era and its mujtahid in al Madinah al Munawwarah, rather, in the Islamic universe. The same was true in the Umayyad era, while some of his shaykhs from the Tabiʿin were still alive and people would go to take from them.

As for Arabic language, it was at its peak with al Khalil ibn Ahmad (d. 170 AH) and Sibawayh, and before them Abu ʿAmr ibn al ʿAla (d. 154 AH), and after them al Mazini and al Mubarrad.

As for science, philosophy, and cultures, translation from Greek began to increase in this era in many fields, like medicine, mathematics, stars, and philosophy. They did not translate Greek literature, because people held Arabic literature in high regard over anything else.

In the later part of the second century of the Abbasid era, tasawwuf was introduced. This name was not known. Rather, it was zuhd.

The meaning of zuhd was that the heart is not kept busy with worldly matters, even if the zahid had wealth, or appearance, or fine clothing, and that the heart is kept busy with seeking the halal, obeying Allah and His Messenger ﷺ, watching Him in private and in public, striving to leave sin, and following the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ. Zuhd was not affectation, not philosophy, and not technical terms and rules.

All the innovations that existed in the Umayyad era were the same in the Abbasid era, but in the Abbasid era they increased in number and severity, and foundations and rules were set, and even fiqh and ijtihad were made for their innovations.

This is a brief picture of this period from Malik’s life. We seek Allah’s help, and upon Him we rely, and there is no might and no strength except with Allah.

His Lineage and Family

His Birth and Lineage

During the caliphate of Sulayman ibn ʿAbd al Malik (d. 99 AH), and in the year when Anas ibn Malik died, the year 93 AH, Abu ʿAbd Allah Malik ibn Anas ibn Malik ibn Abi ʿAmir was born in Dhu al Marwah. (This is the strongest view. Some said he was born in the year 90, and some said 94, 95, 96, and 97.) (Dhu al Marwah is a village in Wadi al Qura. Wadi al Qura is between Tayma and Khaybar, and it has many villages.) Abi ʿAmir’s name was Nafiʿ, son of ʿAmr ibn al Harith ibn Ghayman, son of Khayʾil, son of ʿAmr ibn al Harith, and he is Dhu Asbah, son of ʿAwf ibn Malik ibn Zayd ibn Shaddad ibn Zurʿah, and he is from Yaʿrub ibn Qahtan. Ibn al Kalbi connected his lineage to Nuh. Malik was asked about a man raising his lineage to Adam, and he disliked that and said: “How can he know that.” It was said to him: “Then Ismaʿil.” He rejected that and said: “Who told him.”

To al Malik Dhu Asbah, Malik was attributed, so he was called al Asbahi. The Asbahiyyah are a large Himyari tribe, and the Asbahi whips are attributed to it.

So Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) was a pure Arab, Himyari, Yaʿrubi. The senior ulama of lineage and the ulama of narrator criticism agreed on that. (Among them are al Bukhari, Ibn Saʿd, Ibn ʿAbd al Barr, Ibn Hazm, and Abu Musʿab al Zubayri. Mawarid al Zamʾan, page 10, margin.)

He also had a tribal alliance with Taym ibn Murrah from Quraysh, the tribe to which Abu Bakr al Siddiq belongs. Abu Sahl, Malik’s uncle, said: “We are people from Dhu Asbah. Our grandfather came to al Madinah and married among the Taymis, so we were attributed to them.” This shows that Malik’s great grandfather was the one who made the alliance.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Musʿab said: Malik ibn Abi ʿAmir, Malik’s grandfather, came to al Madinah seeking redress against some governors of Yemen. He leaned towards some of Banu Taym ibn Murrah, made a pact with him, and became with them.

Al Rabiʿ ibn Malik, the brother of Abu Sahl, narrated from his father. He said: ʿAbd al Rahman ibn ʿUthman ibn Abi ʿAbd Allah ibn the son of Talhah’s brother said, while we were on the road to Makkah: “O Malik”, meaning Malik’s grandfather, “will you accept what others called us to, that our blood is your blood, and our destruction is your destruction, as long as the sea wets wool.” So I accepted that.

Ibn ʿAbd al Barr said: I do not know anyone who denied that Malik ibn Anas, and his father, and those born to him, were allies of Banu Taym ibn Murrah. There is no disagreement except what was mentioned from Ibn Ishaq and some others. Ibn Ishaq used to claim that Malik, his father, his grandfather, and his paternal uncles were clients of Banu Taym ibn Murrah. Malik called Ibn Ishaq a liar.

Because of that, hostility arose between them, and Ibn Ishaq began to go too far in attacking Malik. ʿAbd Allah ibn Idris said: Muhammad ibn Ishaq came to us, and we mentioned to him something from Malik, and he said: “Bring Malik’s knowledge, for I am its saddle strap.”

Ibn Idris said: When I came to al Madinah I mentioned that to Malik ibn Anas, and he said: “That is the great deceiver of deceivers, and we expelled him from al Madinah.” Ibn Idris said: I had never heard the plural of “dajjal” used in that plural form.

There is also something that supports, a little, Ibn Ishaq’s claim in accusing Malik and his fathers of clientship. That is what al Bukhari reported in the fifth chapter of the Book of Fasting: that Ibn Shihab said: “Ibn Abi Anas, the client of the Taymis”, the family of Talhah, narrated to me. This narration stirred Malik, to the point that he said: “I wish Ibn Shihab had not narrated anything from my uncle.”

Ibn ʿAbd al Barr rejected al Bukhari’s narration and said it was an error, but the narration is established. Because of this claim, Ibn Ishaq was accused, and Hisham ibn ʿUrwah called him a liar, and Sulayman al Taymi called him a liar, and Yahya al Qattan called him a liar, and Wahb ibn Khalid called him a liar.

Ibn Maʿin weakened him and said: he is not an authority. Al Darawardi said: he was flogged because of al qadar. But many of the senior hadith scholars considered him trustworthy. (See Tahdhib al Tahdhib and other books of narrator criticism.)

The summary is that Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) was a pure Arab, and he had, and his fathers had, an alliance with Taym ibn Murrah. This is the truth, as already mentioned. He had an alliance from before.

Malik’s Mother

Imam Malik’s mother was al ʿAliyah bint Sharik ibn ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Sharik al Azdiyyah. Al Azd are among the most famous Arab tribes of the Himyari Qahtani Arabs. They are attributed to al Azd ibn al Ghawth ibn Nabat ibn Malik ibn Udad ibn Zayd ibn Kahlan. So she meets her husband Anas in that both of them are from the Arabs of Yemen.

Ibn ʿAʾishah said: His mother was Talhah, the client of ʿAbd Allah ibn Muʿammar. Ibn ʿImran al Taymi said: “There is no lineage between us and him except that his mother is the client of my uncle ʿUthman ibn ʿAbd Allah.”

A Claim and Its Response

It became famous from Imam Malik that his mother carried him for three years. Ibn Nafiʿ al Saʾigh said it, and al Waqidi said it, and Maʿn and Muhammad ibn al Dahhak said it. Bakkar ibn ʿAbd Allah al Zubayri said: “By Allah, the womb fully matured him.”

Ibn al Mundhir and Ibn ʿAbd al Barr said that his mother carried him for two years, to the point that it was said that someone other than Malik was carried for two years or more, like Harm ibn Hayyan for two years, and al Dahhak for four years. It was said about him that he was born with teeth already showing, so he was called al Dahhak.

The strongest likelihood is that this, even if reliable people narrated it, does not stand after close checking and knowledge. It is from the type of rare reports in the accounts of the ulama of the Ummah and its great imams. It may be that this type of pregnancy happens as a rare matter of creation.

What is strange, in every way, is that the three imams, Malik (d. 179 AH), al Shafiʿi, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal, made the maximum pregnancy four years and the minimum six months, building it on what they heard from the story of Malik’s pregnancy, and on what Malik narrated about a slave woman who carried three pregnancies in twelve years, each pregnancy in four years.

Some jurists did not set the maximum pregnancy beyond one year, and this is what Ibn Hazm insisted on, and this is what should be established and confirmed. Some took a middle view and made the maximum pregnancy two years, and this is what the Hanafi madhhab holds. (See what was said in Sifat al Safwah, Tazyin al Mamalik by al Suyuti, Tartib al Madarik, al Intiqaʾ, and Hashiyat Ibn ʿAbidin, volume 2, and Shadharat al Dhahab.)

His Father

The father of Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) was Anas ibn Malik. He was not greatly involved in hadith. If he had any share of that, the first narrator from him would have been his son Malik. Malik was asked about his father and he said: “My uncle Abu Sahl was trustworthy.”

In some books, like in Tazyin al Mamalik, Malik narrated from his father, from his grandfather, from ʿUmar ibn al Khattab, from the Prophet ﷺ that he said: “Three things the body rejoices in and grows by: perfume, soft clothing, and drinking honey.” But this report is not sound from Malik. It is weak, and it is from the narration of Yunus ibn Harun al Shafi, and Yunus is not permissible to narrate from.

In Tartib al Madarik it says that Malik narrated from his father, from his grandfather, from ʿUmar the hadith of bathing and clothing. Al Darrab and Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from his father: Ibn Shihab narrated from him, meaning from Malik’s father.

It was said: he used to earn from making arrows.

Abu Musʿab said: Malik’s father was disabled, and he had a palace at al Jurf known as the palace of the disabled. (Tartib al Madarik, al Zurqani’s commentary on al Muwattaʾ, and Tazyin al Mamalik.)

His Grandfather

As for his grandfather Malik ibn Abi ʿAmir, he was among the senior Tabiʿin and their ulama. He narrated from ʿUmar, ʿUthman, Talhah ibn ʿUbayd Allah, ʿAʾishah Umm al Muʾminin, Abu Hurayrah, Hassan ibn Thabit, and ʿAqil ibn Abi Talib. His sons narrated from him: Anas, the father of the imam, and by him he was given the kunyah, and Abu Sahl Nafiʿ, and al Rabiʿ.

In Taqrib al Tahdhib it says: Malik ibn Abi ʿAmir al Asbahi, he heard from ʿUmar, he is trustworthy. Ibn Saʿd mentioned him in the second level.

He was one of the four who carried ʿUthman at night to his grave, washed him, and buried him. Abu Muhammad al Darrab mentioned that ʿUthman appointed him to go to Ifriqiyah, and he conquered it. ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz (d. 101 AH) used to consult him. Malik mentioned that in his Muwattaʾ. Abu Ishaq ibn Shaʿban said: Malik narrated from his father, from his grandfather, from ʿUmar, the hadith of bathing and clothing, and it was already mentioned.

Al Tustari narrated that he was among those who used to write the mushafs when ʿUthman gathered the mushafs.

Al Bukhari and Muslim, and those after them, narrated a lot from Malik ibn Abi ʿAmir, Malik’s grandfather, and from Abu Sahl, his son. Al Bukhari mentioned him in al Awsat regarding the virtue of one who dies between seventy and eighty. In al Khulasah it says: he died in the year 94 AH. (See Tartib al Madarik, al Suyuti’s commentary on al Muwattaʾ, Fath al Bari, and al Zurqani.)

His Great Grandfather

His great grandfather, Abu ʿAmir, whose name was Nafiʿ, was said to be a Sahabi. It was said that he witnessed all the campaigns with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ except Badr. Al Qadi Bakr ibn ʿAlaʾ al Qushayri mentioned that, and likewise al Suyuti in the introduction to his commentary on al Muwattaʾ. But al Hafiz al Dhahabi said in his summary: I have not seen anyone mention him among the Sahabah.

Al Hafiz Ibn Hajar quoted the words of al Dhahabi in al Isabah and did not add anything to it. Some said, as al Zurqani نقل: Abu ʿAmir, Malik’s highest grandfather, meaning his great grandfather, lived in the time of the Prophet ﷺ but did not meet him. He heard from ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan, so he is a Tabiʿi, a mukhadram. (The reference: see Tartib al Madarik, Tazyin al Mamalik, and al Isabah.)

His Siblings

Imam Malik had three paternal uncles. With his father Anas, they were four brothers. The eldest was Anas, Malik’s father, and the discussion about him already passed.

As for the first uncle, he was Nafiʿ ibn Malik, Abu Sahl al Madani. He narrated from Ibn ʿUmar and Anas. His nephew Imam Malik narrated from him, and also al Zuhri (d. 124 AH), and Ismaʿil and Muhammad, the two sons of Jaʿfar ibn Abi Kathir, and al Darawardi. Abu Hatim and others considered him trustworthy. Al Bukhari narrated from him a lot. Al Waqidi said: he died during the rule of Abu al ʿAbbas.

The second uncle was Uways ibn Malik. Ibn Hibban mentioned him in the third level of the trustworthy. He narrated from his father, and Musʿab ibn Muhammad ibn Sharhabil narrated from him, and he is the grandfather of Ismaʿil ibn Uways.

The third uncle was al Rabiʿ ibn Malik. No one narrated from him except Sulayman ibn Bilal. Al Tustari mentioned for Abu Bakr al Usi a narration from him. All four of them narrated from their father Malik, the grandfather. (The reference: see al Kamil by Ibn al Athir, and Tartib al Madarik.)

His Siblings

Malik said: “I had a brother in the age of Ibn Shihab. My father once asked us a question. My brother was correct and I was wrong. He said to me: the bathhouse distracted you.” Perhaps this brother was al Nadr, who used to stay close to the ulama, learning from them and taking from them. Malik, when he stayed close to the ulama, used to be known as “the brother of al Nadr” because his brother was more famous than him. When Malik became famous among his shaykhs, he became more famous than his brother, and al Nadr began to be mentioned as “Malik’s brother”.

In al Manaqib it says that al Nadr used to trade in grain. He had sisters. Among those we know is the mother of Abu Bakr al Aʿsha, whose name was ʿAbd al Hamid ibn ʿAbd Allah. Malik had a sister who lived with him and prepared his breakfast for him as bread and oil. He had a third sister, the mother of Ismaʿil, and Ismaʿil narrated from Malik.

His Children

Malik had four children: Yahya, Muhammad, Hammad, and Fatimah, the mother of her father, or Umm al Banin.

As for Yahya, Ibn Hazm weakened him. Al ʿUqayli said: he narrated odd reports from his father. Ibn Hibban mentioned him among the trustworthy, and Ibn Hibban is lenient in declaring people reliable. He narrated the copy of al Muwattaʾ from his father. Ibn Shaʿban mentioned that it is narrated from him in Yemen. He narrated from Muhammad ibn Maslamah.

Al Farawi said: We used to sit with Malik, and his son Yahya would come and go and not sit. Malik would turn to us and say: “What makes it easier for me is that this field is not inherited, and that no one took his father’s place and gathering except ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Qasim.” Yahya had a son named Muhammad. He came to Egypt and people wrote from him.

As for Muhammad ibn Malik, Ibn Hazm joined him with his brother in weakness. He used to attend his father’s gathering. He wore a cloak and a Kisani sandal, and he let his trousers down over it. Malik would turn to his companions and say: “Manners are the manners Allah gives. This is my son, and this is my daughter.”

Muhammad had a son named Ahmad. He heard from his grandfather Malik. Abu ʿAbd Allah ibn Mufrij al Qurtubi mentioned him among Malik’s narrators. Abu Bakr al Khuwarizmi al Barqani, the hadith memoriser, mentioned him among the weak. Ahmad died in the year 256 AH.

Al Zubayri said: Malik had a daughter who memorised his knowledge, meaning al Muwattaʾ. She used to stand behind the door. If the reader made a mistake, she would knock on the door, so he would notice. Malik would look and correct him. I do not know whether she is Fatimah, the wife of his cousin Ismaʿil ibn Uways, or someone else. If it is her, there is no difficulty. If it is someone else, then his children are five, not four.

As for his son Hammad, nothing is mentioned about him except that he was a son of Malik, and that Malik entrusted him, and his brother Muhammad, to Ibrahim ibn Habib, a man from al Madinah. Qasim ibn Asbagh said: Ibrahim ibn Habib is trustworthy from Malik’s companions, and he is his executor. (The reference: see al Zurqani’s commentary on al Muwattaʾ, al Manaqib by al Zawawi, Tartib al Madarik, the introduction to al Suyuti’s commentary, and Jumharat Ibn Hazm.)

His Traits and His Private Matters

Malik’s Appearance

The imam was tall, large bodied, very white tending to light brown, with a large head, good looking, bald, with large eyes, with a high nose, and blue eyes.

ʿIsa ibn ʿUmar al Madani said: I never saw whiteness more beautiful than Malik’s face. He had a great beard and it was broad.

He was medium in height among men. He used to trim the edges of his moustache, without shaving it fully and without cutting it too short. He thought shaving the moustache was mutilation. He would leave two long side strands.

He used as proof ʿUmar’s action of twisting his moustache when an affair concerned him. He did not dye his hair. He used as proof ʿAli’s practice. Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated from Ishaq ibn ʿIsa al Tabbah who said: I saw Malik ibn Anas not dyeing, so I asked him about that and he said: It reached me that ʿAli did not dye.

Abu Hanifah described him as light brown and blue eyed. Musʿab al Zubayri said: Malik was among the best looking of people, the sweetest of them in eye, the purest of them in whiteness, the most complete of them in height, with a good body. His ears were large, as if they were the palms of a man, or a little less.

Before he became bald, he had hair which he parted, as al Hakam ibn ʿAbd Allah said. Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al Mawsili said: I saw him with hair gathered together.

He would not apply kohl except due to necessity. If he applied it, he would sit in his house, and he disliked it except for an illness. In al Tadhkirah, Qutaybah said: When we came to Malik, he would come out to us well groomed, with kohl, with perfume. It seems this was in his earlier period. He used good perfume, musk and others. (See al Dibaj al Madhhab, al Intiqaʾ, al Zurqani, al Nujum al Zahirah, Wafayat al Aʿyan, Mirʾat al Jinan, and al Tadhkirah.)

His Clothing

The imam, may Allah have mercy on him, gave his clothing full care. He saw this as honouring knowledge and raising the rank of the scholar. He said that from the good character of the scholar is that he chooses fine clothing, wears it, and appears in it, and that eyes should not see him except with complete clothing, including a good turban. He used to wear the best, most expensive, and most beautiful clothing fitting for him, like fine ʿAdani clothes, and high quality Khurasani and Egyptian clothes. Ibn Wahb said: I saw on Malik a thin ʿAdani cloak, dyed with light red ochre.

He said to us: It is a dye I like, but my family put too much saffron in it, so I left it. What he most preferred for himself from colours was bright white. Abu ʿAsim said: I have not seen anyone with a whiter garment than him. Ibn Wahb also said: I did not reach anyone wearing these thin garments.

They used to wear the thick garments of al Arbaʿiyyah. Bishr ibn al Harith said: I entered upon Malik and saw him wearing a cloak worth five hundred. Its two sides fell over his eyes. He looked like kings.

Khalid ibn Khudash said: I saw Malik wearing a fine marked cloak, a cap, and fine Marwi clothes. Al Walid ibn Muslim said: Malik did not wear silk blend, and he did not think it should be worn. He wore white. I saw him and al Awzaʿi (d. 157 AH) wearing al sijan and not seeing any harm in wearing them. (Al sijan, singular saj, is the green cloak.)

When he wrapped his turban, he would place part of it under his chin and let its two ends hang between his shoulders. When morning came, he would wear his garments and wrap his turban, and none from his family or friends would see him except like that. Ibn Abi Uways said: I never saw any ink stain on Malik’s garment.

Malik said about wearing thick wool and other than it: there is no good in wearing it except in travel, like the Prophet ﷺ wore it, because it becomes fame, showing off zuhd, and it is ugly for a man to have his religion known by his clothing. He also said: I did not reach the jurists of our town except that they wore fine clothing. He said: I like the jurist to have white clothing.

He said: I do not like anyone whom Allah has blessed except that the effect of Allah’s blessing is seen on him, especially the people of knowledge. They should show good character in their clothing, to honour knowledge.

He used to dislike worn out clothing and saw it as mutilation. Al Dahhak said: Malik had a good face and clean clothing, and he disliked worn clothing. ʿUmar said: “I love to look at the jurist in white clothing.” (The reference: al Tadhkirah, Manaqib al Zawawi, al Tartib, al Dibaj al Madhhab, page 18, and Mirʾat al Jinan.)

His Ring

Malik’s ring, which was on his hand when he died, was silver. Its stone was black, and its engraving was two lines: “Hasbuna Allah wa niʿma al wakil”, and “With a noble Book”.

He used to wear it on his left hand. Sometimes he would come out to us and it was on his right, and we did not doubt that when he performed wuduʾ he moved it to his right.

Mutarrif asked him about why he chose what was engraved on it, and he said: I heard Allah say:

وقالوا حسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل

“And they said: “Allah is enough for us, and He is the best Disposer of affairs.” (al ʿImran 173)

Mutarrif said: So I changed my ring and made it like that. Ibn Nafiʿ al Akbar, Mutarrif, and Ismaʿil said this. (See al Dibaj, page 19, and Tartib al Madarik, 1/114.)

His Mount

Abu al Samh Talq ibn Abi al Samh said: I saw Malik on a fine mule, with a fine saddle, and he was wearing fine clothes. A servant walked behind him. When he reached the door of his house, he entered riding into his resting place. Then he got down and sat. The servant took a cloth, wiped his leather sock, and removed it.

The well known reports about him are that he did not ride in al Madinah, out of respect for the soil in which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is buried. Perhaps his riding was earlier, then he took for himself a chosen path, making himself not ride an animal, out of increased love and respect for the soil he lived upon. (The reference: al Tadhkirah, Manaqib al Zawawi, al Tartib, al Dibaj al Madhhab, page 18, and Mirʾat al Jinan.)

His Home, His Food and Drink, and His Manners With His Family

The imam, may Allah have mercy on him, first lived in al ʿAqiq, then he lived in al Madinah. It was said to him: Why do you not live in al ʿAqiq, since it is hard for you to reach the masjid. He said: It reached me that the Prophet ﷺ used to love it and come to it, and that some of the Ansar wanted to move from it closer to the masjid, and the Prophet said to him: “Do you not count your steps.”

Malik did not own a house in his life. Rather, he lived in a rented house. Al Mahdi said to him one day: Do you have a house. He said: No. It was said: the house he lived in al Madinah was the house of ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud. Malik used to write on the door of the house: “Ma shaʾ Allah.” It was said to him about that, and he said: Allah said:

ولولا إذ دخلت جنتك قلت ما شاء الله

“And why, when you entered your garden, did you not say: “What Allah wills.”” (al Kahf 39)

Just as the imam cared for his clothing with newness, cleanliness, and good appearance, he also cared for the furniture and arrangement of his house in the best way of his era. He spread it with different carpets, and he placed cushions on the right and the left. For Qurashis and Ansar who came to him for visits, he prepared the best place of soft bedding and spread cushions. He had a gathering place at the front of his house.

His children lived with him in his house, and a sister, and the mothers of his children. He was among the best of people in manners with his family and children.

He said: This is pleasing to the Lord, increases wealth, and delays the end of life. It reached me that from some of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ. He disliked that a man asks his uncle what entered his house from food and other than it.

As for his food, he used to break his fast with bread and oil, prepared for him by his sister, as already mentioned. What concerned him daily was that he provides meat each day for two dirhams. If he did not find it except by selling some of his goods, he would do it, because he was careful about feeding his family and himself. He used to command his baker Salamah every Friday to make a lot of food for him and his family.

He preferred bananas among fruits, and he said about them: There is nothing more like the fruits of Paradise than bananas. It is not searched for in winter or summer except it is found. And he recited:

أكلها دائم

“Its fruit is lasting.” (al Raʿd 35)

He also said about bananas: No fly touches it, and no black hand touches it.

As for his drink, Ibn Abi Hazim said: I said to Malik: What is your drink, O Abu ʿAbd Allah. He said: In summer, sugar, and in winter, honey. (The reference: see al Dibaj, pages 19 and 20, Tartib al Madarik, 1/114–115 and 119, Hilyah, 6/331, al Risalah al Mustatrafah, page 33, and Manaqib al Zawawi, pages 44–45.)

Malik’s Work in His Worldly Life

Sufyan said: Malik was a maker of arrow heads. Perhaps that was for a short period. But what is more likely is that most of his work was the trade of cloth. Ibn al Qasim said: Malik had four hundred dinars that he traded with. From it came his living and his needs. His brother al Nadr used to trade in cloth, and Malik used to sell with him and trade in it.

When his situation reached the point that he sought knowledge, he spent what he owned, until his state reached that he removed the roof of his house and sold its wood, then the worldly life came to him.

This shows that he had a house, but it became ruined after he removed its wood. From his protecting of knowledge and guarding the rank of the scholar, he said after he became an imam, while he had been a trader who bought and sold with his own hands: It is fitting that the scholar does not take on buying his own needs from the market by himself, even if that causes loss in his wealth, because ordinary people do not know his rank. (See Manaqib, pages 19 and 20, al Tartib, 1/115, 139, and 182, and Manaqib al Zawawi, page 46.)

Madinah – Its Virtue and The Knowledge From There

Madinah is the place of migration of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his place of safety. In it the wings of his good fortune spread. In it revelation descended with all the laws, except the prayers and the belief of tawhid, for that was in Makkah. From it Islam set out.

In it the rule was for Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. In it every Muslim clung to his religion as he clings to his own life and survival. In it banners were tied for expeditions and battles.

In it Allah gave victory to His religion and His soldiers, and He supported them with marked angels. It is enough for it that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ chose it as a homeland, and chose its people as his people, except the earliest forerunners from the emigrants. It is enough for it that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ praised it and made supplication for it.

In al Muwattaʾ, from Abu Hurayrah, he said: He said: “O Allah, bless us in our fruits, bless us in our city, bless us in our saʿ and our mudd. O Allah, Ibrahim is Your servant, Your close friend, and Your prophet, and I am Your servant and Your prophet. He supplicated to You for Makkah, and I supplicate to You for Madinah with the same as what he supplicated to You for Makkah, and the same again with it.” (Al Muwattaʾ: hadith 1594.)

Al Bukhari (d. 256 AH) set a chapter on the virtue of Madinah and brought in it many sound narrations, and we select from them some.

In it, from Anas, from the Prophet ﷺ, he said: “Madinah is a sanctuary from such and such to such and such. Its trees are not cut, and no innovation is introduced in it. Whoever introduces an innovation, then upon him is the curse of Allah, the angels, and all people.” (In the 4th narration on the virtue of Madinah it says: “Madinah is a sanctuary between ʿAyr and such and such.” In the chapter, from Abu Hurayrah, from the narration of al Bukhari: “A sanctuary between the 2 lava fields of Madinah”, meaning between the 2 black lava lands.)

In it, from Abu Hurayrah, he says: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “I was commanded to go to a town that consumes the towns. They call it Yathrib, and it is Madinah. It expels people as the bellows expels the dross of iron.”

In it, from Sufyan ibn Abi Zuhayr, he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: “Yemen will be opened, and people will come driving their riding animals, driving them, and they will carry with them their families and those who obey them, and Madinah is better for them if they only knew.

The Levant will be opened, and people will come driving their riding animals, and they will carry with them their families and those who obey them, and Madinah is better for them if they only knew. Iraq will be opened, and people will come driving their riding animals, and they will carry with them their families and those who obey them, and Madinah is better for them if they only knew.”

In al Bukhari, from Abu Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Faith returns to Madinah as a snake returns to its hole.”

In it, from ʿAʾishah, she said: I heard Saʿd say: I heard the Prophet ﷺ say: “No one plots against the people of Madinah except that he melts as salt melts in water.”

In it, from Anas, from the Prophet ﷺ, he said: “O Allah, place in Madinah double what You placed in Makkah of blessing.”

In it, from ʿUmar, he said: “O Allah, grant me martyrdom in Your path, and make my death in the land of Your Messenger.” He was given what he hoped for.

It was narrated from ʿAʾishah that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Cities were conquered by the sword, and Madinah was conquered by the Qur’an.”

This is some of what has been narrated about the virtue of Madinah.

The Knowledge of the People of Madinah

As for the knowledge of Madinah, there are many signs showing the knowledge of the people of Madinah.

Zayd ibn Thabit said: “If you see the people of Madinah upon something, then know that it is the Sunnah.”

Ibn ʿUmar said: “If people, when a trial happens, returned the matter in it to the people of Madinah, then if they agreed on something the matter would be corrected. But when a caller cries out, people follow him.”

Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) said: Ibn Masʿud used to be asked in Iraq about something, so he would give a view. Then he would come to Madinah and find the matter was different from what he said. When he returned, he would not tie down his riding animal, and he would not enter his home, until he returned to that man and informed him of that.

Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) said: ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz (d. 101 AH) used to write to the regions teaching them the Sunnahs and the legal understanding, and he would write to Madinah asking them about what had passed, and they would inform him of what they had.

ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar ibn al Khattab said: ʿAbd Allah, meaning Ibn al Zubayr, and ʿAbd al Malik ibn Marwan (d. 86 AH), both wrote to me calling me to consultation. So I wrote to them: “If both of you want consultation, then you must go to the land of migration and the Sunnah.”

A man said to Abu Bakr ibn ʿUmar ibn Hazm: By Allah, I do not know what I should do about such and such. Abu Bakr said: “My nephew, if you find the people of the town have agreed on something, then let there be nothing in your heart about it.”

Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) said: “As for the foundations of the people of Madinah, there is no way around their soundness.” He said: “If a narration passes beyond the 2 sanctuaries, its marrow weakens.”

Abu Nuʿaym (d. 219 AH) said: I asked Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) about something, and he said to me: “If you want knowledge, then stay”, meaning in Madinah, “for the Qur’an did not descend upon the Euphrates”, hinting at the jurists of Iraq.

Masʿar (d. 155 AH) said: I said to Habib ibn Abi Thabit (d. 119 AH): Which are more knowledgeable in the Sunnah or in legal understanding, the people of the Hijaz or the people of Iraq. He said: The people of the Hijaz.

Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) said: “If Abu Hanifah (d. 150 AH) had built upon the foundations of the people of Madinah, people would have depended on him in legal understanding.”

All of this is because most of the rulings of the Qur’an descended among them, and the life of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in Madinah was rich, blessed, and good. They heard his words, they saw his actions, they recorded his silence when he approved, they asked him about many matters, and they followed his actions.

Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ moved to the Highest Companion. After him came his Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, and their great number was in Madinah. Among them were the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and among them were the senior Companions, their ulama, and their narrators. All of them were lights of the religion. They were loyal to it and trustworthy over it. With them was knowledge of the Book of Allah Most High and knowledge of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

They preserved that in their hearts, and they guarded it as they guarded themselves. No new matter would occur except that they had knowledge about it that they received from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

It was rare that the caliphs or people needed a ruling or an issue except that they found knowledge of that with more than 1 of the Companions. Some would extract it from the Book of Allah, and some would convey it or derive it from the narration of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

They were given, from their Arab natural speech and from their understanding of the spirit of the Sharia that they received directly from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, what made them the most capable generations of Islam in knowing the rulings of Allah in most matters that arise.

Then after them came the Successors, and many of them stayed in Madinah. They received from them the Sunnah and the reports, and they knew their ways in legal reasoning when they needed it, just as they received from them many sciences of the Book of Allah, and they added to them new thoughts in legal reasoning, worthy of care and preservation. Among the most prominent of them were the 7 jurists.

Then after them came another level of the Successors, like Ibn Shihab (d. 124 AH), Nafiʿ (d. 117 AH), Rabiʿah al Raʾy (d. 136 AH), and many others. They took from the knowledge of the Companions, from the knowledge of the 7 jurists, and from those in their level. Then came after them the 4th level, and at its head were Malik ibn Anas (d. 179 AH) and ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Abi Dhiʾb (d. 158 AH) and others.

They strove to encompass the knowledge of the Successors, and they took from it the greatest share. No one claims that the people of Madinah encompassed all the knowledge of the Companions and the Successors.

If it is true that many of the Companions stayed in Madinah and died in it, it is also true that many of them spread through the lands. Some stayed in Makkah, and it is enough for it that ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas was there, and from the Successors, ʿAtaʾ ibn Abi Rabah. Some stayed in the Levant, and after them were Successors, and likewise in Iraq.

No one can claim that he has all knowledge of the Sunnah. Rather, each person of knowledge has some of it, and all of them together have the whole Sunnah. May Allah have mercy on al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH), for he said in al Risalah, the exact wording: “Knowledge of it”, meaning the Arabic tongue, “among the Arabs is like knowledge of the Sunnah among the people of legal understanding. We do not know a man who gathered the Sunnahs and nothing of them was missed by him.

If the knowledge of the Sunnahs with the generality of the people of knowledge is gathered, the Sunnahs are encompassed. If the knowledge of each one of them is separated, something of it is missed by him, then what he missed is present with someone else. They are levels in knowledge. Among them is the one who gathers a great deal even if some of it is missed by him, and among them is the one who gathers less than what others gathered.”

As for the legal reasoning of the people of Madinah in what has no text, it began in the time of the Companions. Rather, it began with Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, the caliph of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, when he reasoned that the Qur’an must be gathered, because he feared it would be lost by the killing of many reciters in the wars of apostasy.

He reasoned a second time that those who withheld zakah must be fought. He saw that zakah does not differ from prayer, saying: “By Allah, I will fight whoever separates between prayer and zakah.”

This is, without doubt, legal reasoning. The highest proof in that is that whoever does not find his wealth easy to give in the path of his religion, then he preferred it over the religion, and also because it could have been a cause, if he had been gentle with them as ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, used to see, that the unity of the Muslims would unravel, and its bond with Allah and His Messenger ﷺ and the message of Islam would weaken.

Abu Bakr remained caliph about 2 years and some months, then he died, having completed what he sought in establishing the pillars of Islam in the best way. If not for his wisdom in what he proceeded with, then Allah alone knows what the matter of Islam and the Muslims could have become.

Then came the Commander of the Believers, ʿUmar ibn al Khattab, the brilliant, sharp, inspired man, whom revelation agreed with in about 6 places. He took charge while the matter was stable, or nearly stable, and he set out opening the lands with truth and for truth.

Matters and problems appeared to him, and he saw for most of them solutions from the Book of Allah and what reached him from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

He is among those placed in the first level in knowledge and abundance of legal verdicts. He is among the greatest in understanding the secrets of the Sharia, its aims, its goals, and its benefits, and among the most insightful in recognising parallels and examples, and drawing rulings from them as rulings began to increase and their types and forms began to differ in his time.

With all of that, the Commander of the Believers ʿUmar kept many jurists from the Companions close to him, consulting them and asking them for verdicts. He used to consult the young jurists from the Companions, and he would say about them: “They are sharper in mind.” Among those he would meet from them was ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas, and he would say to him: “You have it, an ordeal has come to you.”

When the caliphate came to ʿUthman, may Allah be pleased with him, he permitted the Companions whom ʿUmar had prevented from spreading in the lands, so that he could consult them and feel safe from Quraysh mostly, and from others a little. He permitted them and gave them freedom to go to the opened regions. They had, in the lands they went to, a great role in knowledge, legal understanding, and spreading what they heard from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

These are brief images of the virtue of Madinah, its knowledge, and its foundations. There is no doubt it received the greatest share of virtue. It was opened by the Qur’an, and the greatest rulings descended in it, and in it the Companions heard the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

It is the greatest land in blessing, goodness, and knowledge, by the virtue of what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ granted it. (Manaqib al Zawawi. Tartib 1/58–526, 60. Manaqib al Shafiʿi by al Bayhaqi 1/113. Al Bukhari at the end of the 4th volume of Sharh al Hafiz. Al Muwattaʾ 139–6440.)

The Beginning of His Path in the Lands

No one knows how matters pass in the hidden unseen. No one can predict what will be. A great man worthy of greatness is not born great, just as a man worthy of carrying knowledge is not born a scholar. A person may appear and no one thinks he will become anything.

Rather, he may become something while it was thought he would never succeed. But destiny turns and changes, and the care of Allah is what moves a person from deviation, if it was deviation, to the straight path, or from nothing to what is prepared for him of a tremendous matter.

This is how the case was with Imam Malik (d. 179 AH). His father, his grandfather, and his great grandfather were scholars who gathered the narrations of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and cared for understanding the religion. Yet, in the beginning of his life he used to amuse himself with raising pigeons, until he was tested with a question and his answer was wrong because he answered without knowledge.

Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) said: I had a brother in the age of Ibn Shihab (d. 124 AH). My father once asked us a question. My brother was correct and I was wrong. My father said to me: “The pigeons distracted you from seeking knowledge.” I became angry, and I devoted myself to Ibn Hurmuz (d. 117 AH) for 7 years, not mixing him with anyone else.

I used to place dates in my hand and give them to his children, and I would say to them: “If anyone asks you about the shaykh, then say: he is busy.” He used to say: I used to come to Ibn Hurmuz early in the morning, and I would not leave his house until night.

He must have memorised the Noble Qur’an at the beginning of his life, as is the case in most Muslim families. It appears that he began the stage of knowledge with Ibn Hurmuz, as mentioned, then he followed that with the great jurist Rabiʿah al Raʾy (d. 136 AH) while he was still a youth. Al Zubayri said: I saw Malik in the circle of Rabiʿah, and in his ear was an upper earring.

So, at the beginning of his affair, he combined Prophetic narrations with ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Hurmuz, and legal understanding, legal reasoning, and opinion with Rabiʿah al Raʾy.

It was said: The first of these 2 that Malik attended was Rabiʿah ibn Abi ʿAbd al Rahman, and his mother used to advise him after she placed a turban on him and prepared him, saying: “Go to Rabiʿah and learn his manners before his knowledge.”

So he exerted himself in knowledge, and nothing distracted him from it. He was seen in that period following the shade of trees so that he could focus on what he wanted, until his sister said to his father: This brother of mine does not stay with people. He said: “My daughter, he is preserving the narrations of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”

In that period, Malik met Safwan ibn Sulaym (d. 132 AH), and he is one of the senior, excellent, critical shaykhs of Malik. Safwan ibn Sulaym asked Malik about a dream he saw in sleep, while Malik was at that time a small boy. Malik said to him: “Someone like you asks someone like me.”

He said to him: “What harm is there, my nephew. I saw as if I was looking in a mirror.” Malik said to him: You are looking into the matter of your afterlife and what brings you close to your Lord.

Safwan said to him: You are today the one who owns you, and if you live, you will surely become a Malik. Fear Allah, Malik, if you become Malik, otherwise you are destroyed.

Malik said: He used to call me “the one who owns you”, then when he asked me, he said: “Abu ʿAbd Allah”, and that was the first day he gave me that kunyah.

From his very strong eagerness to receive knowledge from the seniors, at that age, he used to plan for himself so that he could gain a narration, a report, or legal understanding. Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) said: I used to go to Nafiʿ at midday, and I would not be shaded by trees from the sun, waiting for his coming out.

When he came out, I would leave him for a while as if I had not seen him, then I would approach him, greet him, and leave him, until when he entered I would say to him: How did Ibn ʿUmar say about such and such. He would answer me, then I would hold back from him, and he had sharpness. (Tartib al Madarik 1/119–128. Al Dibaj al Madhhab 20. Al Aghani 3/084.)

The Beginning of His Appearance and His Sitting for Narration and Verdicts

A person does not take the lead in knowledge and become great in the eyes of the Ummah and its ulama by exaggeration in wrapping a turban and widening sleeves, except in an Ummah that is backward, weak in distinguishing knowledge from ignorance, deceived by appearances, pulled by superstition, and impressed by shouting even if it is empty.

In the era of Malik there were men in religion and knowledge, great men in knowledge. No one could draw their attention and turn their heads with shallow knowledge, affectation, twisting the tongue with truth and falsehood. Rather, it was by seriousness, memorisation, strength of understanding, and taking from the trustworthy seniors.

Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) did not appear and take the lead except after the seniors of the ulama testified that he was fit for that. He did not sit for verdicts except after 70 from the seniors of his era testified that his time had come to give verdicts to people.

Al Layth (d. 175 AH) said: We came to Madinah and found ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Abi Salamah (d. 164 AH) and Malik on 2 sides of Rabiʿah, and ʿAbd al ʿAziz was above him. Then I came another time and Malik was above ʿAbd al ʿAziz.

Anas ibn ʿIyad (d. 168 AH) said: I sat with Rabiʿah, and Malik was with us that day, and he was only known as Malik, the brother of al Nadr. Then he continued in seeking knowledge until we began to say: al Nadr is the brother of Malik.

Muhammad ibn Fulayh (d. 183 AH) said: I was with Rabiʿah and Malik used to sit with him. Then Malik excelled and people needed him, so he moved from Rabiʿah’s gathering, and knowledge was sought from him, so I was among those who moved to him from Rabiʿah’s gathering. We were a group, and my father instructed me to do that.

Ibn Abi Uways (d. 226 AH) said: Malik said: Rabiʿah once turned to me and said: “Who are the low ones, Malik.” I said: The one who eats by his religion. He said: “Then who are the lowest of the low.” I said: The one who lets others eat by his religion. He said: “Enough”, and he put me forward.

ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Abi Salamah al Majishun (d. 164 AH) said: We used to sit with Rabiʿah. When Malik withdrew and stayed in his home, it reached us that he was producing something from books. When I met him, I used to joke with him and say: The atmosphere has become clear for you. He said: By Allah, day by day his matter kept rising and rising until he became a leader and a head.

Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah (d. 198 AH) said: Malik sat for people while he was the son of 17 years, and leadership was known for him, and people were alive at that time.

I say: I think that saying 17 has some exaggeration, because it is possible that he began teaching at 12 at the least, then he stayed with Ibn Hurmuz for 7 years, not mixing him with anyone else, then he met Nafiʿ, and after him, or with him, he attended Rabiʿah al Raʾy. If it is sound that he sat for people before the death of Nafiʿ, who died in the year 117 AH, then his age then should not be less than 23. This is supported by the statement of Shuʿbah (d. 160 AH): I came to Madinah 1 year and 2 days after the death of Nafiʿ, and Malik had a circle.

Whatever the matter, he excelled in knowledge early, and he gave verdicts to people before the age in which a man is fit for verdicts.

Al Qadi Muhammad ibn Ahmad al Basri said: In that year, the year 18, Shuʿbah heard from Malik, and Malik’s age then was a little over 20 years.

Shuʿbah (d. 160 AH) said: I entered Madinah and Malik had a circle, and Nafiʿ had died 1 year earlier, and that was the year 118 AH. (Tazyin al Mamalik 46. Tartib al Madarik 119 and 1/125–126.)

Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) said: When I resolved to move away from the gathering of Rabiʿah, I sat with Sulayman ibn Bilal (d. 172 AH) in a corner of the masjid. When Rabiʿah ibn Abi ʿAbd al Rahman stood up from his gathering, he turned towards us and said: “Malik, are you playing with yourself. You danced, and Sulayman ibn Bilal clapped for you. Has it reached you to set a gathering for yourself. Return to your gathering.”

In another narration: Then he withdrew from him, and most of those who used to sit with Rabiʿah sat with him. Malik’s circle in the time of Rabiʿah became like the circle of Rabiʿah or more, and Rabiʿah gave verdicts with him in the presence of the ruler.

Ibn ʿAbd al Hakam said: Malik gave verdicts with Yahya ibn Saʿid, who died in the year 136 AH, and with Rabiʿah, and Nafiʿ, and the year of their death has already been mentioned. Ibn al Mundhir said: Malik gave verdicts in the lifetime of Nafiʿ and Zayd ibn Aslam, who died in the year 136 AH. (Tazyin al Mamalik 46. Al Dibaj 21. Tartib 1/119–125, 126, 138. Al ʿIqd al Farid 2/233. Al Intiqaʾ 23, 37, 38. The introduction of al Zurqani on al Muwattaʾ 1/3.)

His Gathering in al Masjid al Nabawi

Musʿab said: Malik used to sit with Nafiʿ, the freedman of Ibn ʿUmar, in al Rawdah in the lifetime of Nafiʿ and after his death. Then his place in the masjid became the place of ʿUmar ibn al Khattab. It is the place in which the bedding of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is placed when he performs iʿtikaf. This is what al Uwaysi said, and in Tartib it is al Usi. (Al Dibaj 19. Tabaqat Ibn Saʿd 5/188.)

In Tabaqat Ibn Saʿd, Malik’s place in the masjid of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was facing the small doorway of ʿUmar between the grave and the pulpit.

Muhammad ibn ʿUmar, meaning al Waqidi, said: The gathering place of al Qasim and Salim ibn ʿAbd Allah in the masjid of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was 1 place. Then after them ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Qasim and ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿUmar sat there. Then after them Malik ibn Anas sat there. It was facing the small doorway of ʿUmar between the grave and the pulpit.

The Beginning of Writing Down Prophetic Narrations

The narrations of the Prophet ﷺ were not written down in the time of prophethood. Rather, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade writing them down, fearing that some of that would mix with the Great Qur’an. They were not in need of writing them down because they used to hear directly from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and because of the strength of memory they had, especially when what they memorised was related to their daily practices, of worship, dealings, and morals, spoken by one who does not speak from desire.

Most of them were an unlettered nation that did not write, except what was narrated about ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr ibn al ʿAs, for he used to write some of what he heard from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he used to name his collection “al Sadiqah”.

In the time of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, after fear decreased, after revelation ended, that something from other speech could mix with the Qur’an, and after those who wrote became many, no one attempted, despite that, to write. All of them relied on what Allah Most High had enriched them with, of sharp minds and strong, capturing memories. Except that ʿUmar ibn al Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, as ʿUrwah ibn al Zubayr reported, wanted to write down the Sunan, and he consulted the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and most of them pointed him to that.

ʿUmar stayed for 1 month seeking Allah’s guidance about it, uncertain about it, then he woke up 1 day and Allah Most High gave him resolve, and he said: “I had mentioned to you writing down the Sunnahs, as you know, then I remembered that people from the People of the Book before you wrote, along with the Book of Allah, other books, then they devoted themselves to them and left the Book of Allah. By Allah, I will not mix the Book of Allah with anything.” So he left the writing down of the Sunan.

Then after them came the early Successors, and they followed the pattern of the Companions in refraining from writing down Prophetic narrations. Then after them, from the Successors, some began writing and some were satisfied with hearing, until ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz (d. 101 AH) resolved in the year 100 AH to order that the narrations of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ be written down.

In those times there was legal reasoning and much legal understanding. No one wrote anything of that, because if they did not write down the narrations of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, then all the more so they would not write down anyone’s legal reasoning or legal understanding.

Also, they used to see writing that as a kind of overstepping upon the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ. This did not stop them from narrating from one another something of legal reasoning in understanding the texts and building rulings upon them, and this was enough for them, in preserving the Sunnah and narrating legal reasoning.

Death came quickly to the earliest Successors, innovations appeared, groups formed, each presenting his claim and arguing with his proof. Argumentation occurred and opinions clashed. Here the just caliph ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz (d. 101 AH) feared the loss of knowledge and the death of ulama, so he wrote to his governor over Madinah, Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Hazm: Look at what you have in your town of Sunnah or Prophetic narrations and write it down, for I fear the loss of knowledge and the passing away of the ulama. Do not accept except the narration of the Prophet ﷺ.

Let knowledge spread, and let people sit so that they teach those who do not know, for knowledge does not perish until it becomes hidden.

ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz (d. 101 AH) died in the year 101 AH, before Abu Bakr, his governor over Madinah, sent to him what he wrote. Ibn Shihab (d. 124 AH) said: We used to dislike books until the ruler forced us into it, then we disliked preventing people from it.

After that, many of those who remained from the Successors began to write Prophetic narrations and gather from them a collection. People differed about who began writing. In the introduction of Fath al Bari by Ibn Hajar (d. 852 AH): The first to gather that was al Rabiʿ ibn Subayh, who died in the year 160 AH, and Saʿid ibn Abi ʿArubah, who died in the year 156 AH. Imam al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) used to say about him: al Rabiʿ ibn Subayh was a soldier, and when a man is praised outside his craft, then his neck has been struck down.

He was a righteous man, but most hadith scholars weakened him. ʿAffan ibn Muslim said: His narrations are all reversed. Yahya ibn Maʿin said about al Mubarak ibn Fudalah: weak in narrations, like al Rabiʿ ibn Subayh in weakness. With all of this, he did not narrate from a Companion even once.

As for Saʿid ibn Abi ʿArubah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH) said about him: Saʿid ibn Abi ʿArubah did not have a book. Rather, he used to memorise all of that. He was among the strongest in memorisation from the companions of Qatadah, and he was trustworthy before he became confused, as Abu Hatim said.

The first to write down Prophetic narrations at the head of the 100, by the command of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz, may have been Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn ʿUbayd Allah ibn Shihab al Zuhri al Madani (d. 124 AH).

He said about that: No one wrote this knowledge down before my writing it down. Then writing down became many after that, then classification, and much good occurred by that, as in al Hilyah. Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) said: The first to write down knowledge was Ibn Shihab.

He wrote, and ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz wrote to his governors: “Hold to Ibn Shihab al Zuhri, for you will not find anyone more knowledgeable than him about what has passed.” (Al Risalah al Mustatrafah 3, 4. The introduction of Fath al Bari 17. Al Khitat by al Maqrizi 2/333. The introduction of al Zurqani on al Muwattaʾ 1/8 and 9. The introduction to al Suyuti’s Sharh al Muwattaʾ 6 and 42. Al Hilyah 3/363.)

Saʿid ibn Abi ʿArubah and al Rabiʿ ibn Subayh may have been the first to classify each chapter separately, until the senior imams of the third level rose and wrote down Prophetic narrations, arranged them, and attached to them some rulings. Then Imam Malik compiled al Muwattaʾ. ʿAbd al Malik ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Jurayj (d. 150 AH) compiled in Makkah. ʿAbd al Rahman ibn ʿUmar al Awzaʿi (d. 157 AH) compiled in the Levant. Sufyan ibn Saʿid al Thawri (d. 161 AH) compiled in al Kufah. Hammad ibn Salamah (d. 167 AH) compiled in al Basrah. What is the rank of Imam Malik among these and others. Here is the discussion of that.

The Rank of Malik in Classifying Prophetic Narrations

What is recognised and famous on the tongues of the ulama of the Sunnah is that Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) comes in the third level among those who wrote down Prophetic narrations, classified them, and arranged them. In that level with Malik were some seniors who classified like him or close to it.

Shaykh al Islam Zakariya al Ansari (d. 926 AH) said in his commentary on the Alfiyyah of technical terms by al ʿIraqi (d. 806 AH): The first to compile in absolute terms was Ibn Jurayj in Makkah, and Malik and Ibn Abi Dhiʾb in Madinah, and al Awzaʿi in the Levant, and al Thawri in al Kufah, and Saʿid ibn Abi ʿArubah, and al Rabiʿ ibn Subayh, and Hammad ibn Salamah in al Basrah, and Maʿmar ibn Rashid (d. 154 AH) and Khalid ibn Jamil in Yemen, and Jarir ibn ʿAbd al Hamid (d. 188 AH) in al Rayy, and Ibn al Mubarak (d. 181 AH) in Khurasan. All of these are in 1 era, so it is not known which of them is earlier. Others also mentioned with them Hushaym ibn Bashir al Wasiti (d. 183 AH).

Abu Talib al Makki (d. 386 AH) said in Qut al Qulub: The first compilation placed, meaning in Prophetic narrations and the Sunnah, was the book of Ibn Jurayj. He placed it in Makkah in reports, and some tafsir from ʿAtaʾ and Mujahid and others from the companions of Ibn ʿAbbas. Then the book of Maʿmar ibn Rashid in Yemen, in it are Sunnahs. Then al Muwattaʾ. Then the Jamiʿ of Sufyan al Thawri, and the Jamiʿ of Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah in Sunnahs and reports and some tafsir. These 5 are the first thing compiled in Islam.

Al ʿIraqi (d. 806 AH) and Ibn Hajar (d. 852 AH) said: All of these are in 1 era.

Ibn Hajar said, after mentioning who first gathered Prophetic narrations: Until the seniors of the third level rose, and wrote down rulings. So Imam Malik compiled al Muwattaʾ, and he aimed in it for what is strong from the narrations of the people of the Hijaz, and he blended it with the statements of the Companions and those after them. Ibn Jurayj compiled in Makkah. Al Awzaʿi compiled in the Levant. Al Thawri compiled in al Kufah. Hammad ibn Salamah ibn Dinar compiled in al Basrah.

Then many from the people of their era followed them in their pattern, until some of the imams saw that they should isolate the narrations of the Prophet ﷺ specifically, and that was at the head of the 200. Imam Malik may have been the first to compile and do well, and to arrange books and chapters and gather the forms. In his al Muwattaʾ he was a hadith scholar, a jurist, and a mujtahid. (Al Risalah al Mustatrafah. Al Dibaj al Madhhab 15. The introduction of Ibn Hajar to Sharh al Bukhari 17.)

Malik the Hadith Scholar

Introduction

No one in Malik’s era was given what Malik was given of rank, authority, fame, and knowledge, and no one was gathered for what was gathered for him. He received most of what was in Madinah of hadith, Sunnah, and fiqh. Even though he did not leave Madinah for any land, Madinah, with its knowledge, had no need of others, while the other lands had need of it. It was a place people returned to.

Ulama and hadith scholars went to it from every direction, seeking what the people of Madinah had of virtue and knowledge. That is because many of the senior Sahabah lived there, and the senior Tabiʿin who lived there took from them.

People continued to pay no attention to a hadith scholar who did not hear the ulama of Madinah, then Makkah.

The religion among the people of Madinah was still fresh and flourishing. The traces of Prophethood were still widespread among them. They preserved them and were eager for them, even the measures and weights.

Despite that, Malik came to Makkah in the season, and met the ulama, discussing with them and they discussed with him. He met Abu Hanifah, al Layth ibn Saʿd, al Awzaʿi, Abu Yusuf, and Muhammad. Each of them had a question for him, or he had a question for them. With this, knowledge is kept alive and minds open.

Imam Malik was eager to gather hadith from the trustworthy. He turned away from many people Malik refused to take from, because of the smallest doubt, a doubt that would not count as anything in narrator criticism and narrator grading, but he saw that the narrator might bear criticism, so he left him. There was only 1 man or 2 men between him and the Sahabi.

He is the man of the “golden chain”, “Malik, from Nafiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar”. Yahya ibn ʿAbd Allah said to Abu Zurʿah, about the hadith of Malik: “This is not a shaking from a gust. It only lifts the curtain and looks at the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his Companions: Malik, from Nafiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar.”

The most famous hadith scholar who influenced Malik was Ibn Shihab al Zuhri. If Malik did not write down a lot of hadith, it is because he removed a lot of it, out of eagerness that he would not gather except what is sound, with no doubt in it. Ibn Abi Hatim said: I said to Ibn Maʿin: “Malik has few hadith.” He said: “Because of how much he distinguished and selected.”

Despite that, Malik said: “I had boxes of books that were lost. If they remained, they would have been more beloved to me than my family and my wealth.” Where did they go? What is apparent is that an incident destroyed them, or that he was not pleased with them and destroyed them, then regretted them.

Ibn Abi Dhanbar said: I heard Malik say: “I wrote with my hand one hundred thousand hadith.” Ibn al ʿArabi said: al Labbad mentioned that Malik narrated one hundred thousand hadith. Ahmad ibn Salih said: I looked into Malik’s original notes and found something like twelve thousand hadith. It was not possible for any of the ulama before him, from those who cared about writing hadith, to gather a collection like this, or close to it.

When Malik died, his books were brought out, and in them were boxes from Ibn ʿUmar, with nothing from them in al Muwatta except 2 hadith.

His son said: When we buried Malik, we entered his home and brought out his books. In them were 7 boxes of the hadith of Ibn Shihab, filled on the front and back. He also had boxes or chests of hadith. People began to read and to make supplication, and they said: “May Allah have mercy on you, Abu ʿAbd Allah. We sat with you for a long time, yet we never saw you mention to us anything from what we read.”

This shows 2 matters. The first is that he gathered a collection of hadith that no one before him, nor in his era, gathered. The second is that he did not report everything he heard, fearing that something not from the religion of Allah would enter into it. In what he selected, he was careful and stingy. He did not give people from it except a small amount, only a few hadith, fearing that excess would bring error.

The Shaykhs of Malik

Imam Malik met from shaykhs what no one after him met. He met many from the Tabiʿin, and he met even more from the followers of the Tabiʿin. He chose from them those he was pleased with, for their religion, understanding, and their fulfilment of the right of narration and its conditions. His heart was at rest with them. He left narrating from people of religion and righteousness who did not know narration. He took from 900 shaykhs: 300 from the Tabiʿin and 600 from the followers of the Tabiʿin.

This is not the place to list them. It is enough to mention some of them, or the most famous of them, and those who had the clearest effect in his life, his hadith, and his fiqh. They are Ibn Hurmuz, Nafiʿ the freedman of Ibn ʿUmar, Zayd ibn Aslam, al Zuhri, Abu al Zinad, ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al Siddiq, Ayyub al Sakhtiyani, Thawr ibn Zayd al Dayli, Ibrahim ibn Abi ʿAblah al Maqdisi, Humayd al Tawil, Rabiʿah ibn Abi ʿAbd al Rahman, Hisham ibn ʿUrwah, Yahya ibn Saʿid al Ansari, ʿAishah bint Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas, ʿAmir ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al Zubayr ibn al ʿAwwam, and Abu al Aswad Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Nawfal al Qurashi al Asadi. Here we will give a brief introduction to some of them.

The first shaykh Malik went to was Ibn Hurmuz, as already mentioned. He used to come to him early, and not leave until night, as he said. He stayed close to him for 6 years, not mixing him with anyone else. After that, he continued returning to him from time to time. Malik said: “A man may keep going to a man for thirty years, learning from him.” We thought he meant himself with Ibn Hurmuz.

I say: It is far that he meant Ibn Hurmuz, because Malik reached around 24 years of age when Ibn Hurmuz died, and he began taking knowledge from him after the age of 10. It appears he took from him, besides hadith, other knowledge that he kept hidden, and he continued learning it for 13 years. He said: “I sat with Ibn Hurmuz for 13 years in knowledge I did not reveal to anyone from the people.”

Some said: He returned to him to seek grammar and language before showing them. It was said: It was from the foundations of the religion and what refutes the speech of the people of deviation and misguidance. All of this is assumption, because Malik kept hidden what he learned, and he was capable of preserving what he kept hidden.

Malik described some of his state. He said: I used to go to Ibn Hurmuz and he would order the slave woman to close the door and lower the curtain, then he would mention the earliest of this Ummah, then cry until his beard became soaked. Malik was deeply influenced by him, even in keeping to the phrase, “I do not know.”

This Ibn Hurmuz is ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Hurmuz al Aʿraj, Abu Dawud, al Madani, the freedman of Rabiʿah ibn al Harith ibn ʿAbd al Muttalib. He is from the Tabiʿin. He narrated from Abu Hurayrah, Abu Saʿid, Ibn ʿAbbas, Muʿawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, and others from the Sahabah, may Allah be pleased with them, and many narrated from him.

Ibn Saʿd said: He was trustworthy, with many hadith. Al ʿIjli said: A Madani Tabiʿi, trustworthy. He was knowledgeable in lineage and Arabic. His desire was with Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al Hasan, al Nafs al Zakiyyah, and Ibn Hurmuz went out with him, among those who went out, while he had a limp and old age. It was said to him: By Allah, there is nothing in you.

He said: I know, but an ignorant person will see me and follow me. Perhaps the desire of his student Malik was also with al Nafs al Zakiyyah. After that, Ibn Hurmuz stayed stationed at the frontier of Alexandria for a period, and he died there in the year 117 AH.

From his early shaykhs, and it is said his first, is Rabiʿah al Raʾy. He is Rabiʿah ibn Abi ʿAbd al Rahman Farrokh, al Taymi, their freedman. Musʿab al Zubayri said: He met some Sahabah and the seniors of the Tabiʿin.

He was the man of verdicts in Madinah. He was trustworthy, with many hadith. ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Abi Salamah said: “People of Iraq, you say: Rabiʿah al Raʾy. By Allah, I never saw anyone who preserved the Sunnah more than him.”

Despite that, they used to be cautious of him because of opinion. Malik used to say about him: “The sweetness of fiqh left when Rabiʿah died.” He died in the year 136 AH, according to the view of Ibn Saʿd. Rabiʿah had a great effect on Malik in knowledge, derivation, and the foundations he made the basis of his fiqh. When Rabiʿah went far in opinion, Malik left him after benefiting from him with much knowledge.

Malik honoured his shaykh Rabiʿah with full honour. He did not speak in his gathering, and he did not rush to answer if asked.

If the ruler called him, he did not go to him except after consulting him. It was said he did not sit for verdicts except after asking his permission. The greatest part of his knowledge and his thinking was from Rabiʿah until he began attending Ibn Shihab al Zuhri.

He narrated from Rabiʿah his statement: “It is not permissible for a person who has a place for knowledge except that he seeks it”, meaning intellect, and it is as if he meant that a person should strive for what develops his intellect by using it, discussing matters, and not making the intellect weak by surrendering to everything he hears.

He narrated from him, to al Mahdi, his statement: “The lineage of a man is his family.”

From his senior shaykhs is Nafiʿ, the freedman of Ibn ʿUmar. He was taken in some of his expeditions. He narrated from his master, from Abu Hurayrah, Abu Saʿid al Khudri, Abu Lubabah ibn ʿAbd al Mundhir, Rafiʿ ibn Khadij, ʿAishah, Umm Salamah, and others, and many narrated from him. Ibn Saʿd said: He was trustworthy, with many hadith.

Al Bukhari said: The soundest hadith are Malik, from Nafiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar. Malik used to say: “If I hear Nafiʿ narrate from Ibn ʿUmar, I do not care if I do not hear it from anyone else.” ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar used to say: “Allah Most High truly favoured us with Nafiʿ.” They agreed on declaring him trustworthy.

He died in the year 119 AH, and it was said 120. Ibn ʿUyaynah narrated from Ismaʿil ibn Umayyah, who said: We used to try to find fault in Nafiʿ, the freedman of Ibn ʿUmar, for grammar mistakes, but he refused.

Malik said: I used to go to Nafiʿ at midday, and trees would not shade me from the sun, waiting for his coming out. When he came out, I would leave him for a while, as if I had not seen him, then I would approach him, greet him, and leave him, until when he entered the courtyard I would say to him: How did Ibn ʿUmar say about such and such. He would answer me, then I would hold back from him, and he had sharpness.

Malik used to lead Nafiʿ from his home to the masjid, and his eyesight had gone, then he would ask him and he would narrate to him. Nafiʿ’s home was near al Baqiʿ.

From Malik’s senior shaykhs is al Zuhri. He is Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn ʿUbayd Allah ibn Shihab al Zuhri al Qurashi, Abu Bakr. He narrated from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar ibn al Khattab, ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar, Rabiʿah ibn ʿAbbad, al Miswar ibn Makhramah, and others from the Sahabah and senior Tabiʿin like Saʿid ibn al Musayyib. Al Zuhri was trustworthy, with many hadith, knowledge, and narration, a jurist, a gatherer.

He used to say: “I never placed anything in my heart except that I remembered it.” ʿAmr ibn Dinar said: I never saw anyone more exact in hadith than al Zuhri. ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz said to his companions: “No one remains more knowledgeable than him about the Sunnah of what has passed”, meaning al Zuhri. From Mak hul: No one remains on its surface more knowledgeable than al Zuhri about the Sunnah of what has passed. He died in the year 123 AH.

Malik said: We used to crowd on the steps of Ibn Shihab until some of us fell on others. He also said: We used to go to Ibn Shihab in his home among Banu al Dayl, and he had a good doorstep. We used to sit on it, pushing each other when we entered upon him.

He also said: We used to sit with al Zuhri and with Muhammad ibn al Munkadir. Al Zuhri would say: Ibn ʿUmar said such and such. After that, we would sit with him and say: From whom did you hear what you mentioned from Ibn ʿUmar.

He would say: His son Salim. The truth is that al Zuhri was the greatest of Malik’s shaykhs in influence on him.

Malik narrated from his shaykh al Zuhri something of wisdom. Malik ibn Anas said: al Zuhri recited to me, for himself:

“Do not feel safe from a man whose heart you filled with anger, even if you said that anger heals.”

From his senior shaykhs is ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al Siddiq al Taymi, Abu Muhammad, al Madani. He narrated from his father, Ibn al Musayyib, ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar, Salim ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar, and others. Musʿab al Zubayri said: He was from the best of Muslims, and he had standing with the people of the east. Ibn ʿUyaynah said: I heard ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Qasim, and there was no one in Madinah then better than him. Ibn Hibban said in al Thiqat: He was from the leaders of the people of Madinah in fiqh, knowledge, religion, virtue, preservation, and precision. Ahmad ibn Hanbal said about him: “Trustworthy, trustworthy.” He died in the year 126 AH.

From his senior shaykhs is Ayyub al Sakhtiyani. He is Ayyub ibn Abi Tamimah Kaysan al Sakhtiyani, Abu Bakr al Basri. He saw Anas ibn Malik. He narrated from ʿAmr ibn Salamah al Jurmi, Humayd ibn Hilal, al Qasim ibn Muhammad, ʿAta ibn Abi Rabah, and others.

Al Hasan said: Ayyub is the master of the youth of al Basrah. From Hammad ibn Zayd: Ayyub, in my view, was better than everyone I sat with, and the strongest in following the Sunnah. Ibn ʿUyaynah said: I did not meet anyone like Ayyub. Ibn Saʿd said about him: He was trustworthy, firmly established in hadith, a gatherer of much knowledge, an authority, just.

Malik, when asked about Ayyub al Sakhtiyani, said: “I do not narrate to you about anyone except that Ayyub is better than him. He performed Hajj twice, and I did not write anything from him, and I did not hear from him, except that when the Prophet ﷺ was mentioned he would cry until I felt mercy for him.

When I saw what I saw from him, and his honouring of the Prophet ﷺ, I wrote from him.” Both of them, the shaykh and his student Malik, their love for the Prophet ﷺ and their honouring of him cannot be pictured by expression, nor limited by thought. This is how love for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ should be. Ayyub died in the year 131 AH.

From his senior shaykhs, as Ibn ʿAbd al Barr said, is Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Nawfal ibn al Aswad, Abu al Aswad al Madani, the orphan of ʿUrwah, because his father had entrusted him to him. His grandfather al Aswad was from those who migrated to Abyssinia.

He narrated from ʿUrwah, ʿAli ibn al Husayn, Sulayman ibn Yasar, ʿAmir ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al Zubayr, and others. Al Zuhri narrated from him, and he is from his peers. Ibn Abi Hatim said: My father was asked about him and he said: Trustworthy. It was said: Does he take the place of al Zuhri and Hisham ibn ʿUrwah. He said: Trustworthy. Ahmad ibn Salih said: He is firmly established, with standing and mention.

When he came to al Fustat in the year 134 AH, it was said: Who did you leave in Madinah giving verdicts, while Rabiʿah and Yahya ibn Saʿid are in Iraq. Abu al Aswad said: A young man became well known, he is called Malik ibn Anas.

From his senior shaykhs is Abu al Zinad. He is ʿAbd Allah ibn Dhakwan al Qurashi, Abu ʿAbd al Rahman. He was known as Abu al Zinad, the freedman of Ramlah, and it was said, the freedman of ʿAishah bint Shaybah. He is a Tabiʿi. He narrated from Anas, ʿAishah bint Saʿd, Abu Umamah ibn Sahl, Saʿid ibn al Musayyib, Kharijah ibn Zayd ibn Thabit, ʿUrwah ibn al Zubayr, and al Aʿraj, and he is his narrator. ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated from his father: Trustworthy.

Sufyan used to call him the Commander of the Believers in hadith. From Ahmad ibn Hanbal also: Abu al Zinad is more knowledgeable than Rabiʿah. From Ibn Maʿin: Trustworthy, an authority.

Ibn al Madini said: There was no one in Madinah, after the senior Tabiʿin, more knowledgeable than him, and Ibn Shihab, Yahya ibn Saʿid, and Bukayr ibn al Ashajj. Al ʿIjli said: A Madani Tabiʿi, trustworthy. Ibn Saʿd said: He was trustworthy, with many hadith, eloquent, insightful in Arabic, intelligent. He died in the year 130 AH.

This is a brief introduction to some of Malik’s senior shaykhs. All of them are senior, though among them is the Tabiʿi and among them is the follower of the Tabiʿi. All of them are known imams among the people.

In Malik’s era there were shaykhs, preservers, with fame, rank, and reliability among the people, whom Malik did not take from. Among these is ʿAmr ibn Dinar. People agreed on his reliability, his high standing, and his rank. ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn ʿAbd Allah said: Malik was asked: Do you hear from ʿAmr ibn Dinar. He said: I saw him narrating while people were standing, writing, and I disliked writing the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while I was standing.

Ahmad ibn Salih said: Malik came to ʿAmr ibn Dinar and did not understand his speech, because he had become confused, so he would go to the house of al Zubayr to write from him. Perhaps this was at the beginning, when he first saw his gathering, then he took from him. In Tahdhib al Tahdhib it says that Malik is from those who heard from Ibn Dinar.

The same happened with Abu al Zinad, and he is from Malik’s senior shaykhs. At the beginning, Malik passed by him while he was narrating, and he did not sit with him. After that he met him and he said to him: What stopped you from sitting with me.

He said: The place was narrow, so I did not want to take the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while I was standing. It appears that he met him again after that while Malik was in a state he was pleased with, so he took from him and relied on him.

From the Tabiʿin among his shaykhs are those who heard from the Sahabah, so there were 2 men between Malik and the Prophet ﷺ, and 1 man between him and the Sahabah.

So, with the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, he inherited the knowledge of the Sahabah, with their differences. Malik used to say: Verdicts are not permissible except for the one who knows what people differed about. It was said to him: “The differences of the people of opinion.” He said: “Rather, the differences of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ”, and he knows the abrogating and abrogated in the Qur’an and hadith.

Some ulama of reports said: “The imam of the people, after ʿUmar, was Zayd ibn Thabit. After him was ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar. 21 men took from Zayd. Then the knowledge of these went to 3: Ibn Shihab, Bukayr ibn ʿAbd Allah, and Abu al Zinad. Then the knowledge of all of these went to Malik ibn Anas.” But in Tahdhib al Tahdhib it says: Malik did not hear from Bukayr ibn ʿAbd Allah.

Most of the Tabiʿin shaykhs of Malik narrated from the senior Tabiʿin. Malik spoke to the caliph al Mahdi and said: I heard Ibn Shihab, al Zuhri, say: “We gathered this knowledge from men in al Rawdah.” They are Saʿid ibn al Musayyib, Abu Salamah, ʿUrwah, al Qasim, Salim, Kharijah, Sulayman, and Nafiʿ.

Malik said: “Then Ibn Hurmuz, Abu al Zinad, Rabiʿah, al Ansari, and the sea of knowledge, Ibn Shihab, transmitted from them.” All of these were read to, but he singled them out because they are the most special of Malik’s shaykhs. With them is Nafiʿ, and he is the greatest of them because he narrated from Ibn ʿUmar directly. Not all of these are from the 7 jurists, and their mention will come in the discussion of his fiqh.

Even though all his shaykhs narrated reports, taught them, and understood them, among them were those dominated by reports, like Nafiʿ, Abu al Zinad, and Ibn Shihab al Zuhri. Among them were those dominated by fiqh and derivation, like Rabiʿah al Raʾy and Yahya ibn Saʿid. As for Ibn Hurmuz, he was from those who narrated hadith and performed legal reasoning in fiqh. Malik took from him some hadith and fiqh, and he took a share of sciences and cultures that he kept hidden and did not show. Ibn Hurmuz himself did not want Malik to spread them. (Tartib al Madarik 1/114–128, 300. Al Dibaj 21, 12, 20, 22. Al Intiqa 3, 26. The introduction to al Suyuti’s Sharh al Muwatta. Inba al Ruwat 2/172–173. Malik by Abu Zahrah 115, 154. Tarikh al Tabari 7/99. Al Jarh wa al Taʿdil 204. Wafayat al Aʿyan 1/555. Miftah al Saʿadah 2/85. Manaqib al Zawawi 2/202.)

Malik’s Memorisation and His Eagerness for Hadith

A hadith scholar is not a hadith scholar until he is a memoriser. He is not a memoriser if he does not have a memory that is quick in receiving and preserving.

Long ago, the hadith scholars who were memorisers did not rely in gathering what they heard of hadith except on memory alone, with the greatest accuracy and precision. Even when the preservers began writing, most reliance was still on memory alone.

They may have written from what they memorised. If one of them attended a hadith gathering of a shaykh from the shaykhs of hadith, he would memorise what he heard, and he rarely needed to ask for what he heard again. Malik criticised writing knowledge and said: I did not meet anyone doing it. They only used to memorise.

Imam Malik was the strongest in memorisation of the people of his time, as Abu Qudamah said. Malik said: Ibn Shihab narrated to us a few and forty hadith, then he said: “Now, repeat them to me.” I repeated to him the forty hadith and left out the extra few.

Malik said, in the narration of Ibn Wahb: I used to sit with Ibn Shihab while I had a string. When he narrated, I would tie knots, then I would return home, meaning and write them. In the narration of Ibn Qays, he said: Ibn Shihab used to sit and narrate thirty hadith. One day he narrated and I tied his hadith with knots, then I forgot 1 hadith from them. I met him and asked him about it. He said: Were you not in the gathering. I said: Yes. He said: Why did you not memorise. I said: They were 30, and only 1 of them left me. He said: “People’s memorisation has gone.” “I never placed anything in my heart except that I remembered it.” Give me what you have. I asked him and he informed me, then I left.

Malik said: I attended the ʿId and I said: Today Ibn Shihab will be free, so I returned from the prayer place until I sat at his door.

I heard him say to the slave woman: Look who is at the door. She looked, and I heard her say: Your fair haired freedman, Malik. He said:

Let him in. I entered and he said: It seems you have not gone to your home.

I said: No. He said: Have you eaten anything. I said: No. He said: Then eat.

I said: I have no need. He said: What do you want. I said: You narrate to me.

He narrated to me 17 hadith, then he said: What benefit is it to you if I narrate to you and you do not memorise. I said: If you wish, I will repeat them to you. I repeated them to him. In another narration, he said to me: Bring. I brought out my tablets, and he narrated to me 40 hadith.

I said: Add more. He said: That is enough. If you narrate these hadith, then you are from the preservers. I said: I have narrated them. He pulled the tablets from my hand, then he said: Narrate. I narrated them to him, then he returned them to me and said: Stand, for you are from the vessels of knowledge, or he said: A fine store for knowledge.

Ibn Shihab al Zuhri, Malik’s shaykh, used to say: People’s memorisation has become bad. I used to go to Saʿid ibn al Musayyib, ʿUrwah, al Qasim, Abu Salamah, Humayd, Salim, and he listed a group. I used to go around to them, hearing from each one of them from fifty hadith to one hundred, then I would return having memorised all of it, without mixing the hadith of this with the hadith of this.

In another narration: “People’s memorisation has gone.” “I never placed anything in my heart except that I remembered it.” There is nothing strange in this.

Imam al Bukhari, in his famous story when he came to Baghdad, they brought him hadith and swapped their chains, and they placed the chain of each hadith on a different hadith.

Al Bukhari put the matter in its proper place, and returned each hadith to its known chain. This requires a strong, remarkable memory. This is only a small part of the many reports of the preservers who receive hadith and it settles in their minds. If one of them had weak memorisation, they made that a sign of his weakness. (Al Dibaj 21. Al Intiqa 18 and 29. Tartib 1/122 and 163.)

Malik’s Grading of Narrators

Imam Malik is far above being placed on the scale of narrator criticism and narrator grading. He is the just, the trustworthy, the one people agreed upon. Someone like him is the one who has the power to criticise or to declare reliable. No one in Malik’s era was known to examine men and select them more precisely than Malik.

If the tool of the hadith scholar is truthfulness, as Ibn Maʿin said, then Imam Malik is the source of truthfulness, because of his religion, his honesty, his dignity, and his keeping to “I do not know”. He used to say: It was rare that a truthful man who did not lie in his speech, meaning in speech in general, except that he was given benefit in his intellect, and old age did not strike him with a harm or confusion.

Malik feared narrating too much, because in excess is error. It was said: He memorised one hundred thousand hadith, then he removed from them ninety thousand, leaving only ten thousand. He continued removing from them at the smallest doubt until the connected, sound hadith in al Muwatta did not exceed 600 hadith. Detail of that will come.

Bishr ibn al Harith al Hafi used to say: From the adornment of the universe is that a man says: “Malik narrated to us.” None of the senior hadith scholars differed that he is the imam of the imams, and he reached, in justice, reliability, and truthfulness, what only a small number reached. Despite that, we will mention here the testimony of some imams about him, without comparing him to anyone.

Al Harith ibn Miskin said: I heard some hadith scholars say: Wakiʿ recited to us, and he kept saying: “The reliable one narrated to me, the reliable one narrated to me.” We said: Who is he. He said: Malik.

Ahmad ibn Shuʿayb al Nasaʾi said: No one, in my view, after the Tabiʿin, is more outstanding than Malik.

ʿAta ibn Yasar narrated from ʿAbd Allah al Sanabihi, about Malik: He was trustworthy, with many hadith.

It was said to Ahmad ibn Hanbal: Place Malik with the people of his time. He said: Malik is a master from the masters of the people of knowledge. He is an imam in hadith and fiqh. Who is like Malik, following the reports of those who passed, with intellect and opinion.

Al Shafiʿi said: If the hadith comes from Malik, then hold it tightly. He said: If the report comes, then Malik is the star.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: Malik is a memoriser, firmly established, from the most firmly established of people in hadith.

He also said: No hadith or speech from Malik is left without being written.

He said more than once: Malik was the most firmly established of people in hadith, and it does not harm you that you ask about a man Malik narrated from, especially if he is a Madani.

He said: May Allah have mercy on Malik. He had a great place in Islam.

It was said to him: A man loves to memorise the hadith of 1 man in particular. Whose hadith do you think he should memorise. He said: Malik’s hadith, for it is an authority between you and Allah.

Wuhayb ibn Khalid said to Yahya ibn Hassan: We do not know, between its east and its west, anyone more trustworthy with us, meaning in knowledge, than Malik, and reading to Malik is more beloved to me than hearing from someone else.

He said: I do not put anyone ahead of Malik in the soundness of hadith.

He said: Malik is the strongest in memorisation of the people of his time, and Malik does not make mistakes in hadith.

ʿAli ibn al Madini said: I do not put anyone ahead of Malik in the soundness of hadith. Malik is the Commander of the Believers in hadith.

From Ibn Maʿin: It was said to him: What about Malik’s hadith about al Liqah, only 1, no one narrates it except him. He said: Leave Malik. Malik is the Commander of the Believers in hadith. Ibn Jurayj narrated it.

This hadith is in al Muwatta in the discussion of breastfeeding. Its wording is: From ʿAmr ibn al Sharid, that ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbas was asked about a man who had 2 wives. One of them breastfed a boy, and the other breastfed a girl. It was said to him: Can the boy marry the girl. He said: No. “The liqah is 1.” This is what the Hanafis express as: “The milk belongs to the male.” The hadith is also in al Tirmidhi, number 1149.

Yahya ibn Saʿid al Qattan said: Malik is the Commander of the Believers in hadith, and Malik was a memoriser. Malik was an imam to be followed.

Ayyub ibn Suwayd al Ramli said: I never saw anyone with better hadith than Malik ibn Anas. He is the imam, the trustworthy, the truthful.

Here is some speech of the imams of hadith, comparing the imam with the seniors in knowledge.

ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Abi Hatim said: I heard my father say: Malik ibn Anas is trustworthy, the imam of the people of the Hijaz, and he is the most firmly established of the companions of al Zuhri. If the people of the Hijaz differ with Malik, judgment is for Malik. Malik is pure in men and pure in hadith. His hadith is purer than the hadith of al Thawri and al Awzaʿi. He is stronger in al Zuhri than Ibn ʿUyaynah, and he makes fewer mistakes than him. He is stronger than Maʿmar, meaning Maʿmar ibn Rashid, and Ibn Abi Dhiʾb.

Ibn Abi Maryam said to Ibn Maʿin: Is al Layth higher with you or Malik. He said: Malik. I said: Is Malik not the highest of the companions of al Zuhri. He said: Yes. I said: Is ʿUbayd Allah more firmly established in Nafiʿ or Malik. He said: Malik is the most firmly established of people.

Yahya ibn Saʿid al Qattan said: No one among the group has sounder hadith than Malik, meaning al Awzaʿi and the 2 Sufyans. Malik is more beloved to me than Maʿmar. Malik is the imam of the people in hadith.

ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Mahdi said once to his companions: I will narrate to you from one whose like my eyes did not see. Then he said: Malik narrated to us from Nafiʿ. Then he said: He is more firmly established in Nafiʿ than ʿUbayd Allah, Musa ibn ʿUqbah, and Ismaʿil ibn Umayyah from Nafiʿ.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: Malik follows the reports more than Sufyan.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal was asked about al Thawri and Malik, if they differ in narration, which of their ways is more grounded in fiqh. He said: Malik is greater in my heart.

It was said to him: Malik and al Awzaʿi if they differ in narration. He said: Malik is more beloved to me, even though al Awzaʿi is from the imams.

It was said: Malik and al Layth. He said: Malik.

It was said: Malik and al Hakam and Hammad. He said: Malik and al Nakhʿi.

Muhammad ibn Saʿd said: Malik was trustworthy, safe, firmly established, a jurist, scrupulous, knowledgeable.

Harb ibn Ismaʿil al Karmani said: I said to Ahmad ibn Hanbal: Is Malik ibn Anas better in hadith from al Zuhri, or Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah. He said: Malik is sounder in hadith. I said: Then Maʿmar. He put Malik ahead of him, though Maʿmar has more hadith from al Zuhri.

Al Husayn ibn al Hasan said: I asked Yahya ibn Maʿin and I said: Who is the most firmly established of the companions of al Zuhri in al Zuhri. He said: Malik ibn Anas. I said: Then who. He said: Maʿmar.

Ibn Maʿin said: The most firmly established of the companions of al Zuhri is Malik, with no disagreement in it. He said: The most firmly established of the companions of al Zuhri is Malik. Malik, in Nafiʿ, is more firmly established with me than ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿUmar, and more than Ayyub al Sakhtiyani.

Ahmad ibn Shuʿayb al Nasaʾi said: No one, in my view, after the Tabiʿin, is more outstanding than Malik, nor greater than him, nor more trustworthy, nor safer in hadith than him, nor less in narrating from the weak. We do not know that he narrated from a narrator abandoned in hadith except ʿAbd al Karim. He said: The trustworthy ones of Allah Most High over the knowledge of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ are Shuʿbah ibn al Hajjaj, Malik ibn Anas, and Yahya ibn Saʿid al Qattan. He said: al Thawri is an imam, except that he narrates from the weak.

ʿAli ibn al Madini said: It is enough for you, Malik and Ibn ʿUyaynah, in memorisation and precision, if they agree.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: I said to my father: Which are more firmly established of the companions of al Zuhri. He said: Malik is the most firmly established in everything.

It was said to Ibn Hurmuz: We ask you and you do not answer us, and Malik and ʿAbd al ʿAziz ask you and you answer them. He said: Weakness entered my body, and I do not feel safe that something like it entered my intellect. If you ask me about a matter and I answer you, you accept it, while Malik and ʿAbd al ʿAziz look into it. If it is correct, they accept it, and if it is other than that, they leave it. (Al Jarh wa al Taʿdil 8/205, 206. Tartib al Madarik 1/132, 137. Tazyin al Mamalik 9. Tahdhib al Tahdhib 7/1, 8, 9. Al Intiqa 2, 39. Al Dibaj al Madhhab 24. Manaqib al Zawawi 15. Al Hilyah 6/322.)

Preferring His Mursal Reports

The mursal is a hadith with a chain, but without the Sahabi. The Tabiʿi narrates from the Prophet ﷺ without mentioning the Sahabi in the chain. With most hadith scholars, and Imam al Shafiʿi, it is not an authority. It is an authority with the rest: Malik, Abu Hanifah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and some hadith scholars.

Many ulama connected the mursal reports of Imam Malik. Even though they are mursal, the senior preservers preferred them. Yahya ibn Saʿid al Qattan mentioned the mursal reports of the 2 Sufyans, al Shaʿbi, al Aʿmash, and others, and he said: In some of them is something like wind, and something like nothing. It was said: Then Malik’s mursal reports. He said: They are more beloved to me. No one among the people has sounder hadith than him. He put him ahead among the companions of al Zuhri. Ibn al Madini said: If Malik brings you hadith from a man from Saʿid ibn al Musayyib, it is more beloved to me than Sufyan from a man from Ibrahim, for Malik did not narrate except from the trustworthy. (Al Dibaj 22. Tartib 1/135–136. Isʿaf al Mubatta 2.)

Abu Dawud said: Malik’s mursal reports are sounder than the mursal reports of Saʿid ibn al Musayyib and the mursal reports of al Hasan, and Malik is the soundest in mursal. I say: In this is some exaggeration, because Ibn al Musayyib, his father is a Sahabi from the people of the tree and the pledge, and Saʿid met the senior Sahabah, among them ʿUmar, ʿUthman, ʿAli, Talhah, and al Zubayr. With that, he is the jurist of the people of the Hijaz and their mufti, and the first of the 7 jurists whose agreement Malik counts as the agreement of all people.

Most mursal reports are narrated by the people of Madinah from Saʿid ibn al Musayyib, and the people of Makkah from ʿAta ibn Abi Rabah, and the people of Egypt from Saʿid ibn Abi Hilal, and the people of the Levant from Mak hul al Dimashqi, and the people of al Basrah from al Hasan ibn Abi al Hasan, and the people of al Kufah from Ibrahim ibn Yazid al Nakhʿi. These are the soundest mursal reports.

Malik’s Selection of Narrators and His Criticism

Hadith knowledge relies on 2 matters, and what is other than them follows them.

The first is selecting the reliable, truthful, precise, perfected narrator in the entire chain.

The second is the connection of the chain until it reaches the Prophet ﷺ.

Imam Malik was the first to be precise with men. Rather, he went far in precision and selection. He may have been the first to attempt to set foundations for hadith knowledge. In criticising men, he had amazing matters. A man might be religious, protected, if he was entrusted with the public treasury he would be trustworthy, yet Malik would not narrate from him because he is not from this field. It was enough for a man to be considered trustworthy by the ulama that Malik narrated from him. Doubt about a man, with Malik, meant leaving him. Al Shafiʿi said: If people doubt a matter, they proceed. If Malik doubts a matter, he holds back. He said: Malik, if he doubted a hadith, he would throw it all away.

Mufaddal ibn Fudalah said: We do not consider Malik except like the critics of the public treasury.

Ibn ʿUyaynah used to say: May Allah have mercy on Malik. How strong he was in selecting men and ulama. I never saw anyone who took knowledge better than him.

Ahmad ibn Salih said: I do not know anyone more strict in selecting men and ulama than Malik. I do not know anyone who narrated from someone with a problem. He narrated from people, he did not leave any of them.

Ibn al Madini said: I do not know anyone who takes the place of Malik in that.

Ibn Hibban said in al Thiqat: Malik was the first to select men from the jurists of Madinah. He turned away from anyone not trustworthy in hadith. He did not narrate except what is sound, and he did not narrate except from a trustworthy narrator, along with fiqh, religion, virtue, and worship. Al Shafiʿi came out from that, meaning from all of that.

Yahya ibn Maʿin said: Everyone who Malik narrated from is trustworthy, except Abu Umayyah.

Here we mention, regarding narration from him, some principles he kept to in who he saw deserved to be taken from, and who he did not see to be taken from.

Maʿn ibn ʿIsa said: I heard Malik say: Knowledge is not taken from 4, and it is taken from others besides them. It is not taken from an innovator who calls to his innovation, not from a foolish man who openly shows his foolishness, not from one who lies in the speech of people even if he is truthful in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and not from one who does not know this field.

Abu Musʿab Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr al Zuhri said: I heard Malik ibn Anas say: Knowledge is not carried from all the people of innovations, and knowledge is not carried from one who is not known for seeking and sitting with the people of knowledge, and it is not carried from one who lies in the speech of people even if he is truthful in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, because hadith and knowledge, if they are heard from the scholar, then they become an authority between the one who heard them and Allah Most High. Malik used to say: Whoever narrates from a weak narrator has begun with himself.

Malik said, in the narration of Ibn Wahb from him: I met in this town people, if rain was sought by them, rain would be given. They heard much knowledge and hadith. I did not narrate from any of them at all, because they kept themselves to fear of Allah and zuhd, while this field, meaning hadith and verdicts, needs a man with piety, scrupulousness, protection, precision, knowledge, and understanding. He knows what comes out of his head and what will reach him tomorrow. As for a man without precision and without knowledge, he is not benefited from, he is not an authority, and he is not taken from.

Malik said: I came to Zayd ibn Aslam and heard the hadith of ʿUmar, that he gave a horse in the path of Allah. I kept going to him for days asking him about it and he would narrate to me, perhaps doubt or meaning would enter into it, so I would leave. That is because he was from those whose zuhd kept them busy from hadith. Ibn ʿUyaynah said about Zayd ibn Aslam: He was a righteous man, but there was something in his memorisation.

Ibn Abi Uways said: I heard Malik say: “This knowledge is religion, so look from whom you take it.” “I met 70 men who say: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, by these pillars”, and he pointed to the masjid, “yet I did not take anything from them, because they were not from the people of this field.”

Imam Malik said: I met a group from the people of Madinah. I did not take anything from them from knowledge, even though knowledge could be taken from them. They were types. Among them was one who lied in the speech of people but did not lie in his knowledge. Among them was one who was ignorant of what he had. Among them was one accused of bad opinion. So I left them because of that.

Al Shafiʿi said: A man mentioned a hadith to Malik ibn Anas. Malik said to him: Who narrated to you. He mentioned to him a broken chain. Malik said to him: Go to ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Zayd, he will narrate to you from his father, from Nuh.

Malik said: A man is not safe if he narrates everything he hears, and he will never be an imam. Then he said: They mix truth with falsehood.

Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah said: Malik used to select men, and he did not narrate from everyone.

Al Shafiʿi said: It was said to Malik: Ibn ʿUyaynah has hadith from al Zuhri that you do not have. Malik said: Do I narrate from al Zuhri everything I heard. Then I would want to mislead them.

That is because sincerity in knowledge and religion is not by boasting of many narrations and shaykhs. Rather, it is in striving to not narrate except what is confirmed as sound. I do not say this against Ibn ʿUyaynah, for he is, without doubt, the peer of Malik. Malik is the master of the ulama of Madinah in his era, and Ibn ʿUyaynah is the master of the ulama of Makkah in his era.

It was said to Malik: Why did you not write from ʿAta. He said: I wanted to take from him, and I wanted to look at his appearance and his state. I followed him and I saw him come to the pulpit of the Prophet ﷺ and wipe the covering and the lower step, meaning from the pulpit. So I did not write from him. That is from the actions of the common people. The lower step and the covering are things repaired by the guardianship. When I saw him not distinguishing between the pulpit of the Prophet ﷺ and other than it, and doing the action of the common people, I left him.

Al Qadi ʿIyad said in his Tartib: Malik narrated from a man from ʿAta. Perhaps he left him because of what he saw from him, and he did not know the reality of his virtue and knowledge. That is why he wanted to look at him and test him. When his state and knowledge became clear to him after that, he had already missed him, so he took his knowledge from others.

There is no doubt that ʿAta ibn Abi Rabah was from the senior Tabiʿin, and in his era he was the greatest mufti. If Malik left him in his early period, then Malik was young and had not yet reached knowing the ranks of men.

Yahya ibn Saʿid al Qattan said: I said to Malik ibn Anas: What do you say about Shuʿbah, the freedman of Ibn ʿAbbas. Malik said: He did not resemble the reciters. He has many hadith, but he is not used as proof. Ibn Abi Dhiʾb and others narrated from him.

This Shuʿbah is differed about. Some said: There is no harm in him. Ibn Maʿin said: His hadith is not written. Malik was asked about him and he said: He is not trustworthy. If it was said to Malik: This hadith is not with anyone besides you, he would leave it. If it was said to him: This is from what the people of innovations use as proof, he would leave it. It was said to him: So and so narrates strange reports. He said: The one who comes with the strange is avoided.

Mutarrif said: Malik said to me: Does ʿAttaf narrate. I said: Yes. He considered that a serious matter and said: I met people who were trustworthy and narrating, yet nothing is taken from them. I said: How. He said: Fear of error.

Ibn Wahb said: Malik looked at ʿAttaf ibn Khalid and said: It reached me that you take from this man. I said: Yes. He said: We only used to take hadith from jurists.

I say: ʿAttaf is differed about. Ibn Maʿin said: There is no harm in him. Trustworthy, righteous in hadith. Abu Hatim said: Righteous, not strong.

ʿAli ibn al Madini narrated from Habib al Warraq, Malik’s scribe. He said: al Darawardi, Ibn Abi Hazim, and Ibn Kinanah gave me a dinar so that I would ask Malik about 3 men he did not narrate from. I asked him and he lowered his head, then raised it and said: “What Allah wills. There is no power except with Allah”, and he used to say it often. Then he said: Habib, I met this masjid while in it were 70 shaykhs from those who met the companions of the Prophet ﷺ, and they narrated from the Tabiʿin. We only carried knowledge from its people.

Khalid ibn Khudash said: I bade farewell to Malik ibn Anas and I said: Advise me. He said: Fear Allah, and seek hadith from its people.

Ibn Wahb mentioned and said: When I came to ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn al Majishun to hear from him, he said to me: Beware of letting Malik know that you come to me, so he will not narrate to you. It is as if he knew Malik would point at him.

Ibn al Majishun was a man who held the view of al qadar and theological speech, then he left it and turned to the Sunnah. He was not from the field of hadith.

When he came to Baghdad, they wrote from him, and he used to say: The people of Baghdad made me a hadith scholar. He was truthful. If Malik spoke about him, it was not because of anything that criticises him, but because hadith was not his field, and Malik did not take from someone like him, just as he did not see that anyone should take from him.

Abu Musʿab said: It was said to Malik: Why do you not narrate from the people of Iraq. He said: Because I saw that when they come to us, they take hadith from someone not trustworthy, so I said: They are like that in their lands, taking from someone not trustworthy.

From Malik, he said: Perhaps a shaykh sits with us and narrates most of the day, and we do not take from him a single hadith. It is not because we accuse him, but he was not from the people of hadith.

Ibn Wahb narrated from him that he said: I entered upon ʿAishah bint Talhah and I found her weak, so I did not take from her, even though she is, as Ibn Maʿin said, trustworthy, an authority, and al ʿIjli said: A Madaniyyah Tabiʿiyyah, trustworthy.

Abu Zurʿah al Dimashqi said: People narrated from her because of her virtue and her manners. Ibn Hibban mentioned her in al Thiqat.

I say: Malik did not meet ʿAishah bint Talhah, for she died in the year 101 AH, and Malik’s age was around 8. So, the report of his entering upon her and finding her weak is false.

Ibn Abi Uways said: I was with Malik and a man came and said: Did the Prophet ﷺ not command burying hair and nails. Malik became angry and ordered him beaten and imprisoned. It was said to him: He is ignorant. Malik said: He says: The Prophet ﷺ said. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever lies upon me deliberately, then let him take his seat in the Fire.” Then Malik said: Burying hair and nails is an innovation. The Prophet ﷺ gave some of his hair to the emigrants and the Ansar, and Anas ibn Malik had some of his hair.

It was extremely hard for Malik to accept that a man, ignorant or knowledgeable, says: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, while he has not confirmed the soundness of what he attributes to the Prophet ﷺ.

This, sadly, happens in every time. It becomes very common in the time of ignorance, even from those whom common people call ulama. One of them does not know what he says, and he does not care that he attributes to the Prophet ﷺ a statement he did not say. The threat is great, and the warning is severe, in his ﷺ statement: “Let him take his seat in the Fire.”

For this, Ibn Abi Uways said: No one in Madinah could say: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, except that Malik would imprison him. Malik had imprisonment, police, and authority in Madinah. If asked about him, Malik would say: He confirms what he said, then he is released, like the one who attributed to the Prophet ﷺ burying hair and nails.

Malik’s precision with men, and the great trust in him, reached the point that his narration from a person became proof of the person’s reliability, and the absence of his narration from another person became proof of weakness.

Al Athram said: I asked Ahmad ibn Hanbal about ʿAmr ibn Abi ʿUmrah, the freedman of al Muttalib. He said: What makes his matter good with me is that Malik narrated from him.

In criticising men, ʿAli ibn al Madini said: Malik is safety for whoever he narrated from among men.

He also said: If Malik narrates from a man from the people of Madinah and you do not know him, then he is an authority, because Malik used to select.

When Malik narrated from Yazid ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al Hadi, close to one thousand riding animals travelled to Yazid. When Yazid woke up and saw the large crowd at his door, he said: What is this. It was said: Malik narrated from you. The matter may also be the opposite.

If the hadith scholars did not find a man, however famous he is, in Malik’s books, or Malik did not narrate from him in any way, this was proof of his weakness with the imams of this field.

Marwan ibn ʿUmar said: Malik did not leave narrating from anyone except because of weakness.

Malik was asked about ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al Rahman al Ansari, whom Ibn Samʿun narrates from. Malik said: I do not know him. People said: He is a man from the people of Madinah from the Ansar, and it is narrated from him. Malik did not know him, so people accused him. Ibn Hajar said in his Tahdhib: I did not see any criticism or grading about him.

Bishr ibn ʿUmar said: I asked Malik once about a man and Malik said: If he was trustworthy, you would have seen him in my books. (Tartib al Madarik 1/123–141 and 150–191. Manaqib al Zawawi 32, 33, 40. Nafh al Tayyib 2/507. Al Intiqa 16–17. Manaqib al Shafiʿi by al Bayhaqi 1/504. ʿUyun al Akhbar 2/635. Al Dibaj al Madhhab 15, 21, 24. Tahdhib al Tahdhib 10/9. Tarikh Ibn Kathir 10/174. Al Jarh wa al Taʿdil 8/204. Al Hilyah 6/322, 330. Tabaqat Ibn Saʿd 5/294. Tazyin al Mamalik 17. Isʿaf al Mubatta 2–3)

The First to Speak on Rare Vocabulary in the Language of Prophetic Narrations

In al Dibaj al Madhhab, the first to speak about rare vocabulary in Prophetic narrations, and to explain much of it in al Muwatta, was mentioned. Al Asmaʿi (d. 216 AH) said: “Malik (d. 179 AH) told me that al istijmar is al istitabah, and I did not hear it except from Malik.” I say: In al Misbah: a person performed al istijmar in cleansing after relieving himself, meaning he removed impurity with stones, which are the small stones.

Does Anyone Have the Right to Bring Forward or Put Back Words in Prophetic Narrations

Malik (d. 179 AH) was asked about narrations in which words are brought forward or put back while the meaning is one. He said: “As for the words of the Prophet ﷺ, it should not be said except as it came. As for the words of others, if the meaning is one, then there is no harm.” It was said: What about a narration of the Prophet ﷺ where an extra “and” and an extra “alif” are added while the meaning is one. He said: “I hope it is light.”

Some Common Terms Among Hadith Scholars

Abu ʿAbd Allah al Hakim (d. 405 AH) said: “What I choose in narration (riwayah رواية), and what I found most of my shaykhs and the imams of my era committed to, is that the one who takes from the hadith scholar by spoken wording, and no one is with him, says: ‘So and so narrated to me (haddathani حدثني).’ What he takes by spoken wording while others are with him says: ‘So and so narrated to us (haddathana حدثنا).’ What he read to the hadith scholar himself says: ‘So and so informed me (akhbarani أخبرني).’

What was read to the hadith scholar while he is present says: ‘So and so informed us (akhbarana أخبرنا).’ What was presented to the hadith scholar and he permitted him to narrate it verbally, he says: ‘So and so informed me (akhbarani أخبرني).’ What the hadith scholar wrote to him from a town, and he did not speak to him directly, he says: ‘So and so wrote to me (kataba ilayya كتب إليّ).’”

Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) said: “If you read to the hadith scholar, then say: ‘He informed us (akhbarana أخبرنا).’ If the hadith scholar reads to you, then say: ‘He narrated to us (haddathana حدثنا).’”

Al Hakim (d. 405 AH) also said: The explanation of presentation (ard عرض) is that the narrator is a memoriser, precise (dabit ضابط), and he brings to the one seeking benefit a portion of his narrations, or more than that.

The narrator takes it and reflects on it. If he recognises it and knows it is from his narrations, he says to the one seeking benefit: “I have looked at what you handed me, and I recognised all the narrations. These are my narrations from my shaykhs, so narrate them from me.” A group of imams of hadith said: This is hearing (sama سماع).

A group held that for what is read to the scholar and he permits it, or confirms it, one says: “It was read to so and so (quriʾa ʿala fulan قُرِئَ على فلان),” and one does not say: “He narrated to us (haddathana حدثنا)” or “He informed us (akhbarana أخبرنا),” as in Jamiʿ Bayan al ʿIlm.

Abu Jaʿfar al Tahawi (d. 321 AH) said: The people of knowledge differed about a man who reads to the scholar and the scholar confirms it for him, what should he say, “He informed us (akhbarana أخبرنا)” or “He narrated to us (haddathana حدثنا).” A group said: There is no difference. Abu Hanifah (d. 150 AH) said: “Read to me, and say: ‘He narrated to me (haddathani حدثني).’”

Abu Jaʿfar (d. 321 AH) also said: When they differed, we looked at what they differed about, and we did not find any difference between “hadith” and “khabar” in the Book of Allah, nor in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. As for the Book of Allah, His statement, mighty and exalted, is:

يومئذ تحدث أخبارها
“On that day it will speak its news.” (az Zalzalah 4)

So He made “hadith” and “khabar” one. He also said, in something like it:

هل أتاك حديث الجنود
“Has the report of the armies reached you.” (al Buruj 17)

And He said:

ولا يكتمون الله حديثاً
“And they will not hide any report from Allah.” (an Nisa 42)

And He said:

الله أنزل أحسن الحديث كتاباً
“Allah has sent down the best report, a Book.” (az Zumar 23)

Then he said: This all indicates that there is no difference between “He informed us (akhbarana أخبرنا)” and “He narrated to us (haddathana حدثنا).”

A group held that for what is read to the scholar and he permits it and confirms it, one says: “It was read to so and so (quriʾa ʿala fulan قُرِئَ على فلان),” and one does not say: “He narrated to us (haddathana حدثنا)” or “He informed us (akhbarana أخبرنا).”

Malik’s Choice of Terms

Malik (d. 179 AH) chose, from the types of narration and reporting, “presentation,” and its meaning was already explained. For further clarification in explaining it, it is that the one who wants to narrate from him comes with a portion of his narrations and reads them to him, or one of those sitting reads while the rest listen, and the shaykh’s work in this is to refine and correct what he hears.

Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) held firmly to “presentation.” He did not accept the hearing of anyone except through it. Mutarrif ibn ʿAbd Allah (d. 220 AH) said: I accompanied Malik for seventeen years, and I never saw him read al Muwatta to anyone, and I heard him refuse it strongly against the one who says: Nothing is sufficient except direct hearing.

He would say: “How can this not be sufficient for you in Prophetic narrations, yet it is sufficient for you in the Qur’an, and the Qur’an is greater. How can it not satisfy you to take by presentation, while the hadith scholar took by presentation. Why do you not permit for yourself to present, as he presented.”

Nafiʿ ibn ʿAbd Allah said: I sat with Malik for forty years, or thirty five years, every day going early, leaving late, and returning, and I never heard him read anything at all to any person.

ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Mahdi (d. 198 AH) said: What I read to Malik is more firmly fixed in me than what I heard from him. As he narrated to people by presentation, he took by presentation. Ibn ʿUyaynah (d. 198 AH) said: Malik and Maʿmar (d. 154 AH) took from al Zuhri (d. 124 AH) by presentation, and I took by direct hearing, and it is clear he is proud of that, because direct hearing, with him, is better than presentation, and it was heard directly.

ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar, and he is not the Companion, said: Most of what I heard from al Zuhri, I and Malik took by presentation. Malik used to read to us, and he had a good recitation.

Ibn Mahdi (d. 198 AH) said: Malik was asked about his taking from al Zuhri, and he said: Most of it was by presentation.

Yahya ibn Bukayr (d. 231 AH) said: When we finished reading al Muwatta to Malik, a man stood to him and said: “Abu ʿAbd Allah, how do you speak about this,” meaning presentation. Malik said: “If you wish, say: ‘He narrated to us.’ If you wish, say: ‘He informed us.’ If you wish, say: ‘He narrated to me’ and ‘He informed me.’” And I think he said: “If you wish, say: ‘I heard.’”

In al Bukhari (d. 256 AH), in the Book of Knowledge, the chapter “Reading and presentation to the hadith scholar,” al Hasan (d. 110 AH), Sufyan (d. 161 AH), and Malik (d. 179 AH) held reading permissible, meaning presentation. Sufyan al Thawri (d. 161 AH) and Malik (d. 179 AH) held reading and hearing both permissible. (Tartib al Madarik 154–157, 165, 179. Tazyin al Mamalik 30. al Dibaj al Madhhab 23. Miftah al Saʿadah 2/88.)

It is also narrated from Sufyan (d. 161 AH) that he said: If it is read to the hadith scholar, then there is no harm that he says: “He narrated to me” and “I heard.” Some used as proof for reading to the scholar the narration of Dammam ibn Thaʿlabah, that he said to the Prophet ﷺ: “Allah commanded you that we pray the five prayers.” He said: “Yes.” This is reading to the Prophet ﷺ. Dammam told his people of that, and they accepted it. The Hafiz said: Meaning they accepted it from him, and he did not mean the later technical permission used by hadith scholars.

Malik used as proof the document read to people, where they say: “So and so made us witnesses,” and it is read to them, and it is read to the one being read to, and the reader says: “So and so read to me.”

From al Hasan (d. 110 AH): There is no harm in reading to the scholar.

Malik said, in the hearing of al Qasim, Ibn Wahb (d. 197 AH), and others: Presentation is more pleasing to me than hearing, and more firmly fixed, if the one reading is careful.

A man sought judgment against Malik, a man from Khurasan, and the judge of Madinah ruled, and he said: I came from Khurasan, and we do not hold presentation, and Malik refused that he reads to us, so the judge ruled against Malik that he must read for him. It was said to him: Did he reach the truth. He said: Yes.

This is what is famous about Malik. Yet some say that he heard al Muwatta from Malik. Among them is Yahya ibn Bukayr (d. 231 AH), and he mentioned that he heard al Muwatta from Malik fourteen times, and he claimed most of it was with Malik reading. Among them is Muhammad ibn al Hasan (d. 189 AH), the companion of Abu Hanifah (d. 150 AH). Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) said: Muhammad ibn al Hasan said: I stayed at Malik’s door for three years, and I heard from his spoken wording more than seven hundred narrations.

From Malik’s ways of reporting is what Mutarrif said: I attended Malik and a man would come to him with a notebook, asking him to answer it, and he would do so. He permitted handing over, and Malik and al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) and a group of preservers disliked permission, while a group permitted it.

I say: Whatever the case may be, direct hearing is stronger than presentation. If Malik had made people hear the narrations directly, there would not have been this difference, or the increase and decrease in al Muwatta. Often the listener becomes distracted and delivery happens without firm precision and checking

It was already mentioned that Malik might become distracted, and his daughter would correct him from behind the curtain. There is no doubt that what al Bukhari (d. 256 AH) and Muslim (d. 261 AH) narrated is more precise because it was built upon hearing, not upon presentation. (al Bukhari 1/157 with the commentary of al Hafiz. Tartib al Madarik 1/121–154 and 162–163. Tahdhib al Tahdhib 10/9. Jamiʿ Bayan al ʿIlm 2/176. Hilyat al Awliya 6/320 and 330. Maʿrifat ʿUlum al Hadith 259–260. Manaqib al Zawawi 34 and 35. Manaqib al Shafiʿi by al Bayhaqi 2/35.)

Malik’s Gathering

The gathering of Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) was a gathering of awe, calm, and honour. No one, no matter how bold and knowledgeable, could speak in it with a word unless he had fully controlled its delivery, its suitability, and its place. No one could ask except in a state of good manners and lowering the voice, and the question had to be about something that is normally difficult or unclear for people of understanding.

No listener dared to ask the imam for more narrations when he wanted to end. Otherwise, the sticks would reach him, and he would be removed from the masjid or from the house.

We already spoke about his gathering in the Masjid of the Prophet ﷺ at the beginning of his affair. Here we mention something of his gathering for Prophetic narrations and knowledge in the masjid or in his house, when he was the scholar of Madinah with no rival. He had completed al Muwatta, and with it, and with other than it, he was the scholar of Madinah in his era.

Groups used to come to attend his gathering, group after group, from the east of the lands and the west of the lands. Their crowding at the door of his house would become intense. All of them were eager to take Prophetic narrations from their source, and to take legal understanding from the first hadith scholar who was also a jurist.

When their number became large, he would tell his caller to bring in those closest, then those next closest, by closeness to him and his heart.

Yahya, meaning al Qattan (d. 198 AH), said: We used to gather at Malik’s door. When we all arrived, the caller would shout for the people of Madinah to enter. Then he would call for the people of the Levant, then the people of Iraq, then he would permit others, so they entered. We would greet him, and he would be silent, and we would be silent for a while.

If he saw our crowding, he would say: “Be dignified, for it helps you. Let the younger among you know the right of the older among you.” He would not make space for anyone in his circle, and he would not raise anyone above others. He would leave each one to sit where his sitting place ended.

His gathering was in a room in his house. In it there were carpets and rugs. At the front was a bedding for Malik, and no one else sat upon it.

When he sat to report Prophetic narrations, he would say: “Let those with understanding be nearest to me among you.”

When he sat, he would sit in a sitting that he would not move from until he stood up, no matter what happened, as long as he was in the sitting of knowledge. Yahya ibn Yahya al Andalusi (d. 234 AH) said: I was sitting with Malik, and two small lizards fell onto his head. They passed over his cap, then came close to his neck, until they entered under his collar, and they came out from under his clothes, and he did not shake them off, and he did not loosen his sitting. (Tartib al Madarik 154–157, 165, 179. Tazyin al Mamalik 30. al Dibaj al Madhhab. Miftah al Saʿadah 2/88.)

His gathering was a gathering of calm and stillness, until Ibn Qaʿnab said: I never saw any gathering with more dignity than Malik’s gathering, as if birds were on their heads. Abu Musʿab said: We used to be with Malik, and one person would not speak to another. People would keep their heads lowered like this. The rulers used to fear him while they were sitting listening. He would say in an issue: “No,” or “Yes,” and it would not be said to him: From where did you say this.

Some said: I saw Malik silent, not speaking, and not turning right or left, except that a person speaks to him, so he listens, then he answers with a little.

It was said to him about that, so he said: “Does anything throw people into Jahannam except this,” and he pointed to his tongue. “It reached me that a man entered upon Abu Bakr al Siddiq while he was pulling his tongue and saying: ‘This is what brought me into the dangerous places.’ If that is him, then what about us, unless Allah covers us with His mercy.”

From Malik’s habit in his gathering was that he would not speak with anything until he said:

سبحانك لا علم لنا إلا ما علمتنا إنك أنت العليم الحكيم
“Glory be to You, we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Truly You are the All Knowing, the All Wise.” (al Baqarah 32)

Al narrator, al Hasan ibn Rabiʿ al Buwari, said: I entered upon Malik, and I was the last of the people to enter upon him, and among us was Hammad, the son of Abu Hanifah. He said: “Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.” People gestured to him with their hands, meaning be silent. He said: Are we in prayer, so we do not speak. I heard Malik say: I seek Allah’s guidance twice. Then he said: “Nafiʿ informed us,” and he narrated to us twenty narrations. Then he said: “Bring them out,” and the sticks reached us.

Musʿab said: I saw Malik on a reclining bedding, and no one sat with him upon it, and Quraysh were sitting. If a man from Banu Hashim came, he would fold his leg and seat him on his reclining bedding. He would turn towards him and not turn to anyone until he finished.

Al Tustari said: This is outside the gathering of knowledge, and this is correct, because Malik made the caliph Harun al Rashid come down from his bedding and sit with the people, out of humility for knowledge, as will come. He did not differ in this between an older and a younger, a caliph or a market man, a scholar or a person of no knowledge.

He would see a man writing in his gathering, and he would not forbid him, but he would not respond to him and he would not discuss with him. His narrator would read in front of the people, and the people were silent, as if birds were on their heads. If the reader made a mistake, Malik corrected him and fixed it for him. There would be no speaking and no questions except the narrator reading, and Malik correcting, until he finished. Then everything ended, and the people left.

The older, the younger, jurists, and others, were all equal in his gathering of knowledge. He did not bring someone forward because of his honour and knowledge, and he did not delay someone lesser. Jaʿfar ibn Ibrahim said: A friend of my father spoke to Malik so that I could hear from him, and he permitted it.

I used to go to him, and I was proud of my lineage to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and my position. I would step over people to Malik’s cushion, and he would not move, and he showed me that he did not bring me close. I complained about that to my father and others, and they sent to him asking him to honour me and give me preference.

Malik said to the messenger: “With us, he and others are the same. These are gatherings of knowledge. The one who reaches them first has the strongest right to them.” So I used to come, and people would already be surrounding, and no space was made for me, so I would sit where I found space.

Ibn al Mundhir said: Malik had a circle in which the jurists of Madinah sat. He would not make space for any of them and he would not raise any of them. He would leave each one to sit where his sitting place ended. He did not exclude anyone from this stance, even the caliphs, and their mention will come.

He disliked that someone asks him for more Prophetic narrations, or more questions in legal understanding. If someone went beyond the limits he kept to, he punished him. Ismaʿil al Qawariri said: I entered upon Malik and asked him for Prophetic narrations.

He narrated to me, I think, twelve narrations. I asked him for more, and there were two black servants standing over his head, so they carried me and took me out of his house and threw me into the road, or something like that.

Baqiyyah ibn al Walid entered upon Malik. People said: Today we will benefit from Abu Muhammad, he will ask Malik issues and we will write them from him. He asked him about six issues, and Malik answered them all. Then he asked after that, so Malik said to him: “You have increased.” “Take the shaykh by the hand.” Two men came and took him by his fingers and brought him out.

Bishr ibn Adam said: A man asked Malik about an issue, then another, and Malik answered him. Then a third, and Malik did not answer him. The man said: Why. Malik said: “Young man, take his hand and take him to prison.” The man said: I am the judge of the Commander of the Believers. Malik said: That is easier for you. The man said: I will not return. Malik said: Release him.

Ibn Mahdi (d. 198 AH) said: When Yahya ibn Abi Za’idah wanted Hajj, he spoke to ʿAbd Allah ibn Idris that he should write him a letter to Madinah so he could hear, and there was love between them, so he did.

He was hearing when a man came to him one day and said: “Abu ʿAbd Allah, what do you say about a man who made a will for his slave of one hundred dirhams.” Malik said: “The will is valid.” Yahya said: “Abu ʿAbd Allah, he makes a will of his wealth to his wealth.” Malik looked at those with him and said:

ولتعرفنهم في لحن القول
“And you will surely know them by the tone of their speech.” (Muhammad 30)

Then he said: “Do not return to me.”

He disliked argument and disputation, and he disliked bad manners in questioning, and a question that is not firm and clear. He would become tight even by being asked about the chain of a narration he reports. Ismaʿil, the son of the daughter of al Sindi, said: I asked Malik about the narration of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, “That he did the fast walk from stone to stone.” I said: Its chain, meaning I asked for its chain. Malik said: Drag him by his leg.

Ibn Bukayr said: A man stood to Malik and said: Shall I present. Malik said: Yes. The man said: Did Ibn Shihab narrate to you from Salim. Malik said to him: You are heavy. Someone else stand. Another stood and said: Ibn Shihab narrated to you from Salim, without a question. Malik said: You did well. This is how presentation should be.

ʿAbd al Razzaq said: While we were in al Masjid al Haram, it was said to us: This is Malik. We met him entering from the gate of Banu Hashim. He was wearing a cloak and a Sanʿani shirt. He made tawaf, then went to the side of al Safa and prayed two units, then sat holding his knees. When he finished, we surrounded him as the people of Prophetic narrations do.

When we sat, he stood up from between us as if angry. We went to our shaykhs and they said: What did you write from Malik. We told them what he did. They said: What you did, Malik cannot bear. The next day we came one by one, with calmness upon us. He narrated to us and said: What you did yesterday is the action of foolish people.

Ismaʿil ibn Yaʿqub al Sahmi said: I was sitting with Malik ibn Anas one day when the people of the season were coming out. A man from Iraq sat to him and asked him about an issue, and he answered. Then he asked again, and he answered. Then he asked an issue and he refused to answer him. The Iraqi said: I spent and I came this way, and I am seeking guidance, so guide me.

Malik said: It reached me that the Prophet ﷺ said: “There is no faith for the one who has no modesty.” The Iraqi said: It reached me that the Prophet ﷺ said: “When the face of a man becomes thick, his religion becomes thin.” A group from Malik’s sitting companions jumped at him, removed his turban, threw it around his neck, and choked him with it.

In this way Malik walked the path of the honour of knowledge and the high rank of the scholar, so that people would look at the religion of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with honour and manners.

What we saw of him refusing extra questioning and pushing some seekers away, who wanted hearing, knowledge, and benefit, may contain some exaggeration in the reports. Yet we still believe he went far in his method and he used a hard way in teaching people. If he had used an easy way, it would have been better, more excellent, and more sincere. But people have different states and different natures. Allah created creation like that. (Tartib al Madarik 154–157 and 165–179. Tazyin al Mamalik 30. al Dibaj al Madhhab. Miftah al Saʿadah 2/88.)

al Muwatta – Introduction

When al Muwatta is mentioned, Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) is mentioned with it and made great by it. When Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) is mentioned, al Muwatta is mentioned with him and made great by it. They are tied together, like a thing and its shadow. Al Muwatta may be the first book, and the most famous, in its arrangement and structure, its legal reasoning and transmission, its narrations and legal understanding. It was the greatest reference in its era and the earliest.

As the judge said, no book from the books of Prophetic narrations and knowledge was cared for like people cared for al Muwatta.

The one who agreed and the one who disagreed all agreed on its rank, its excellence, its narration, and putting its narrations first and declaring them sound.

As for those who cared about speaking about its narrators and its narrations, and writing works about that, they are many, from the Malikis and others from the people of Prophetic narrations and Arabic language. Some of that will come, Allah willing, with some detail.

The Meaning of al Muwatta

Al Muwatta, in language, is the eased and prepared. They say: “A man whose sides are easy,” its root meaning is that the sides of his house are easy, and it is easy to reach them. Its figurative meaning is that no one finds difficulty reaching him, because of the ease of his character and gentleness of his side.

In a way like this Malik named his book al Muwatta, meaning its path is made easy and does not prevent people from understanding it. Al Zurqani said: The word al Muwatta means the prepared and refined.

Abu al Hasan ibn Fahr narrated from ʿAli ibn Ahmad al Khaliji that he said: I heard some shaykhs say: Malik said: “I presented this book of mine to seventy jurists from the jurists of Madinah, and all of them agreed with me upon it, so I named it al Muwatta.”

This makes its naming from agreement, meaning approval, and this was not narrated from anyone other than him.

It was also narrated that when Malik wanted to write, he remained thinking: What name should he give his work. He said: I slept, and I saw the Prophet ﷺ, and he said to me: “Make this knowledge easy for people.” So he named his book al Muwatta.

Yet the name al Muwatta did not begin with Malik. ʿAbd al ʿAziz al Majishun was the one who used it before him, as will come. He was the first to compile a “Muwatta,” in which he mentioned what the people of Madinah agreed upon, and he left out Prophetic narrations, because Prophetic narrations were not his field. When Malik saw it, he approved his work and said: “How excellent what he did. If it were me, I would have begun with the reports, then strengthened that with discussion.”

Then Malik resolved to compile al Muwatta, and he decided to gather a book whose chapters include sound narrations and the practice of the people of Madinah in the chapters of legal understanding. He compiled it, completed it, and improved it over a long time.

The ulama in Madinah at that time made “Muwattas,” so it was said to Malik: You occupied yourself with making this book, and people shared with you in it and made its like.

Malik said: Bring me what they made. It was brought, so he looked into it and said: “You will surely know that nothing rises except what was intended by it the Face of Allah Most High.” Ibn ʿAbd al Barr (d. 463 AH) said: It is as if those books were thrown into wells, and nothing was heard of any of them after that with mention. For this reason, al Muwatta is not mentioned except that Malik is mentioned with it.

Its Completion

When was the compilation of al Muwatta completed. The closest view is that its writing was completed in the year 159 AH, after the death of al Mansur, and Malik’s age then was about sixty six years. If its writing ended in that year, then when did he begin it.

This is not made clear. Malik said, while speaking to people: “A book I compiled in forty years, you took it in forty days, and how little you understand in it.” If he means firm accuracy, then he began its writing in youth, and most likely he intended exaggeration.

He said in another place sixty instead of forty, when he said to Abu Khalid: “Knowledge a shaykh gathered in sixty years, you took it in four days.

You will never understand.” If taken literally, he would have been six years old when he wrote al Muwatta, and this is impossible. It must be carried as exaggeration.

Al Darawardi said: I was sleeping in al Rawdah between the grave and the pulpit, and I saw the Prophet ﷺ come out from the grave, leaning on Abu Bakr and ʿUmar. Then he returned.

I went to him and said: Messenger of Allah, from where did you come. He said: “I went to Malik ibn Anas, and I established for him the straight path.” He said: So I went to Malik and found him writing al Muwatta. I told him the report and he cried.

Praise for al Muwatta

Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) said: “There is no book on earth after the Book of Allah, mighty and exalted, more beneficial than Malik’s al Muwatta.” He said: “When a report comes from Malik’s book, it is like the Qur’an from Malik ibn Anas’s book,” meaning al Muwatta.

He said: “If not for Malik and Ibn ʿUyaynah, who would preserve the narrations of the people of the Hijaz.” He also said: “There is no book after the Book of Allah Most High with more correctness than Malik’s al Muwatta.” He said: “No book was placed on earth that is closer to the truth than Malik’s al Muwatta.”

Ibn Mahdi (d. 198 AH) said: I do not know anything from the knowledge of Islam after the Qur’an that is more sound than Malik’s al Muwatta.

Ibn Wahb (d. 197 AH) said: Whoever wrote Malik’s al Muwatta, then he does not need to write anything of halal and haram.

Abu Zurʿah said: If a man swore by divorce that the narrations in al Muwatta are all sound, he would not break his oath. If he swore that about the narrations of someone else, he would break his oath. In this there is some exaggeration.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH) was asked about Malik ibn Anas’s book and he said: How excellent it is for the one who makes it his religion.

Yahya ibn ʿUthman said: I heard Zayd ibn Maryam while he was reading to him Malik’s al Muwatta, and his two nephews had travelled to Iraq seeking knowledge. He said: If my two nephews stayed in Iraq for their lifetimes writing night and day, they would not bring knowledge like Malik’s al Muwatta.

ʿUmar ibn Abi Salamah said: I did not read the chapter of “al Jamiʿ” from Malik’s al Muwatta except that a visitor came to us in sleep and said: “This is the speech of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ truly.”

Abu Musa al Ansari said: A fire occurred in the home of a man and everything in the house burned, except the Mushaf and al Muwatta.

Some praised al Muwatta in poetry, among that is what the judge attributed to al Saʿdun al Warjini, and al Zawawi narrated it for Abu ʿUthman al Arjuwani, with differences in its lines, and increase and decrease. Its meaning in English is:

“I say to the one who narrates Prophetic narrations and writes, and walks the paths of legal understanding, and seeks it. If you love to be called, with the truth, a scholar, then do not leave the knowledge that Yathrib holds. Would you leave a land where, between its houses, Jibril went and came.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ died there, and after him his Companions took manners from his Sunnah. Then the people after them differed, and every one had a path in it. Malik gathered it for people with refined shaping, and from him is soundness in what is firm and known. If the light of al Muwatta did not appear for the one who travels at night, his blindness would not know where he goes.

So rush to Malik’s al Muwatta before his death, for after it, if it is missed, there is no reaching the truth. Leave for al Muwatta every knowledge you seek, for al Muwatta is the sun and knowledge is a star. It is knowledge with Allah after His Book, and in it is a truthful tongue that speaks the truth. Its reports made it clear with their arrows, and no one in the lands can deny them. From what the people of the Hijaz boast is that al Muwatta is kept away in Iraq.

Whoever does not have al Muwatta written in his home, that home is deprived of success. Do you marvel that it rose in his life, while its rising after death is more marvellous. May Allah reward us through Malik’s al Muwatta with the best reward given to a refined person of intellect. He perfected what he gathered in all he narrated. This is what the one who fears Allah does.

He surpassed the people of knowledge in life and death, so examples among people were set by him. He did not surpass them except by piety and fear, and because he was pleased for Allah and angered for Allah. May his grave continue to be given every passing rain cloud, with sweet scented rain poured upon it.”

Abu Tahir Ahmad ibn Muhammad al Isfahani also said in praise of al Muwatta, in meaning:

“The most beneficial book for the jurist is Malik’s al Muwatta, with no doubt. Do not begin with anything in hearing besides it, from an imam you are pleased with. Keep company with the one who honours it, and avoid the book of everyone who belittles it.”

The judge ʿIyad also recited in that, in meaning:

“When the books of knowledge are mentioned, the best of them is the book al Muwatta among Malik’s compilations. It is the soundest in narrations, the firmest in Prophetic practice, and the clearest path in legal understanding for the traveller. Chains like mountains, sound, and views like the interwoven lights of stars. It is the clear proof and the protection that saves from destruction. By it guidance is taken in every matter, and by it the one who follows is followed.

In it is the clearing of dark difficulties. Agreement passed upon it in every Ummah, despite the nose of the jealous destroyer. It was the first refined compilation, so it became a path for all who walk those paths. It gathered forms, used fine wording, and perfected arrangement. It came like an ordered design, and pure gold was refined like the refining of the goldsmith. Take the knowledge of religion from it pure, and take from it the knowledge of the blessed Prophet ﷺ. Hold it firmly, for whoever turns away from it is destroyed.”

Abu al Husayn Ahmad ibn Faris al Qazwini recited, in meaning:

“If you want to know clear matters of knowledge, then read the book al Muwatta. You will find, when you gather it, the obligations of Allah and the Sunnah of Ahmad, written clearly. Leave what the ignorant force themselves into, with hidden words and covered meanings. Take knowledge that gives benefits, in wording, meaning, explanation, and clarity.”

These poets spoke about the rank of al Muwatta with truthful expression. Every Maliki feels it, rather every jurist, and every one who cares for the earliest sources in Prophetic narrations and legal reasoning.

Ibn ʿAsakir (d. 571 AH), the author of Tarikh Dimashq, compiled a treatise on the virtue of al Muwatta and named it “Kashf al Mughata fi Fadl al Muwatta.” In its beginning he mentioned some dreams that point to the value of al Muwatta and the virtue of Malik.

He followed that with the testimony of the senior ulama, and some of that already passed, then he mentioned the resolve of some of the early Abbasid caliphs to make people follow al Muwatta instead of other than it, and discussion of that will come.

The Narrators of al Muwatta

The judge ʿIyad mentioned the number of those who narrated al Muwatta as a little over sixty, and he mentioned their names. He said: These are the ones we confirmed that they narrated al Muwatta, and the people of reports and those who spoke about narrators stated that. The Hafiz Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah al Dimashqi, known as Ibn Nasir al Din, brought the narrators of al Muwatta to eighty three narrators in his book “Ithaf al Salik bi Ruwat al Muwatta ʿan Malik.”

As for the well known narrations of al Muwatta, al Zurqani said: What became famous of the copies of al Muwatta from those I narrated, or I saw, or that were in the narrations of our shaykhs, or that the writers of the differences in the Muwattas quoted from, is about twenty copies. Some mentioned they are thirty copies.

The Hafiz Salah al Din al ʿAla’i said: Groups many narrated al Muwatta from Malik, and between their narrations there is difference in bringing forward and delaying, and increase and decrease.

In Kashf al Zunun: Abu al Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Husayn al Shafiʿi said: The known Muwattas from Malik are eleven, and their meaning is close. What is used from them is four: the Muwatta of Yahya ibn Yahya, the Muwatta of Ibn Bukayr, the Muwatta of Musʿab, and he is Abu Musʿab Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr al Zuhri, and the Muwatta of Ibn Wahb. Then use weakened except in the Muwatta of Yahya, then the Muwatta of Ibn Bukayr.

In bringing chapters forward and delaying them there is difference in the copies. The most found arrangement is the arrangement of al Baji, which is that he follows prayer with funerals, then zakah, then fasting, then the copies agree until the end of Hajj, then they differ after that.

People differed in preferring the greatest narrators of al Muwatta. Yahya ibn Maʿin (d. 233 AH) said: The most firmly fixed of people in al Muwatta is ʿAbd Allah ibn Maslamah al Qaʿnabi (d. 221 AH), and after him ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf al Tanisi (d. 218 AH).

Ibn al Madini (d. 234 AH) and al Nasa’i (d. 303 AH) also stated that al Qaʿnabi is the most firmly fixed of people in al Muwatta. Al Zurqani said: That is carried upon the people of his era, because he lived after al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) by a little more than ten years.

He said: It is possible that preferring al Qaʿnabi is because he heard much of al Muwatta from Malik’s spoken wording, based on the view that hearing from the shaykh’s spoken wording is more firmly fixed than reading to him.

The sound view is that he narrated half of al Muwatta by hearing and half by reading.

Al Hakim said: Ibn al Madini was asked about al Qaʿnabi and he said: I do not put any narrator of al Muwatta ahead of al Qaʿnabi.

Al Qaʿnabi was a Basran, trustworthy, a worshipper, and virtuous. Al Khalili said: We were with Malik and it was said: al Qaʿnabi arrived. Malik said: Stand, let us go to the best of the people of the earth.

Abu Zurʿah said: I did not write from anyone greater in my eyes than him.

Abu Hatim said about him: Trustworthy, an authority.

Al Bukhari narrated from him one hundred and twenty three narrations, and Muslim narrated from him seventy narrations. He died, as al Bukhari said, in the year 221 AH.

Some relied on the narration of al Muwatta by Yahya ibn Yahya ibn Kathir al Laythi (d. 234 AH), and it appears they are the majority. When al Muwatta of Malik is mentioned without detail, it is understood as this. It is the most famous among hadith scholars, and it remained, and use of other than it weakened.

Yahya narrated al Muwatta from Malik except a little of it, for he doubted his hearing of it, so he narrated it from Ziyad ibn ʿAbd Allah Shabtun from Malik.

Ibn ʿAbd al Barr said, about Yahya ibn Yahya: The legal verdicts of al Andalus returned to him after ʿIsa ibn Dinar, and the ruler and common people ended up following his view. He was a jurist with good judgment, trustworthy, intelligent, and of good guidance and conduct. He said: He did not have strong insight in Prophetic narrations.

He also said, in the biography of Ibn Shihab in al Tamhid: By my life, the transmission of Yahya ibn Yahya from Malik was achieved, and I found it among the best of Malik’s companions in wording, and among the strongest of them in firm checking in the places where the narrators of al Muwatta differed, except that he has error and misreading in many places. He died in Rajab of the year 234 AH.

Some ulama preferred the Muwatta in the narration of ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf al Tanisi (d. 218 AH). Ibn Maʿin said: The most trustworthy of people in al Muwatta is al Qaʿnabi, then ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf.

He said once: No one remains on the surface of the earth more trustworthy in al Muwatta than ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf. Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil al Bukhari (d. 256 AH), despite his strong searching, relied upon him in Malik. ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf’s origin was from Damascus, and he lived in Tanis, an island in the sea of Egypt.

Al Bukhari said about him: He was among the most firmly fixed of the people of the Levant. Al Khalili said: Trustworthy, agreed upon. Al Bukhari narrated from him. Abu Dawud, al Tirmidhi, and al Nasa’i narrated from him through Muhammad ibn Ishaq al Saghani and Ibrahim ibn Yaʿqub al Jawzajani. He died in the year 218 AH.

Among the greatest narrations of al Muwatta is the narration of Abu Musʿab Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr, whose name is al Qasim, ibn al Harith ibn Zurarah ibn Musʿab, al Zuhri al Madani, and he is truthful.

Ibn Hazm said: In the Muwatta of Abu Musʿab there is an addition of more than one hundred narrations.

Al Daraqutni preferred him over Yahya ibn Bukayr. Al Zubayr ibn Bakkar said about him: He died while he was the jurist of the people of Madinah with no rival. Al Hakim said: He was a jurist, austere, knowledgeable of the ways of the people of Madinah.

The group narrated from him, but al Nasa’i did so through the tailor of the Sunnah, and he is Zakariya ibn Yahya ibn Iyas ibn Salamah al Sijzi, known as the tailor of the Sunnah.

Some preferred the narration of al Muwatta of al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH). Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH) said: I heard al Muwatta from a few and ten men from the preservers among Malik’s companions, then I repeated it with al Shafiʿi because I found him the most upright of them. Al Shafiʿi is more famous than to need introduction. He memorised al Muwatta before the age of fifteen, then he presented it to Malik. He died in the year 204 AH.

Some people held the narration of al Muwatta by ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Qasim (d. 191 AH). Al Nasa’i (d. 303 AH) said: No one narrated al Muwatta from Malik more firmly fixed than Ibn al Qasim, and none of Malik’s companions with me is like him. It was said to him: Even Ashhab.

He said: Not Ashhab nor anyone else. He is truly astonishing, in virtue, zuhd, sound narration, and fine reporting. His narrations testify for him. He said: Ibn al Qasim is trustworthy and safe, a righteous man. Glory be to Allah, how excellent his narrations are, and how sound they are from Malik.

He does not differ in a single word. He was from those who learned legal understanding from Malik and built branches upon his foundations. Discussion of him will also come with Malik’s companions in legal understanding. Al Khalili said about him: An ascetic, agreed upon, the first to bring al Muwatta to Egypt, and he is an imam. He died in the year 191 AH.

Among the Muwattas narrated from Malik is the narration of Muhammad ibn al Hasan al Shaybani (d. 189 AH), the companion of Abu Hanifah (d. 150 AH). In his Muwatta there are a few narrations he reports from other than Malik, and others added beyond the famous narrations. It is also missing a number of narrations firmly fixed in the rest of the narrations.

Muhammad ibn al Hasan (d. 189 AH) said: I stayed with Malik ibn Anas for three years and more, and he said: I heard from his spoken wording more than seven hundred narrations.

From what is curious is that when he narrated in his town from Malik, his house became filled and people became many until the place became too tight for them.

If he narrated to them from other than Malik from the shaykhs of Kufah, only a few came. He used to say: I do not know anyone who gives worse praise of your companions than you do. If I narrate to you from Malik, you fill the place upon me.

If I narrate to you from your companions, meaning the Kufans, you only come while disliking it.

Some said: Ahmad chose in his Musnad the narration of Ibn Mahdi and also the narration of al Shafiʿi. Al Bukhari chose the narration of al Tanisi. Muslim chose the narration of Yahya ibn Yahya al Nisaburi. Abu Dawud chose the narration of al Qaʿnabi. Al Nasa’i chose the narration of Qutaybah ibn Saʿid. All of this is in general.

From those who narrated al Muwatta is the caliph Harun al Rashid. The original of the Muwatta, the hearing of al Rashid, is in the treasury of the Egyptians, as al Suyuti said.

Al Suyuti said: What he meant by what they differed in is what was with some narrators of al Muwatta and not with others.

The reason the copies differed is that Imam Malik wrote the book for himself in particular, so that he would not make mistakes in what he gives to the group, as was the practice of the people of his level from the ulama in their compilations.

For this reason, he would add to it and remove from it as it appeared to him in each round from the different rounds of reading. So the copies of al Muwatta differed in arrangement, chapters, increase and decrease, chains, and omission of names in the chain, according to the difference of the gatherings of those who wrote down.

The narrators, with their different completions, became, in reality, the ones who wrote down its forms. Among them is one who heard al Muwatta read to Malik seventeen times or more or less, by staying close for long periods that fit those times.

Among them is one who sat with him about three years until he was able to hear his narrations from his spoken wording.

Among them is one who heard it in eight months. Among them is one who heard it in forty days. Among them is one who heard it in his old age in a short period. Among them is one who heard it in four days, and other than that.

The levels of those who wrote down differ in understanding, precision, weakness, and strength. So the places where they agree are at the highest level of soundness from Malik. The places where they differ, and where one alone has something, may go down or go up, according to their level in the books of narrators.

The Shaykhs of Malik in the Muwatta

The shaykhs of Malik (d. 179 AH) exceed 1,000 trustworthy men, and only a small number of them were criticised by people and graded as weak. As for those Malik narrated from in the Muwatta, they are about 95 men. Al Hafiz, the critic, Abu al Hasan ʿAli ibn ʿUmar al Daraqutni (d. 385 AH) mentioned them in his work called “Ahadith al Muwatta.”

Al ʿAllamah al Suyuti (d. 911 AH) also mentioned them in his book “Tazyin al Mamalik.” We mention them here as they came in the book of al Daraqutni, and the amount Malik narrated from each of them.

Malik from al Zuhri (d. 124 AH) in the Muwatta: 108. Of these, 95 are agreed upon, and 13 differ between the narrators of the Muwatta, between addition and omission, and connected and disconnected.

Nafiʿ (d. 117 AH): 85. Of these, 75 are agreed upon, and 10 differ.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Dinar (d. 127 AH): 31, 5 of them differ.

Yahya ibn Saʿid (d. 143 AH): 39, 5 of them differ.

Zayd ibn Aslam (d. 136 AH): 26, 2 of them differ.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Bakr: 18, 2 of them differ.

Ishaq ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Talhah (d. 132 AH): 18, 4 differ.

Sumayy, and he is the freedman of Abu Bakr ibn ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Harith, Abu ʿAbd Allah al Madani: 13 sound narrations.

Suhayl: 11, 2 differ.

Abu al Nadr: 13, 2 differ.

Abu Hazim: 8, 1 of them was uniquely reported by Maʿn.

ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Qasim (d. 126 AH): 7, Ibn ʿUfair omitted 1 of them.

Rabiʿah (d. 136 AH): 5.

Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad (d. 148 AH): 7, 2 differ.

Humayd al Tawil (d. 142 AH): 6.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Yazid, the freedman of al Aswad: 5.

Al Maqburi: 4.

Ibn al Munkadir (d. 130 AH): 5.

Abu al Aswad: 4.

Ibn al Hadi: 3.

Ibn Husayfah: 3.

Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Hibban: 4.

Dawud ibn al Husayn: 4, 1 differs.

ʿAbd al Rahman ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Saʿsaʿah: 3.

ʿUmar ibn Yahya: 3.

Nuʿaym al Mujammir: 3.

Thawr ibn Zayd (d. 158 AH): 3, 1 differs.

Ayyub al Sakhtiyani (d. 131 AH): 3, and another is cut off.

Yusuf ibn Yunus: 2, 1 differs.

Humayd ibn Qays: 2.

Khubayb ibn ʿAbd al Rahman: 2.

Salih ibn Kaysan (d. 140 AH): 2.

Safwan ibn Sulaym (d. 132 AH): 2.

Abu Bakr ibn Nafiʿ: 2.

Dumrah ibn Saʿid: 2.

Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Saʿsaʿah: 2.

Ibn Halhalah: 2.

Musa ibn ʿUqbah (d. 141 AH): 2.

Musa ibn Maysarah: 2.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Jabir ibn ʿUtayk: 2.

ʿAmir ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al Zubayr (d. 129 AH): 2.

ʿAlqamah ibn Abi ʿAlqamah: 2.

Muslim ibn Abi Maryam: 2 narrations, 1 differs.

And from those Malik narrated from with 1 narration:

Yazid ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Qusayt, Yazid ibn Ziyad, Yazid ibn Ruman, Qatan ibn Wahb, Wahb ibn Kaysan, Hilal ibn Usamah, Hashim ibn Hashim, Saʿd ibn Ishaq, Sharik ibn Abi Namir, Ismaʿil ibn Abi Hakim, Ismaʿil ibn Muhammad ibn Saʿd, Ayyub ibn Habib, Talhah ibn ʿAbd al Malik, Abu Bakr ibn ʿUmar, Abu Suhayl, his paternal uncle, Abu Layla ibn ʿAbd Allah, Ziyad ibn Saʿd, Zayd ibn Rabbah, Zayd ibn Abi Unaysah, Sayfi, the freedman of Ibn Aflah, Muhammad ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAlqamah, Muhammad ibn ʿUmarah, Muhammad ibn Abi Umamah, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al Thaqafi, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr ibn Hazm, Makhramah ibn Sulayman, Musa ibn Abi Tamim, Miswar ibn Rifaʿah, ʿAbd Allah ibn al Fadl, ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al Rahman, ʿAbd Allah ibn Salman al Agharr, ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Harmalah, ʿAmr ibn Abi ʿAmr, ʿAmr ibn al Harith, ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Abi ʿUmrah, Saʿid ibn ʿAmr ibn Sharhabil, Abu al Rijal, ʿAta al Khurasani, Salamah ibn Safwan, Sadaqah ibn Yasar.

And 6 whom he did not name. So the agreed upon total from that is 565 narrations, and the disputed total is 71 narrations, besides the 6 he did not name in the narrations. We already mentioned earlier the meaning of difference in copies and narration.

It appears that all his men are from the people of Madinah except 7 men, and they are: Abu al Zubayr from the people of Makkah, and Humayd al Tawil and Ayyub al Sakhtiyani from the people of al Basrah, and ʿAta ibn ʿAbd Allah from the people of Khurasan, and ʿAbd al Karim from the people of al Jazirah, and Ibrahim ibn Abi ʿAblah from the people of the Levant.

The Muwatta and What It Contains of Connected Sound Narrations, Missing Links, Reports Without Full Chains, and Other Than That

The statement of Ibn al Labbad was already mentioned, that Malik (d. 179 AH) narrated 100,000 narrations, and he gathered from them in the Muwatta 10,000, then he continued presenting them to the Book and the Sunnah, and testing them by reports and narrations, until they returned to 500.

Ahmad ibn Salih said: I looked in the original books of Malik and found something like 12,000 narrations.

Al Kiya al Harrasi (d. 504 AH) said: Malik’s Muwatta was 9,000 narrations, then he continued selecting until it returned to 700.

From Sulayman ibn Bilal (d. 172 AH): Malik compiled the Muwatta and in it were 4,000 narrations or more, and he died while it was 1,000 and some more.

He would reduce it year after year according to what he saw as more suitable for the Muslims and more fitting in the religion. Ahmad ibn Salih said: Malik’s narrations are 2,000 narrations, and something like 200 narrations, meaning those that were narrated from him and he reported them.

ʿAtiq ibn Yaʿqub al Zubayri said: Malik placed the Muwatta upon about 10,000 narrations, and he continued looking into it every year and removing from it until this remained. If a little had remained, he would have removed it all.

ʿAli ibn al Madini (d. 234 AH) said: Malik has about 1,000 narrations.

Ibn Abi Hatim said: I said to Ibn Maʿin (d. 233 AH): Malik has few narrations. He said: Because of how much he selects and distinguishes.

Yahya al Qattan (d. 198 AH) said: The knowledge of people was in addition, and Malik’s knowledge was in removal. If Malik had lived, he would have removed all his knowledge.

The truth is that Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) is among the most exact and most careful of the scholars of Prophetic narrations and the scholars of legal understanding. If he wanted to increase without careful checking, thousands would have been narrated from him.

It is strange, despite his strong care, that the Muwatta contains much with missing links and broken chains and multiple missing links, and reports without full chains, which is his statement “It reached us,” and his statement “from the trustworthy person with him,” from what he did not chain.

All of this is not used as proof with the imams, except the missing the Companion form. Yet he used it as proof and built upon it. Perhaps his excuse is that people in his era were used to accepting such reports. Strict chaining did not become firm, rather the hadith scholars after him became strict when lies became many. There is no doubt that when he leaves out the Companion, or when there is a multiple missing link or a break or a report without full chain, he is in the highest trust that what he uses as support from all of that is sound.

Abu Bakr al Abhari (d. 375 AH) compiled a work and counted everything in the Muwatta. He said: The total in the Muwatta of reports from the Prophet ﷺ and from the Sahabah and the Tabiʿin is 1,720 narrations. The connected from them is 600 narrations, and the missing the Companion is 222 narrations, and the stopped, and it is what is chained to the Companion without raising it to the Prophet ﷺ and it was a matter of legal reasoning, is 613, and from the statements of the Tabiʿin is 235.

Al Ghafiqi said: The connected of the Muwatta is 600 narrations and 66 narrations, and this is what reached us in the connected collection of the Muwatta of Malik.

He said: That is because I examined the Muwatta from 12 narrations narrated from Malik, and they are the narration of ʿAbd Allah ibn Wahb (d. 197 AH), and ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Qasim (d. 191 AH), and ʿAbd Allah ibn Muslim al Qaʿnabi (d. 221 AH), and ʿAbd Allah ibn Yusuf al Tanisi (d. 218 AH), and Maʿn ibn ʿIsa, and Saʿid ibn ʿUfair, and Yahya ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Bukayr, and Abu Musʿab Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr al Zuhri, and Musʿab ibn ʿAbd Allah al Zubayri, and Muhammad ibn al Mubarak al Suri, and Sulayman ibn Burayd, and Yahya ibn Yahya al Andalusi (d. 234 AH).

I took the majority from their narrations, and I mentioned their differences in narrations and wordings, and what some of them left out, or stopped, while others connected it. Also what is missing the Companion that is close to the connected.

Ibn Hazm (d. 456 AH) said in his book “Maratib al Diyanah”: I counted what is in the Muwatta and found in it of connected narrations 500 and some more, and in it 300 and some more with missing the Companion, and in it 70 and some more narrations that Malik himself left acting upon, and in it weak narrations that most ulama weakened.

It appears that the purpose of the Muwatta is gathering the legal understanding of Madinah, not gathering the narrations that were sound with him. Otherwise, we would have seen many more sound narrations beyond what is in the Muwatta.

The Rank of the Muwatta Among the Books of Prophetic Narrations

The matter with no doubt is that the Muwatta of Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) is the first book that gathered between Prophetic narrations, reports, and legal understanding. It is also the first book that paved the way for those after him in gathering and careful checking.

Al Zawawi said, the author of “Manaqib Imam Malik”: “If it is said: How do you say that Malik opened the door for authors, while a group compiled before him, like ʿAbd al Malik ibn Jurayj (d. 150 AH), and Saʿid ibn Abi ʿArubah (d. 156 AH), and ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Abi Salamah (d. 164 AH), and Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad, and Abu Hanifah (d. 150 AH), with difference about who was earlier.

We say: Those people did not compile like the Muwatta, in gathering between Prophetic narrations, reports, legal understanding, sound judgement, arranging books, placing headings, and fine flow in compiling and arranging.

This is what no one preceded Malik in, and no one else saw before him. For that, his work appeared, became famous, its mention spread, and it became widely known, along with what Allah joined with it of success, and the good end of its author by his good intention in firm truth,” until the rest of what he said.

This is true regarding those before him. As for those who made their books only for what is sound, then there is discussion. Some argue for the Muwatta until they make it the first sound work and the last, and they do not place any earlier or later work above it.

Al Qadi Abu Bakr ibn al ʿArabi (d. 543 AH) said in his commentary on al Tirmidhi (d. 279 AH): The Muwatta is the first foundation and the core, and the book of al Bukhari (d. 256 AH) is the second foundation in this, and upon them all were built, like Muslim (d. 261 AH) and al Tirmidhi.

Al Suyuti (d. 911 AH) said: A group called the Muwatta “al Sahih.”

They objected to Ibn al Salah (d. 643 AH) in his statement: The first to compile the sound work only is al Bukhari, and he added “only” to exclude the Muwatta, because Malik did not make only the sound in it, rather he included in it what is missing the Companion, and broken chains, and reports without full chains.

Al Hafiz Mughaltay (d. 762 AH), confirming that the name “al Sahih” is used for the Muwatta, said: There is no difference between the Muwatta and al Bukhari in that, because in al Bukhari there are also hanging narrations and other than that.

Al Hafiz Ibn Hajar (d. 852 AH) said, about the difference between the Muwatta and what is in it of broken chains, and between al Bukhari and what is in it of hanging narrations: He said: The difference between what is in it, meaning the Muwatta, of broken chains, and what is in al Bukhari, is that what is in the Muwatta is like that and it is not a problem for Malik in most cases, and it is proof with him, while what is in al Bukhari had its chain removed on purpose for reasons explained in hanging narrations.

So it becomes clear that what is in al Bukhari from that does not remove it from being compiled as sound only, unlike the Muwatta. The fair statement about the Muwatta is also the statement of Ibn Hajar: Malik’s book is sound with him, and with those who follow him, according to what his judgement required of using as proof what is missing the Companion and what is broken and other than that, not upon the condition that became the normal practice in defining soundness.

Al Hafiz Ibn Hajar also said, about why al Bukhari is more sound than the Muwatta of Malik: Some imams found it difficult to say that al Bukhari is more sound than Malik’s book, while both share requiring soundness, and both went far in care and checking, and al Bukhari has more narrations, yet that does not necessarily mean greater soundness.

The answer is that this is carried upon the foundation of requiring soundness. Malik does not see a break in the chain as harming, so he includes what is missing the Companion, and broken chains, and reports without full chains within the foundation of his book.

Al Bukhari sees a break as a flaw, so he does not include what is like that except outside the foundation of his book, like hanging narrations and headings.

There is no doubt that the broken, even if it is used as proof by some people, the connected is stronger than it, since both share that every narrator in them is upright and strong in memorisation. So the strength of al Bukhari’s book became clear.

It is known that al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) only gave the Muwatta the best soundness compared to the collections that existed in his time, like the collection of Sufyan al Thawri (d. 161 AH), and the compilation of Hammad ibn Salamah (d. 167 AH), and other than that, and that preference is accepted with no dispute.

The speech of Ibn al Salah (d. 643 AH) implies that the ulama agree that al Bukhari is better in soundness than Muslim. Ibn ʿAbd al Barr (d. 463 AH) compiled a book connecting what is in the Muwatta of missing the Companion, broken chains, and multiple missing links.

He said: All that is in it from Malik’s statement “It reached me,” and his statement “from the trustworthy person with him,” from what he did not chain, is 61 narrations, all of them are connected from other than Malik’s route except 4 that are not known.

Ibn al Salah (d. 643 AH) connected the 4 in a separate work. Al ʿAllamah al Sayyid Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar al Kattani said: They are with me, and upon them is his handwriting. With all of this, we cannot place it at the same level as al Bukhari, since al Bukhari made it sound only. As for being earlier, then the virtue is for the earlier.

Abu Dawud (d. 275 AH) said: It was said to Malik: There is no rare narration in your book. He said: You made me happy.

As for the place of the Muwatta among the books of the Sunnah, it is as al Sayyid Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar al Kattani نقل: The Muwatta of Malik is in rank after Muslim, and this is the strongest view.

Whatever the case, Imam Malik, compared to his shaykhs and those who lived in his time, is more precise and more exact.

As for compared to al Bukhari, then the conditions of al Bukhari are more exact and more perfected, and also the conditions of Muslim, even though Malik is the shaykh of the shaykhs of people like al Bukhari and Muslim and Abu Dawud and others.

Malik was in the greatest stage of gathering Prophetic narrations, preserving them, being careful with them, and being exact in choosing his men, because the gathering of Prophetic narrations had not yet fully matured after him. So Malik made wonderful, blessed steps, and he made easy for those after him ways that were difficult, and foundations that were new.

Rather, he is the first who placed them. If he did not chain some of his narrations, and his reports without full chains, and his missing the Companion narrations, it is because he was like those before him who did not care greatly about the full chain sequence.

Yet Malik, with near certainty, only narrates, in what is missing the Companion, and reports without full chains, and what is broken, and what has multiple missing links, what is firm with him.

Otherwise, what is the meaning of him gathering his Muwatta from about 10,000, then continuing to remove until all that remained was about 1,700, including what is missing the Companion, and what is broken, and what is without full chain.

So, in his rank, his time, and his developing this craft, and bringing legal understanding into it, using it as proof, no one in his time reaches him, no one reaches his level, and the effort of the one who prepared the way is not equal to the effort of the one who walked in it.

It was said to Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH): Place Malik with the people of his time. He said: Malik is a master from the masters of the people of knowledge, and he is an imam in Prophetic narrations and legal understanding.

Ahmad ibn Salih said: One third of Malik’s narrations are connected, and this rank is not for any of his peers.

Malik Being Asked About What People Say About His Muwatta

Mutarrif said: Malik said to me: “What do people say about my Muwattas.” I said to him: People are 2 types, one who loves and praises, and one who envies and lies.

He said: “If life is extended for me, you will see who intends Allah by it.” I say: He said here “my Muwattas,” so does he have a number of Muwattas, or does he mean that every chapter of his Muwatta is a separate place. The closer view is the second. We did not hear that he had multiple Muwattas. There is no doubt that what remained firm through time, and people benefited from it with the greatest benefit, is Malik’s Muwatta, because of what is in it of strong precision and sincere intention.

He Was Careful in Reporting and Presentation, and He Did Not Report in the Season

It was Malik’s habit that he did not increase giving narrations or presenting them. Perhaps he saw that full understanding, firm preservation, and correct understanding are not in much, but in little. Also, the one who takes little pays attention to it, preserves it, understands it, and counts it as precious. If it becomes much, then mistakes become many with it, care becomes less, and preservation and understanding become hard.

The statement of Malik was already mentioned: A man is not safe if he reports everything he hears.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Mutiʿ said: We came to Malik and he reported to us narrations, and we asked him for more, so he said: “Enough,” and the sticks reached us, meaning by beating so they would stand up and leave him, because a person hopes that more will be added in hearing.

Al Harith ibn Miskin said: Some of the Hashimis spoke to Malik, in the days of the season, that he should permit presentation to him, and he used to dislike presentation and reporting in the days of Hajj and visiting, whether he performed Hajj or not, so he refused and said: These are the days of Hajj. When it finishes, then if you wish I will present after that. He became angry and said: The Commander of the Believers Harun wanted you for this and you answered him. Malik said: He wanted me and I did not do it.

Ismaʿil ibn Musa al Fazzari said: I entered upon Malik and asked him to report to me, so he reported to me 12 narrations, then he stopped. I said to him: Add to me, may Allah honour you. He had black servants, and they stood over his head, and he ordered them and they brought me out of his house.

Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) said: I asked permission to enter upon Malik, and I wanted to hear from him the narration of al Saqifah. I said: If I make it first, I fear he will consider it too long, and he knows Malik does not increase, and he will not report to me. If I make it last, I fear I will not reach it. So I placed it after 10 narrations. I began asking him. When 10 passed, he said: “Enough,” so I did not hear it.

When Hashim ibn Jurayj, and he was young, performed Hajj, he came to Malik ibn Anas, and people had already left, with 2 pages of narrations, and he said to him: Shall I read these narrations while people have already left.

Malik said: Does one of you wait until people have already left, then comes and says: Read to me while people have already left. Hashim turned to Malik and said: May Allah rectify you. If there is a need or an order you command, I will obey you, and I will stop at your command, and I will be happy by that among the gathering of my people, and I will be made a leader among my clan by it.

I place you with Allah. Obedience to you is an obligation, and your speech is a ruling. I place you with Allah. Malik said: This is seeking knowledge. Return him. He sent to bring him back, and he was brought, and he read for him, then he left.

The Rare Narrations from Malik and the Missing the Companion Narrations

Abu Nuʿaym mentioned in “al Hilyah” a group of rare narrations from Malik that reach about 102 narrations. He listed them all. It is known that not every rare narration is weak. It may be sound, it may be fair, and it may be weak. Ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH) said in “Ikhtisar ʿUlum al Hadith”: The rare is what 1 person alone reports, and he may be trustworthy, and he may be weak, and each has its ruling.

We will mention here some of them as they came in “al Hilyah,” and we point to their rarity. (They are found in volume 1, pages 332–355 of Hilyat al Awliya.)

“Wakiʿ narrated to us from Malik from Anas, he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘No one was harmed like I was harmed in the path of Allah.’” Abu Nuʿaym said: Rare from Malik. Wakiʿ alone reported it. Even though it is also cut off because Malik did not meet Anas.

Abu Nuʿaym said: “ʿAbd Allah ibn al Husayn al Sufi al Nisaburi narrated to us, Ahmad ibn Abi ʿImran al Fara’idi narrated to us, Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil ibn Ishaq al Razi narrated to us, he said: Muhammad ibn Sulayman narrated to us, Sulayman ibn ʿIsa narrated to us, Malik narrated to us from Ibn Shihab from Anas ibn Malik, he said: I said: Messenger of Allah, what do you say about little deeds and many sins. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘Every son of Adam makes mistakes.

Whoever has a natural habit of intellect and a deep instinct of certainty, his sins do not harm him at all.’ It was said: How is that, Messenger of Allah. He said: ‘Whenever he makes a mistake, he does not remain long before he repents with a repentance that wipes his sins, and a virtue remains for him by which he enters Paradise.

Intellect is the tool of the one who acts in obedience to Allah, and proof against the people of disobedience to Allah.’” Abu Nuʿaym said: Rare from Malik. Sulayman ibn ʿIsa alone reported it, and he is the Hijazi, and in him is weakness.

With Abu Nuʿaym’s chain to Muhammad ibn al Faraj ibn Maysarah: “Habib, Malik’s scribe, narrated to us from Ibn Shihab from al Aʿraj from Abu Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘Allah Most High does not gather between the one who spends in His path and the one who is stingy with what Allah gave him.’” Rare from Malik. Muhammad ibn al Faraj alone reported it.

With his chain: “Sulayman ibn Ahmad narrated to us, Ahmad ibn Dawud al Makki narrated to us, ʿAli ibn Qutaybah al Rifaʿi narrated to us, Malik ibn Anas narrated to us from Abu al Zubayr from Jabir, he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘Be good to your fathers and your sons will be good to you, and be chaste and your women will be chaste.’”

This narration was reported by al Tabarani in the rare narrations of Malik from Ibn ʿUmar, and al Hakim from Jabir. In Malik’s route, ʿAli ibn Qutaybah alone reported it. Ibn ʿAdi said about ʿAli ibn Qutaybah: He has false narrations from Malik, as in “Lisan al Mizan.” These are a few examples of what Abu Nuʿaym mentioned in “Hilyat al Awliya.”

Malik’s Scribe Who Read in His Gathering

Malik had a scribe who copied his books, and his name was Habib. He used to read to the group. None of those present would come close to him, or look into his book, or ask him to explain, out of awe for the imam and honouring him. If Habib made a mistake, Malik would correct him, and that was rare.

Musʿab al Zubayri said: Habib used to read to Malik, and I was on his right and my brother on his left, and he was closer to Malik, and he was older than me. Habib would read for us in the evening from 2 pages to 2 and a half pages, and he would not reach 3. People were at a side, not coming close and not looking. When we left, people would come to us and compare their books with our books.

He said: We came one day to our father at al ʿArsah, and it is an open space near al ʿAqiq in Madinah, so we could stay with him and go in the evening to Malik. Rain came upon us one day, so we did not go to him that evening. He did not wait for us.

People presented to him. We came the next day and said to him: Abu ʿAbd Allah, rain came upon us yesterday and kept us from attending presentation, so repeat it for us. He said: No. Whoever seeks this matter is patient upon it.

This Habib is Habib ibn Abi Habib Ibrahim, and it is said Marzuq al Hanafi, Abu Muhammad al Misri, Malik’s scribe. Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH) used to say about him: He used to lie, and he did not declare him trustworthy, and he spoke badly of him, as ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated from his father.

Ibn Maʿin said: Habib used to read to Malik, and he used to rush people, meaning he would move quickly, turning 2 or 3 pages. Yahya ibn Maʿin also said: Yahya ibn Bukayr heard from Malik by Habib’s presentation, and it is the worst presentation, and most of the hearing of the Egyptians was Habib’s presentation.

Abu Dawud said: He was among the greatest liars. Ibn Hibban said: All his narrations are fabricated. He said: Habib had no shame in fabricating against trustworthy narrators, and his matter is clear in lying, until the rest of what they said.

In “Tabaqat Ibn Saʿd,” Bishr ibn ʿUmar al Zuhrani was the narrator of Malik ibn Anas, and he was trustworthy.

The Early Abbasid Caliphs and the Muwatta

Was what pushed Malik to place the Muwatta Abu Jaʿfar al Mansur (d. 158 AH), or what pushed him was the Muwatta of ʿAbd al ʿAziz al Majishun, as already mentioned. The stronger view is that he was writing in it when he met Abu Jaʿfar. Abu Musʿab narrated that Abu Jaʿfar said to Malik: Place for people a book that I will carry them upon. Malik spoke to him about that, and he said: Place it, for no one is more knowledgeable than you. So he placed the Muwatta, but he did not finish it when Abu Jaʿfar died in the year 158 AH.

Abu Jaʿfar al Mansur, by his sharp insight, saw that people began disputing in the religion and pulling it in different ways, while the religion is 1 and truth does not multiply. Abu Jaʿfar feared that their judgement in the religion would separate them instead of gathering them.

He saw that the knowledge of Madinah is truly the greatest knowledge, and the light of Prophethood was still clear on the faces of many of its people. In it were very many Sahabah, then very many of the senior early Tabiʿin, then those after them, until Imam Malik became well known in Madinah.

He gathered the knowledge of the senior Tabiʿin from the 7 jurists and the knowledge of their juniors. So he was worthy of the trust of the caliph Abu Jaʿfar al Mansur, but Malik’s book was not completed except after the death of Abu Jaʿfar.

Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) said: Abu Jaʿfar al Mansur sent to Malik when he came and said to him: People have differed in Iraq, so place for people a book that gathers them upon it. So he placed the Muwatta.

Abu Musʿab also said: I heard Malik say: I entered upon Abu Jaʿfar in the morning when the sun fell upon the land, and he had descended from his throne to a carpet. A boy would come out then return. Abu Jaʿfar said: Do you know who this is. He said: No. He said: It is my son, and he is only frightened by your grey hair. You are truly worthy of every good, and truly deserving of every honour.

Malik says: He brought me close and pressed his knee to my knee, and he kept asking me until the caller came for noon prayer. He said to me: You are the most knowledgeable of people. I said: No, by Allah, Commander of the Believers. He said: Yes, but you hide that.

If you remain, I will write your book with water of gold, then hang it in the Kaʿbah and carry people upon it. I said: Commander of the Believers, do not do that, for in my book is the narration of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the statement of the Sahabah, and the statement of the Tabiʿin, and an opinion that is the agreement of the people of Madinah. I did not leave them. Yet I do not see that it should be hung in the Kaʿbah.

Abu Musʿab said: Abu Jaʿfar said to him while in Makkah: Make knowledge, Abu ʿAbd Allah, 1 knowledge. Malik said: I said to him: Commander of the Believers, the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ spread in the lands, and each gave legal verdicts in his land according to what he saw.

In a narration: The people of these lands have a view, and the people of Madinah have a view, and the people of Iraq have a view.

They went beyond their limit. He said: As for the people of Iraq, I do not accept from them any value at all. Knowledge is the knowledge of the people of Madinah, so place for people the knowledge. In a narration, I said to him: The people of Iraq will not accept our knowledge. Abu Jaʿfar said: Their common people will be struck by the sword, and their backs will be cut by lashes.

In a narration, al Mansur said to Malik: Abu ʿAbd Allah, gather this knowledge and write books, and avoid in it the strictness of my cousin, and the ease of Ibn ʿAbbas, and the strange views of Ibn Masʿud. Aim for the middle matters, and what the Sahabah and the imams agreed upon.

In the narration of ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Abi Hatim from Abu Khalid, meaning ʿUtbah ibn Hammad al Fazzari al Dimashqi, Malik said: Abu Jaʿfar said to me one day: Is there anyone on its surface more knowledgeable than you. I said: Yes. He said: Name them to me. I said: I do not preserve their names. He said: I sought this matter in the time of Banu Umayyah, and I know it.

As for the people of Iraq, they are the people of lies, falsehood, and forgery. As for the people of the Levant, they are the people of struggle, and they do not have much knowledge. As for the people of the Hijaz, with them is the remainder of knowledge, and you are the knowledgeable one of the Hijaz, so do not reject the statement of the Commander of the Believers.

Malik said: Then he said to me: I wanted to make this knowledge 1 knowledge and write with it to the commanders of the armies and to the judges so they act by it. Whoever opposes, I will strike his neck. I said: Commander of the Believers, or other than that?

The Prophet ﷺ was in this Ummah, and he used to send expeditions, and he used to go out, yet he did not open many lands until Allah took him. Then Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, stood, and he did not open many lands.

Then ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, stood after them, and the lands were opened by his hands, so he had no choice but to send the Companions of Muhammad ﷺ as teachers.

People continued taking from them generation after generation until today. If you turn them away from what they know to what they do not know, they will see that as disbelief. So leave the people of every land upon what is in it of knowledge, and take this knowledge for yourself. Abu Jaʿfar said to me: You did not go far with this statement. Write this knowledge for Muhammad.

al Mahdi

Al Mahdi (d. 169 AH) offered Imam Malik what his father offered, carrying people upon 1 path and 1 book, which is what Malik gathered in his Muwatta from the knowledge of the people of Madinah. It is narrated that al Mahdi said to Malik: Place a book that I will carry the Ummah upon. Malik said to him: As for this land, meaning the west, I have already been enough for you in it. As for the Levant, in it is al Awzaʿi (d. 157 AH). As for the people of Iraq, they are the people of Iraq.

Harun al Rashid

When al Rashid (d. 193 AH) took the caliphate in the year 170 AH, Malik was 77. Yet he followed the way of his father and grandfather in trying to make the religion 1, not multiplying, and not letting minds and opinions play in it. ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al Hakam said:

I heard Malik say: Harun al Rashid consulted me in 3 matters: that he should hang the Muwatta in the Kaʿbah and carry people upon what is in it, and that he should take down the pulpit of the Prophet ﷺ and make it from jewels and gold and silver, and that he should place Nafiʿ ibn Abi Nuʿaym as imam so he leads people in prayer in the Masjid of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

I said: Commander of the Believers, as for hanging the Muwatta in the Kaʿbah, the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ differed in branches and spread in the lands, and each is correct with himself.

As for taking down the pulpit of the Prophet ﷺ and making it from jewels and gold and silver, I do not see that you deprive people from the relic of the Prophet ﷺ. As for placing Nafiʿ as imam leading people in the Masjid of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Nafiʿ is an imam in recitation. It is not safe that something appears from him in the prayer place and is remembered against him. He said: May Allah give you success, Abu ʿAbd Allah.

Al Rashid asked Malik: Do you have a house? Malik said: No. He gave him 3,000 dinars and said: Buy with it a house. Malik took it and did not spend it.

When al Rashid wanted to leave to Iraq, he said to Malik: You should go out with me, for I resolved to carry people upon the Muwatta, as ʿUthman carried people upon the Qur’an.

Malik said: As for carrying people upon the Muwatta, there is no way to that, because the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ spread after him in the regions and narrated, so with each people of a region is knowledge. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The differences of my Ummah are mercy.”

I say: This narration is weak by agreement of the people of knowledge. It is very far that Imam Malik would narrate it, since he left sound narrations that he doubted, choosing safety from narrating what he doubted. So how would he narrate something like this?

How does mercy come by differences? Mercy does not descend on the Ummah except by its agreement. It is not denied that each mujtahid has a way of judgement when there is no firm narration from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. If it is firm and nothing repels it, then difference is a punishment, not mercy, because it is legislating what Allah did not permit.

Malik said: As for going out with you, there is no way to it. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “People will go out after me from Madinah for the sake of the universe, and Madinah is better for them if they only knew.” He said: “Madinah expels its filth.” These dinars of yours are as they are. If you wish, take them, and if you wish, leave them. Meaning, you make it a condition upon me to leave Madinah because of what you did for me, so I will not prefer the universe over the city of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. So al Rashid travelled to Makkah.

He sent to Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah (d. 198 AH): Carry to me your knowledge, so he carried it to him. When al Rashid came to Iraq he used to say: May Allah have mercy on Malik. We agreed for him, so we benefited from his knowledge. May Allah have mercy on Sufyan. He agreed for us, yet we did not benefit from his knowledge.

al Maʾmun and His Taking from Malik

Abu Nuʿaym narrated with his chain to Abu Mushir, he says: al Maʾmun asked Malik ibn Anas: Do you have a house, then the rest, and he brought the story that already passed with his father Harun.

The story with al Maʾmun has no basis, in the strongest view, because al Maʾmun did not reach in age, at Malik’s death, except 9 years. His caliphate was in the year 198 AH, after Malik’s death by 19 years. So the story is fallen even if it is chained, especially since the same story came with his father Harun.

It is narrated that Harun al Rashid sent to Malik to bring him to his gathering so his 2 sons al Amin and al Maʾmun hear the Muwatta from him. Malik was told: Abu ʿAbd Allah, you should come to us so our boys hear the Muwatta from you.

Malik said: May Allah honour the Commander of the Believers. This knowledge came from you. If you honour it, it becomes honoured. If you lower it, it becomes lowered. Knowledge is come to, it does not come. He said: You spoke the truth.

He said to his 2 sons: Go out to the masjid so you hear with the people. Malik said: On the condition that they do not step over the necks of people, and they sit where their sitting ends. They attended with this condition. This story also is doubtful, because 1, it is not firm that al Maʾmun narrated from Malik, young or old, and 2, Malik, long before his death, did not go out to Friday prayer or congregational prayer, as will come.

Some Abbasid Caliphs Presenting Things to Malik Despite Their Strong Respect

Malik, with the caliphs he met, and he was famous in knowledge and virtue, had rank and honour. They accepted him, they listened to him, and they accepted from him what they did not accept from others, honouring him. It already passed that 3 of them wanted to carry people upon his knowledge instead of the knowledge of others who existed in his time, and they were many.

Harun al Rashid even asked Malik to come so he could make him hear the Muwatta, and Malik refused, because he did not want the knowledge of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to be changed. Such knowledge does not come, it is come to, until al Rashid came and sat with people and heard as they heard.

From his rank is that he said: I entered upon Abu Jaʿfar many times. No one from the Hashimis or others entered upon him except that he kissed his hand, yet I never kissed his hand. I say: If the caliphs did not hold to the forms of awe, it would have been fitting that al Mansur kiss Malik’s hand, because the imam scholar like Malik has a greater place with Allah and with people than the caliph.

Abu Musʿab said: When al Mahdi came to Madinah, Malik and others from the nobles of Madinah went out to meet him a number of miles from Madinah. When al Mahdi saw Malik, and Malik was wearing black Adeni clothes, al Mahdi turned towards him, embraced him, greeted him, and walked with him.

Malik turned to him and said: Commander of the Believers, you now enter Madinah while those who stand on your right and your left are the sons of the emigrants and the Ansar, so greet them.

There is no people on the face of the earth better than the people of Madinah, and no town better than Madinah. Al Mahdi said: Why, Abu ʿAbd Allah? Malik said: Because no prophet’s grave on the face of the earth is known except the grave of Muhammad ﷺ. Whoever has the grave of Muhammad ﷺ among them, their virtue over others should be known. So al Mahdi did what Malik commanded.

When al Mahdi entered Madinah and settled, he sent to Malik with a mule so he rides and comes to him. Malik returned the mule and said: “I feel shy before Allah to ride in a city in which the body of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is.” He came walking, and he had an illness.

He leaned on al Mughirah ibn ʿAbd al Rahman al Makhzumi, and on al Hasan ibn Abi Zayd al ʿAlawi, and on Ibn ʿAli al Yamani, and they were from the ulama of Madinah and its nobles. Al Mahdi said: Glory be to Allah. He returned the mule honouring the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, so Allah prepared these. By Allah, if I called them to this, they would not answer me. Al Mughirah said: Commander of the Believers, we have boasted over the people of Madinah because Malik leaned on us.

Musʿab said: al Mahdi asked him to make him hear his books from his own reading. Malik said: This is something that will be long for you, but I will write them for you and correct them and send them to you. His greatest hope was that Malik reads to him.

Some said: al Mahdi performed Hajj and entered Madinah. Malik went to him. al Mahdi showed his kindness and honouring. He ordered his 2 sons Musa and Harun to hear from Malik.

They sent to him but he did not go to them. They told al Mahdi, so al Mahdi sent to Malik: Why did you not go to them? Malik said: Commander of the Believers, knowledge deserves to be honoured and come to. al Mahdi said: He spoke the truth. Travel to him. When they came to him they said: Read to us. Malik said: This town is only read in it upon the scholar as the boy reads upon the teacher. If he makes a mistake, it is corrected for him.

They left him and told al Mahdi. al Mahdi sent to him and said: You refused to go to them, so they came to you. Now you refuse to read to them. Malik said: Commander of the Believers, I heard Ibn Shihab say: We gathered this knowledge from men in al Rawdah, and they are Saʿid ibn al Musayyib (d. 94 AH), and Abu Salamah ibn ʿAbd al Rahman (d. 94 AH), and ʿUrwah ibn al Zubayr (d. 94 AH), and al Qasim (d. 106 AH), and Salim (d. 106 AH), and Kharijah (d. 100 AH), and Sulayman (d. 107 AH), and Nafiʿ (d. 117 AH). Then Ibn Hurmuz (d. 117 AH), and Abu al Zinad (d. 130 AH), and Rabiʿah (d. 136 AH), and the sea of knowledge Ibn Shihab (d. 124 AH) transmitted from them. All of these were read to, and they did not read.

al Mahdi said: Go and read. In these there is an example. So their teacher used to read to them.

As for Harun al Rashid, he sent to Malik and Malik did not go to him. Abu Yusuf (d. 182 AH) said to him: The people of Iraq are told that you sent to Malik and he did not come. Send someone to bring him by force, and similar. al Rashid sent to him a second time, and Malik came. al Rashid said to him: Son of Abi ʿAmir, I sent to you and you opposed me. Malik said: Commander of the Believers, al Zuhri informed me from Kharijah ibn Zayd ibn Thabit (d. 100 AH) from his father, he said: I used to write revelation in front of the Prophet ﷺ, and this descended:

لَا يَسْتَوِي الْقَاعِدُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ غَيْرُ أُولِي الضَّرَرِ
“Those believers who sit are not equal, except those with harm.” (an Nisa: 95)

Ibn Umm Maktum was with the Prophet ﷺ and he said: Messenger of Allah, I am a blind man, and Allah has sent down about the virtue of struggle what is known. The Prophet ﷺ said: “I do not know.” Zayd says: My pen was still wet and had not dried when the thigh of the Prophet ﷺ fell upon my thigh, then he fainted, then he sat and said: Zayd, write “except those with harm.”

Commander of the Believers, 1 letter that Jibril and the angels came with in a travel of 5,000 years, should it not be honoured and made great? Allah raised you and placed you in this place by your knowledge, so do not be the first to place down the honour of knowledge, so Allah places down your honour.

al Rashid said: Come to us so we learn your knowledge and hear from you. Malik said: May Allah rectify you. Knowledge is come to, it does not come. al Rashid said: We will come, and you prevent people until we leave. Malik said: If knowledge is prevented from the general people, Allah does not benefit the special people or the general people by it. al Rashid said: Will you read to me when I come?

Malik said: I have not read upon anyone since such and such, and I will not read upon anyone after that. al Rashid said: Then place someone to read while we hear. Malik said: That is for you. So al Rashid went to Malik’s home and learned from him and heard upon him. The reader for him was Maʿn ibn ʿIsa al Fazzari.

When al Rashid entered upon Malik, Malik seated him with him upon his platform on which he sat for hearing Prophetic narrations, then Malik said: Commander of the Believers, I did not meet the people of our town except that they love to humble themselves before Allah. So al Rashid came down from the platform and sat in front of Malik, humbling himself for his knowledge and obeying his statement.

This is what al Suyuti (d. 911 AH) narrated in his book “Tazyin al Mamalik.” (References: Tartib al Madarik 1/154–157 and 1/165–179. Tazyin al Mamalik 30. al Dibaj al Madhhab. Miftah al Saʿadah 2/88.)

Al Khatib narrated from Abu Bakr al Zubayri, he said: When al Rashid came, people went out to meet him walking, and Malik went out to meet him in a litter.

Those Who Wrote on al Muwatta, Explained It, Abridged It, or Did Something With It

There is no doubt that al Muwatta is among the earliest books that the ulama cared about and gave strong attention to. They did not gain a book before it that they benefited from as they benefited from al Muwatta. Many wrote on it. Some explained it, some extracted its narrations alone, some spoke about its narrators, and some mentioned its shaykhs within it, and so on.

It came in Kashf al Zunun: al Muwatta in hadith, by Imam Malik ibn Anas (d. 179 AH), is an old, blessed book. He intended in it to gather what is sound, but he only gathered what is sound according to him, not according to the technical usage of the people of hadith, because he considered missing the Companion narrations and reports without full chains sound, as mentioned in al Nukat al Wafiyyah.

It was explained by Abu Muhammad ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad al Nahwi al Batliyusi (d. 521 AH), and Abu Marwan ʿAbd al Malik ibn Habib al Maliki (d. 239 AH), and Shaykh Jalal al Din ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Abi Bakr al Suyuti (d. 911 AH). He named one of his works “Kashf al Mughata fi Sharh al Muwatta,” and he also has “Tanwir al Hawalik ʿala Muwatta al Imam Malik.”

He also extracted its narrations in a separate book, and he has another book called “Isʿaf al Mubta fi Rijal al Muwatta,” and he died in the year 911 AH.

Al Hafiz Abu ʿUmar Yusuf ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al Barr al Qurtubi (d. 463 AH) compiled a book and named it “al Taqassi li Hadith al Muwatta,” and he died in the year 463 AH. He also has the book “al Tamhid lima fi al Muwatta min al Maʿani wa al Asanid.” Ibn Hazm (d. 456 AH) said: “It is a book in legal understanding and hadith, and I do not know anything like it.” He abridged it and named it “al Istidhkar.”

Abu al Walid Sulayman ibn Khalaf al Baji (d. 474 AH) named his work “al Muntaqa,” in 7 volumes. He also has another explanation which he named “al Istifa fi Sharh al Muwatta.”

Shaykh Zayn al Din ʿUmar ibn Ahmad al Shammaʿ al Halabi (d. 936 AH) also has a selection. He said: The judge, the hafiz, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al ʿArabi (d. 546 AH) explained the Muwatta and named it “al Qabas.” Qadi Abu Bakr said about al Muwatta: “This is the first book in the Shariʿah of Islam, and it is its last, because nothing like it was compiled. Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, built it upon laying down the foundations for the branches, and he pointed in it to most of the foundations of legal understanding to which its issues and branches return.”

Qadi ʿIyad (d. 544 AH) said in al Madarik: No book from the books of hadith and knowledge was cared about as people cared about al Muwatta, because the one who agreed and the one who disagreed gathered upon valuing it, preferring it, narrating it, putting its narrations first, and declaring them sound. We mention here a brief version of what he presented.

Among those who explained it are Ibn ʿAbd al Barr (d. 463 AH) in “al Tamhid” and “al Istidhkar,” and Abu al Walid ibn al Saffar, who named his work “al Muʿib,” and Qadi Muhammad ibn Sulayman ibn Khalifah, and Abu Bakr ibn Sabiq al Siqilli, who named his work “al Maliki,” and Ibn Abi Sufrah, and Qadi Abu ʿAbd Allah ibn al Hajj, and Abu al Walid ibn al ʿAwwad, and Abu Muhammad ibn al Sayyid al Batliyusi al Nahwi (d. 521 AH), who named his work “al Muqtabas,” and Abu al Qasim ibn al Jadd al Katib, and Abu al Hasan al Ishbili, and Ibn Sharahbil, and Abu ʿUmar al Tulmanki, and Qadi Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al ʿArabi (d. 546 AH), who named his work “al Qabas,” and ʿAsim al Nahwi, and Yahya ibn Muzayn, who named his work “al Mustaqsiyah,” and Muhammad ibn Abi Zamanin, who named his work “al Maghrib,” and Abu al Qasim al ʿUthmani al Misri.

Among those who compiled works about its narrators are Qadi Abu ʿAbd Allah ibn al Hadhdha, and Abu ʿAbd Allah ibn Mufrij, and al Barqi, and al Tulmanki. Qasim ibn Asbagh compiled the connected collection of al Muwatta, and Abu al Qasim al Jawhari, and Abu al Hasan al Qabisi in his book “al Mulakhkhas,” and Abu Dharr al Harawi, and Abu al Hasan ʿAli ibn Habib al Sijilmasi, and al Mutarriz, and Ahmad ibn Bahzada al Farisi, and al Qadi ibn Mafraʿ, and Ibn al Aʿrabi, and Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Saʿid ibn Muwaddih al Ikhmimi.

Qadi Ismaʿil compiled “Shawahid al Muwatta.” Abu al Hasan al Daraqutni (d. 385 AH) compiled “Ikhtilaf al Muwattas,” and Qadi Abu al Walid al Baji (d. 474 AH) also did the same. Abu ʿAmr al Tulaytuli compiled the connected collection of al Muwatta in the narration of al Qaʿnabi. Ibrahim ibn Nasr al Sarqusti did so as well. Ibn Jawsa gathered al Muwatta from the narration of Ibn Wahb and Ibn al Qasim. Abu al Hasan ibn Abi Talib has a book called “Muwatta al Muwatta.” Abu Bakr ibn Thabit al Khatib (d. 463 AH) has a book called “Atraf al Muwatta.”

Ibn ʿAbd al Barr (d. 463 AH) has “al Taqassi” on the connected and the missing the Companion narrations of al Muwatta. Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn ʿIshun al Tulaytuli has “Tawjih al Muwatta.” Hazim ibn Muhammad ibn Hazim has “al Safir ʿan Athar al Muwatta.” Abu Muhammad ibn Yarbuʿ has a book on its chains, and he named it “Taj al Hilyah wa Siraj al Bughyah.”

Wali Allah al Dihlawi (d. 1176 AH) compiled the book al Musawwa in the legal understanding of hadith, in the Arabic language. He arranged the narrations of al Muwatta in an order that makes it easy to take for every student of knowledge.

He placed for each hadith a heading from what he derived from it, and he clarified what the imams criticised in Malik with a subtle indication, when the criticism was by a sound, clear hadith. Wali Allah also has al Musaffa in the Persian language, in which he explained al Muwatta.

He extracted the narrations and reports, removed Malik’s statements and some of his reports without full chains, and he spoke in it with the speech of mujtahids.

As for the narration of Muhammad ibn al Hasan al Shaybani (d. 189 AH) of al Muwatta, he wrote within it upon his madhhab and replied to what opposed his madhhab. Imam al Khattabi (d. 388 AH) selected it. Abu al Hasan ʿAli ibn Muhammad ibn Khalaf al Qabisi abridged it, and it is well known as “Mulakhkhas al Muwatta.” It contains 520 narrations with connected chains, and he restricted it to the narration of Abu ʿAbd Allah ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Qasim al Misri (d. 191 AH), from the narration of Abu Saʿid Sahnun ibn Saʿid (d. 240 AH) from him.

He said: “It is with me the most preferred narrations in precedence.” (References: Tartib 121–202. Malik li Abi Zahrah 213. al Dibaj al Madhhab 15–26. Tarjamat al Zurqani 3–9. Tazyin al Mamalik 12–52. al Risalah al Mustatrafah 6–15. Hilyat al Awliya 6/320–332. Kashf al Zunun 1907. Manaqib al Zawawi 3–30. Manaqib al Shafiʿi by al Bayhaqi 5/1–7 and 518. Maratib al Diyanah by Ibn Hazm 48. Muqaddimat Sharh al Muwatta by al Suyuti 8. al Intiqa 25 and 40–41. Miftah al Saʿadah 2/86–88. al Nujum al Zahrah 2/97. Maʿrifat ʿUlum al Hadith by al Hakim 259. Tahdhib al Tahdhib 9/10. Hujjat Allah al Balighah, last page. Tabaqat Ibn Saʿd 7/300. Muqaddimat Sharh al Bukhari by al Hafiz 21.)

Did Malik Make Grammatical Mistakes

It is not known that Malik (d. 179 AH) occupied himself with Arabic grammar and its language, because he turned, from the earliest stage, to hearing hadith. He lived much of his life in a period in which the language was still closer to safety. Yet Makkah and Madinah were a place that all Muslims in the earth travelled to, both non Arabs and Arabs, and this can soften the strength of Arabic. It was said that Malik made grammatical mistakes.

They differed: was his mistake due to some weakness in following the Arabic speech, or was he narrating the hadith with the same wording he heard, even if it contained a grammatical mistake, and he did not see it permissible to change the narration if it came with a grammatical mistake.

Ibn Abi Uways, the son of Malik’s sister, said: Whoever believes that Malik’s grammatical mistake was because of little knowledge of Arabic, then that is because his own knowledge is lacking. Rather, he was a memoriser who narrated the hadith exactly as he heard it, even if it had a grammatical mistake. It was said to him about that and he said: Rabiʿah used to make grammatical mistakes, meaning he narrated the hadith exactly as he heard it, even if it had a grammatical mistake. It was said to him one day, and he said: “If I wished to not make a grammatical mistake, I would do so.”

I say: In this statement there is what there is, because the established hadith from the Prophet ﷺ is free of grammatical mistakes with certainty, according to the languages of the Arabs. He is the most eloquent of the Arabs. He is proof against the grammarians, and the grammarians have no proof against him. Imam Malik is among those who hold that the hadith must be narrated as it came from the Prophet ﷺ without substitution and without change.

Ibn Abi Uways also said: A man from the nobles attended Malik’s gathering, and he wore a silk garment. He spoke with speech in which he made a grammatical mistake. The noble man said: Would my father not have had 2 dirhams to spend upon him to teach him grammar. Malik heard him and said: For him to know what is permissible for him to wear and what is not permissible is better for him than “Zayd hit ʿAbd Allah” and “ʿAbd Allah hit Zayd.”

Does this show he did not care about grammatical mistakes, or does it show he cared about forbidding wrongdoing. The foundation is that wrongdoing is forbidden, then grammatical mistakes are forbidden. Grammatical mistakes in Malik’s time are wrongdoing from the ordinary Arab. Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) used to say to the one who makes grammatical mistakes: “You hurt my teeth,” and sometimes he would rebuke him. Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH) struck his daughter because of a grammatical mistake. (Manaqib al Zawawi 46, and al Shafiʿi and Ahmad by the author.)

In al Tartib, al Asmaʿi (d. 216 AH) said: I never feared a scholar as I feared Malik until he made a grammatical mistake, then his awe left my heart. I said to him about that and he said: How would it be if you saw Rabiʿah. We used to say to him: How did you enter the morning, and he would say: “In good,” or “In goodly.” It is narrated from him that he said: “Declension makes the tongue clear.” (Tartib 1/166.)

His Love for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and His Manners With His Hadith

The Salaf, may Allah be pleased with them, had the strongest love for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the greatest honouring. They reached, in love and honouring of him, what no one after them reached. This love and honouring did not make them raise him beyond that he is a human messenger. He ﷺ is within the limits of the statement of Allah Most High:

قل إنما أدعوا ربي ولا أشرك به أحداً ۝ قل إني لا أملك لكم ضراً ولا رشداً ۝ قل إني لن يجيرني من الله أحد ولن أجد من دونه ملتحداً ۝ إلا بلاغاً من الله ورسالاته
“Say: I only call upon my Lord, and I do not associate anyone with Him. Say: I do not possess for you harm or right guidance. Say: None will protect me from Allah, and I will never find any refuge besides Him, except delivering from Allah and His messages.” (al Jinn 20–23)

With these limits, he is the best of creation, including the messengers, the angels, humans, and jinn.

The highest level of knowledge about him is that he is a human, and that he is the best of all Allah’s creation.

Imam Malik’s love for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ reached a level that only the one who reaches it understands. Musʿab ibn ʿAbd Allah said: When the Prophet ﷺ was mentioned in Malik’s presence, his colour would change and he would bend, until it became hard on those sitting with him. It was said to him one day about that, and he said: If you had seen what I saw, you would not criticise what you see from me.

I used to go to Muhammad ibn al Munkadir (d. 130 AH), and he was the leader of the Qur’an reciters. We could hardly ask him about a hadith except that he would cry until we felt pity for him. I also used to go to Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad (d. 148 AH), and he used to joke and smile much.

When the Prophet ﷺ was mentioned with him, he would become green and yellow. Malik said: I went to him for a period of time, and I would not see him except upon 3 states: either praying, or fasting, or reciting the Qur’an. I never saw him narrate from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ except while he was in a state of purity.

I used to see ʿAmir ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al Zubayr (d. 129 AH). When the Prophet ﷺ was mentioned with him, he would cry until no tears remained in his eyes. Al Zuhri (d. 124 AH), and he was among the happiest of people and the closest of them, when the Prophet ﷺ was mentioned with him, it was as if he did not know you and you did not know him.

I used to go to Safwan ibn Sulaym (d. 132 AH), and he was among those devoted in worship and striving. When the Prophet ﷺ was mentioned, he would cry, and he would continue crying until people stood up and left him.

This is how Malik’s shaykhs were. They reached, in love and honouring of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, what no description can limit. Malik was influenced by them until he reached their level.

He has achievements in honouring, revering, and loving the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that are remembered through time. He used to say: My hair falls, and none of us enters the masjid except with a turban and with his face covered, honouring the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

From his honouring is that he would not step upon soil that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stepped upon with the hoof of an animal. Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) said: I saw at Malik’s door the legs of horses from Khurasan and mules from Egypt.

I said: How fine they are. Malik said: They are a gift from me to you. I said: Leave for yourself from them an animal to ride. He said: I feel shy before Allah to step upon the soil of the Prophet of Allah with the hoof of an animal.

As for his manners with the speech of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he would, when he wanted to narrate a hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, bathe, burn incense, apply perfume, then sit at the front of his bedding or upon the platform. He would not sit upon it except when he narrated. He would comb his beard and settle in his sitting with dignity and awe, then he would narrate.

It was said to him about that, and he said: I love to honour the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and I do not narrate it except while I am in a state of purity, settled. If a person raised his voice with him, he would say: Lower your voice, because Allah, mighty and exalted, says:

يا أيها الذين آمنوا لا ترفعوا أصواتكم فوق صوت النبي
“O you who believe, do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet.” (al Hujurat 2)

Whoever raises his voice with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, it is as if he raised his voice above the voice of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He said: His honour, alive and dead, is the same.

When people came to Malik, the servant girl would come out to them and say: The shaykh says to you: Do you want hadith, or issues. If they said: issues, he would come out to them and give legal verdicts. If they said: hadith, he would say to them: Sit.

He would enter his bathing place, bathe, apply perfume, wear new clothes, put on a cloak, wrap his turban, place upon his head a long cap, and the platform would be prepared for him.

He would come out to them wearing perfume, and upon him was humility. Incense would be placed and he would be perfumed until he finished narrating the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. ʿAbd Allah ibn Salih said: Malik and al Layth (d. 175 AH) did not touch hadith except while they were in a state of purity.

ʿAbd Allah ibn al Mubarak (d. 181 AH) said: I was with Malik ibn Anas while he was narrating to us. A scorpion came and stung him 16 times. Malik’s colour changed and he held firm, and he did not cut the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. When he finished the gathering and people left him, I said to him: Abu ʿAbd Allah, I saw from you something astonishing. He said: Yes. I was patient, honouring the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Khalid ibn Nizar said: I asked Malik about something while he was leaning, and he said: Yahya ibn Saʿid (d. 143 AH) narrated to me from Saʿid ibn al Musayyib (d. 94 AH). Then he sat upright and wrapped himself with his cloak and said: I seek Allah’s forgiveness.

I said to him about that. He said: Knowledge is greater than that. I did not narrate from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while leaning.

His normal state would differ from his state when he recited, or when he heard, the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. When he was with his brothers, he would be humble and open with them. When he wanted to narrate, he would become another person, awe inspiring, clothed with dignity.

Al Marwazi said: When Malik sat with us, it was as if he was one of us. He would be open with us in talk, and he was more humble to us than we were to him. When he began hadith, we would fear his speech, as if we did not know him and he did not know us.

He disliked that he narrate to someone while that person is standing, walking, or in haste. This was his state when he wanted to hear hadith from others. Ibrahim ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Quraym al Ansari, the judge of Madinah, said: Malik ibn Anas passed by Ibn Hazim while he was narrating, and he passed on.

It was said to him about that. He said: I did not find a place to sit, so I disliked taking the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while I was standing.

As for others who wanted to take from him, he used to imprison the one who asked him about hadith while standing. Jibril ibn ʿAbd al Hamid, the judge, asked him about hadith while standing, so Malik ordered him imprisoned. It was said: He is a judge. Malik said: The judge deserves discipline more.

Hisham ibn al Qari asked him about hadith while he was standing, so he struck him 20 lashes. Then he felt pity for him and narrated to him 20 hadith. Hisham said: I wished he had increased the lashes and increased the hadith for me.

Ibn Mahdi (d. 198 AH) said: I walked with Malik one day to al ʿAqiq from the masjid, and I asked him about a hadith, so he rebuked me. In a narration, he turned to me and said: I used to see you as greater than this. Do you ask me about the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while we are walking. I said: Truly we belong to Allah. I only see that I have fallen from his eye.

When he sat in his gathering, I kept far from him. He said: Come close here. I came close and he said: Did you think we disciplined you, and yet you ask me about the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while I am walking. Ask what you want here.

Ibn Mahdi also said: They asked Malik in the season while he was standing, and he did not narrate to them. (References: Tartib 1/154–180. Manaqib al Zawawi 32 and 34. Hilyat al Awliya 6/318. Nafh al Tib 2/531. al Dibaj al Madhhab 15 and 23. Tazyin al Mamalik 15. Sifat al Safwah 2/100.)

The Foundations of Malik

Introduction

In the earliest period of Islam, there was nothing that can be called the foundations of legal understanding, because for every event in the time of the Prophet ﷺ there would be a Qur’an verse revealed about the event itself, then it would become an eternal ruling, or a general principle under which many events fall, understood by the Sahabah, may Allah be pleased with them, such as His statement Most High:

وأن ليس للإنسان إلا ما سعى
“And that the human has nothing except what he strives for.” (al Najm 39)

Or it would be Sunnah by a hadith, or approval, and other than that. Sometimes the hadith would point to a clear analogy with a clear shared cause, such as his statement: “Every intoxicant is wine.” One of them would ask the Prophet ﷺ and it would become a general ruling, stated from him, and so on.

Then the era of the Sahabah came and conquests became many. Peoples entered Islam with different tongues, thoughts, settled life, and desert life. Issues became many and events became crowded.

The senior Sahabah would seek rulings from the general principles of the Qur’an, or they would ask: Who preserves something from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about this matter. A man, or 2 men, or men, would stand and narrate that they heard it from the Prophet ﷺ.

If the texts did not cover the rulings for them, they would strive and use analogy, and they would take from the meaning of what the Prophet ﷺ and the Sahabah after him gave legal verdicts by. From here the thought of foundations began.

Al Shahrastani (d. 548 AH) said in al Milal wa al Nihal: “Events and matters in acts of worship and dealings do not accept being limited or counted. We know with certainty that there is no text for every event, and that is not imaginable.

Texts are limited, while events are not limited. What is not limited is not controlled by what is limited. It is known with certainty that striving and analogy are required to be considered, so that for every event there is striving. Every imam has his method in striving and foundations by which he controls his legal understanding and his striving, even if they did not compile them. The first to bring out foundations as an authored, reasoned work is Imam al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH).”

As for Imam Malik (d. 179 AH), even if he did not have foundations in the known meaning, and even if none of his companions took from him a clear method or a stated foundation upon which his legal understanding stands, his companions, then those after them, were able to exhaust his legal understanding and extract from it the foundations upon which it was built. Some of it was taken from some of his shaykhs, and from what he used to hear from senior ulama and jurists in the season of Hajj, and from the interests he used to consider.

These foundations became many, in a way no one of the imams reached, until al Subki (d. 771 AH) counted in Tabaqat al Shafiʿiyyah the foundations of Malik, or the foundations of the Maliki madhhab, and he increased them beyond 500. This large number points to the life of the madhhab. Interest with him covers many chapters. Many times he put interest and analogy ahead of reports if the report was singular. Some of that will come.

Al Qarafi (d. 684 AH) counted the foundations of the madhhab, meaning Malik’s foundations extracted from his legal understanding as already mentioned. He said: The foundations of the madhhab are the Qur’an and the Sunnah, consensus, the consensus of the people of Madinah, analogy, the statement of a Companion, unrestricted interests, custom and habits, blocking the means, continuing presumption, and preference.

Al Shatibi (d. 790 AH) summarised them in 4: the Book and the Sunnah, consensus, and considered judgement. Sunnah includes the practice of the people of Madinah, and the statement of a Companion, because the meaning of Sunnah with Malik includes them.

Considered judgement includes unrestricted interests, blocking the means, habits, preference, and continuing presumption, and all of them are from the ways of considered judgement. We are not here to expand in researching these foundations, even though we must speak briefly about some of them.

We begin with the Book of Allah.

The Book

Al Shatibi (d. 790 AH) said: It is established that the Book is the totality of the Shariʿah, the pillar of the millah, the spring of wisdom, the sign of the message, the light of eyes and inner sight, and that there is no path to Allah besides it, no salvation without it, and no holding to anything that opposes it. All of this does not need proof, because it is known from the religion of the Ummah.

If it is like that, it becomes required for the one who wants awareness of the total principles of the Shariʿah, and hopes to grasp its aims, and to join its people, that he takes it as his companion and his close friend, and that he makes it his sitting companion through days and nights, in looking and acting, not restricting himself to one of them, so he is close to achieving the aim and reaching the need and finding himself among the forerunners, within the first ranks.

If he is capable of that, and no one is capable except the one who practises what helps him in that from the Sunnah that explains the Book. Otherwise, the speech of the earlier imams and the advanced Salaf takes his hand in this noble aim and high rank.

Also, since the Qur’an is miraculous and it silenced the eloquent and made the skilled unable to bring anything like it, that does not remove it from being Arabic, flowing upon the methods of Arabic speech, made easy for understanding, containing from Allah what He commanded and what He forbade, on the condition of training in the Arabic tongue, as clarified in the Book of striving. If the miracle took it beyond minds reaching its meanings, then addressing them with it would be burdening what is not possible, and that is removed from the Ummah.

This is among the miraculous ways in it. It is astonishing that speech from the type of human speech, in tongue, meanings, and methods, is understood and rational, yet humans cannot produce a surah like it, even if they gathered and supported one another. They were most capable of opposing what resembles things, yet they were most incapable of opposing it.

Allah Most High said:

ولقد يسرنا القرآن للذكر فهل من مذكر
“And We have surely made the Qur’an easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember.” (al Qamar 17)

And He said:

فإنما يسرناه بلسانك لتبشر به المتقين وتنذر به قوماً لدا
“So We have only made it easy in your tongue, so that you give glad tidings with it to the people of taqwa, and warn with it a contentious people.” (Maryam 97)

And He said:

قرآنا عربياً لعلكم تعقلون
“An Arabic Qur’an, so that you may understand.” (Yusuf 2)

And He said:

بلسان عربي مبين
“In a clear Arabic tongue.” (al Qamar 17. Maryam 97. Yusuf 2. al Shuʿara 195.)

Whatever way its miracle is understood, that does not prevent reaching its understanding and grasping its meanings. Allah Most High said:

كتاب أنزلناه إليك مبارك ليدبروا آياته وليتذكر أولوا الألباب
“A Book We sent down to you, blessed, so that they reflect on its verses, and so that people of understanding remember.” (Sad 29.)

This requires that reaching reflection and understanding is possible, and whatever is similar is like it, and this is clear.

This is the first issue of 14 issues from the study of the first foundation, “the Qur’an,” in al Muwafaqat. Whoever wants it, let him look there.

The Sunnah

The word “Sunnah” in the madhhab is used with meanings, as al Shatibi (d. 790 AH) said: first, it is used for what was transmitted from the Prophet ﷺ specifically, from what was not stated in the Noble Book, rather it was stated from his side ﷺ, whether it was a clarification of what is in the Book, or whether it was stated only in the Sunnah.

Second, it is used opposite innovation. It is said: “So and so is upon Sunnah,” if he acts upon what the Prophet ﷺ acted upon, whether it was stated in the Book or not. It is said: “So and so is upon innovation,” if he acts opposite that. This usage considers the practice of the one who brought the Shariʿah.

It was named Sunnah from this direction, even if it is practice upon what the Book requires. From this is Malik’s statement when he was asked: Who are the people of Sunnah, Abu ʿAbd Allah. He said: Those who have no label by which they are known, not Jahmi, not Rafidi, and not Qadari.

He was asked about the severe sickness and he said: Innovation in the religion.

He used to recite often:

“And the best affairs of the religion are what are Sunnah, and the worst affairs are invented innovations.”

Malik also said in this meaning: Sunnah is the ship of Nuh. Whoever rides it is saved, and whoever stays behind it drowns.

Third, the word Sunnah is used for what the Sahabah were upon, whether it is found in the Book or Sunnah or not found, because it is following a Sunnah that was established with them but did not reach us, or because it is a striving they agreed upon, or the striving of their caliphs.

Their agreement is consensus, and the practice of their caliphs also returns to consensus from the direction of carrying people upon it according to what the interest based judgement required with them.

Under this usage fall unrestricted interests, meaning what was in the era of the Sahabah, and preference, as they did in the punishment for wine, making craftsmen liable, gathering the Mushaf, carrying people upon 1 reading from the 7 readings, organising registers, and similar. This usage is indicated by his statement ﷺ: “Hold to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs.”

I say: It becomes clear from this that the third usage of the word Sunnah has no relation to what the people of foundations call Sunnah as the wording of the Prophet ﷺ, his action, and his approval. Rather, it is the striving of the Sahabah when people accepted it and held to it. Al Shatibi using as proof the hadith “Hold to my Sunnah” shows that he means, by using the word Sunnah for this category, what the Sahabah set, then after them the Tabiʿin.

There is no doubt that Malik knows all 3 categories of Sunnah, but he gave some of his attention to this third category and built upon it in his legal understanding. For its sake, he sometimes left acting upon a singular hadith, even if it is sound with no doubt, upon the belief that the Sahabah followed a Sunnah that was established with them but did not reach us, as al Shatibi said.

What is better, in my view, is that we say: that was the striving of the Sahabah, without saying, with certainty, that they followed a Sunnah that was established with them, because we do not know, did a hadith exist or did it not exist.

The count of what is in al Muwatta of connected narrations, missing the Companion narrations, Companion reports, and reports without full chains was already mentioned. Altogether it reaches about 1,800.

A reason for Malik relying on what he gathered in his Muwatta, in this amount, may be that he did not leave Madinah, while the Sahabah and the Tabiʿin spread across the lands of the Muslims.

The other matter, and it is the most important, is his precision and his carefulness in accepting hadith. How many narrations did he set aside because he doubted some of their men, and perhaps he narrated some of them then regretted and did not make them known in Madinah.

A man said to him: al Thawri narrated to us from you in such and such. Malik said: I am narrating to you many hadith that I did not show in Madinah. It was said to him: Ibn ʿUyaynah has narrations that you do not have. Malik said: So I narrate to people everything I heard.

I would then be foolish. Narrations came out from me, and I wished I had been struck for every hadith from them with 1 lash and I had not narrated it.

With the small number of narrations he kept as relied upon, he still left acting upon sound, connected, singular narrations. Ibn Hazm (d. 456 AH) said: In it, meaning al Muwatta, there are 70 and some more hadith that Malik himself left acting upon. This was already mentioned.

Ibn al ʿArabi (d. 546 AH) said: Malik’s well known statement, and what is relied upon, is that if a hadith is supported by another foundation, he acts by it. If it stands alone, he leaves it. Then he mentioned Malik’s issue about the dog licking. He said: because that hadith opposed 2 great foundations: the first is Allah’s statement Most High:

فكلوا مما أمسكن عليكم
“So eat from what they catch for you.” (al Maidah 4)

The second is that the cause of purity is life, and it is present in the dog.

Malik said: I heard many hadith from Ibn Shihab, and I never narrated them, and I will not narrate them. Al Farawi said: I said to him: Why. He said: Practice is not upon them.

Al Dawudi said: I said to him, meaning Malik: Narrate to me the hadith of al Multa. He said: No. I said: Sufyan narrates it from you. Malik said: He spoke the truth. If I had narrated it to anyone, I would have narrated it to you, but practice in our town is not upon it.

Al Qasim ibn Masrur said to Malik: Abu ʿAbd Allah, narrations you narrated that are not upon your view, why did you include them.

Malik said: If I could return to the start of my affair, I would not have done it. But they spread among people. If someone asks me about them, and I do not narrate them, while they are with someone else, he makes me a target. Al Bayadi narrated from him that he said: I regretted that I did not remove more hadith than what I removed.

Sometimes he put analogy ahead of a singular hadith, even if it is connected and sound. Ibn Rushd al Maliki (d. 520 AH) said in al Muqaddimat: “The proof for putting analogy ahead, meaning ahead of a singular hadith, is that it agrees with the foundations because it contains achieving interests or removing harms. The opposing report prevents that, so what agrees with the foundations, from analogy and other than it, is put ahead of what opposes them.”

I say: It is as if there is no interest in the sound hadith. Rejecting a hadith by analogy can be criticised, because analogy must have a foundation from the Book or hadith. So how is a hadith rejected by analogy.

It is known in the studies of differing hadith that hadith do not truly contradict. Whatever seems like contradiction is handled by abrogation, general and specific, interpretation, or strength and weakness.

Among those who used as proof for Malik’s method, in rejecting hadith due to other foundations, is al Shatibi (d. 790 AH) in al Muwafaqat, when he said:

This issue, meaning rejecting hadith, has a foundation in the righteous Salaf. ʿAishah, may Allah be pleased with her, rejected the hadith “The deceased is punished by his family crying over him,” by this same foundation, because Allah Most High said:

ألا تزر وازرة وزر أخرى
“And no bearer bears the burden of another.” (al Anam 164)

And He said:

وأن ليس للإنسان إلا ما سعى
“And that the human has nothing except what he strives for.” (al Najm 39)

She also rejected the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ seeing his Lord on the night of al Isra, because Allah Most High said:

ولا تدركه الأبصار وهو يدرك الأبصار
“Eyes do not grasp Him, yet He grasps eyes.” (al Anam 103)

Shaykh Diraz (d. 1377 AH), the commentator, said: This is not decisive in meaning in the verse “Eyes do not grasp Him,” so it is not from what we are discussing. I say: This verse is the proof of the Muʿtazilah in denying seeing Allah in the universe. With Ahl al Sunnah, its meaning is that eyes do not grasp Him by grasping His reality and encompassing Him, proven by Allah’s statement Most High:

وجوه يومئذ ناضرة ۝ إلى ربها ناظرة
“Faces on that day will be radiant, looking at their Lord.” (al Qiyamah 22–23)

Looking is not grasping.

Al Shatibi said: She, meaning ʿAishah, and Ibn ʿAbbas, rejected Abu Hurayrah’s report about washing the hands before placing them into the vessel, relying on a firm foundation, which is removing hardship and what is not possible from the religion.

For that, they said: What does he do with the large water rock container. Al Hafiz Ibn Hajar (d. 852 AH) said: There is no trace of their rejecting it against Abu Hurayrah in any of the books of hadith. Rather, a man called Qayn al Ashjaʿi said it.

Then al Shatibi said: Malik ibn Anas relied upon this foundation in many places because it is sound in consideration. Do you not see his statement in the hadith of washing the vessel from a dog’s licking seven times: The hadith came, and I do not know its reality. He used to weaken it and say: Its hunted animal is eaten, so how can its saliva be disliked.

Malik said about the hadith of choice in the gathering, in his statement ﷺ, “The 2 parties to a sale have choice,” the hadith: This has no known limit with us, and there is no practised matter upon it. This points to the gathering being unknown in its duration.

I say: The hadith is sound. Some Sahabah acted by it. Ibn ʿUmar used to walk away from his gathering then return, to confirm the sale. This is ease for the seller and the buyer. Perhaps one of them wants to withdraw from the sale.

Al Shatibi said: From this is that Malik neglected the hadith “Whoever dies while he owes fasting, his guardian fasts for him,” and the statement: “What if your father had a debt,” because it opposes the general Qur’an foundation, such as Allah’s statement:

ألا تزر وازرة وزر أخرى
“And no bearer bears the burden of another.” (al Anam 164)

And His statement:

وأن ليس للإنسان إلا ما سعى
“And that the human has nothing except what he strives for.” (al Najm 39)

Malik rejected the hadith of overturning the pots that were cooked from camels and sheep before division, relying on removing hardship, which is expressed as unrestricted interests. He permitted eating the food before division for the one who needs it.

Ibn al ʿArabi (d. 546 AH) said: Malik forbade fasting 6 of Shawwal while the hadith about it is established, relying on the foundation of blocking the means, meaning here the belief of its being obligatory. I say: Al Shawkani (d. 1250 AH) replied strongly against this method of rejecting the sound hadith in his book Irshad al Fuhul.

Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) must have heard all of this from Malik when he used to go to him to hear knowledge. He must have been uneasy with some of what he heard from his shaykh Malik. When he then became independent in striving, and looked into the proofs, he opposed some of Malik’s foundations and replied to them with a scholarly reply, with some harshness sometimes.

From these foundations that he expanded in replying to is Malik leaving the singular hadith, even if it is among the most sound of what he narrated, or what others narrated, due to foundations he placed. Some of that was already mentioned, and here is some of what he replied to him with.

Al Rabiʿ ibn Sulayman said: I asked al Shafiʿi: Where do the hands rise in prayer. He said: The one praying raises his hands when he begins prayer, to the level of his shoulders, and when he wants to bow, and when he raises his head from bowing, he raises them likewise. He does not do that in prostration. I said to al Shafiʿi: What is the proof for that. He said: Ibn ʿUyaynah (d. 198 AH) narrated to us from al Zuhri (d. 124 AH) from Salim (d. 106 AH) from his father from the Prophet ﷺ the same.

Al Rabiʿ said: We say: he raises at the beginning, then he does not return. Al Shafiʿi said: Malik (d. 179 AH) informed us from Nafiʿ (d. 117 AH) that Ibn ʿUmar used to, when he began prayer, raise his hands to the level of his shoulders, and when he raised from bowing he raised them likewise.

Al Shafiʿi said, meaning Malik: You narrate from the Prophet ﷺ that he raised his hands when he began prayer to the level of his shoulders, and when he raised his head from bowing he raised them likewise, then you opposed the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and Ibn ʿUmar, so you said: He does not raise his hands except at the beginning of prayer, while you narrated from them that they raised at the beginning, at bowing, and at raising from bowing.

Then al Shafiʿi became strong and said: Is it permissible for a scholar to leave what is from the Prophet ﷺ and Ibn ʿUmar for his own view, or leave what is from the Prophet ﷺ for the view of Ibn ʿUmar, then use analogy upon Ibn ʿUmar’s statement.

Then he reaches another place and is correct within it, so he leaves what is from Ibn ʿUmar due to what is narrated from the Prophet ﷺ. How did some of this not forbid him from some of this.

If it was permissible for him to narrate from the Prophet ﷺ that he raised his hands in prayer 2 times or 3 times, and from Ibn ʿUmar 2 times, then take 1 and leave 1, is it permissible for someone else to leave what he took and take what he left, or is it permissible for someone else to leave what he took upon him.

Al Shafiʿi said: It is not permissible for him, or for anyone else, to leave what is narrated from the Prophet ﷺ.

Al Rabiʿ said: I said to al Shafiʿi: Our companion said: What is the meaning of raising the hands. Al Shafiʿi said: This proof is the peak of ignorance. Its meaning is honouring Allah and following the Sunnah.

The meaning of raising at the beginning is the meaning of raising that you opposed in bowing and after raising the head from bowing. Then you opposed your narration from the Prophet ﷺ and Ibn ʿUmar together, without any single statement narrated from him. Raising the hands in prayer is narrated from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ by 13 or 14 men. It is narrated from the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ by more than 1 route. Whoever leaves the Sunnah has left it.

In volume 7 of al Umm there is much of al Shafiʿi’s reply to Malik in rejecting hadith, especially in the book Ikhtilaf Malik and in the book Jimaʿ al ʿIlm. From what he said in the introduction of Ikhtilaf Malik: al Rabiʿ ibn Sulayman al Muradi said: I asked al Shafiʿi: By what is the report from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ established.

He said: I already wrote this proof in the book Jimaʿ al ʿIlm. I said: Repeat your madhhab from this and do not care that it is in this place. Al Shafiʿi said: If the trustworthy narrates from the trustworthy until it ends at the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, then it is established from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. We never leave a hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, except a hadith for which a hadith is found from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that opposes it.

If hadith differ from him, then the difference is in 2 ways. The first is that there is abrogation and being abrogated, so we act by the abrogating and leave the abrogated. The second is that they differ with no indication of which is abrogating, so we go to the more firmly established narration.

If they are equal, we go to the narration that is closer to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet ﷺ in what is outside what the 2 hadith differed in from his Sunnah. 2 hadith that differ from the Prophet ﷺ are never without one of these or another proof that points to what is more firmly established from the narration from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

If the hadith from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has no opposing hadith from him, and a hadith is narrated from someone below the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that agrees with it, it does not increase it in strength. The hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is sufficient by itself. If a hadith is narrated from someone below the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that opposes it, I do not turn to what opposes it. The hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is more deserving to be taken.

Al Rabiʿ said: I said to al Shafiʿi: Does our companion, meaning Malik, go upon this madhhab. He said: Yes, in some knowledge, and he left it in some. Then al Shafiʿi mentioned what Malik took of hadith and what he opposed it in. (al Umm 7/177 and 7/25.)

Al Shafiʿi ended this chapter with his statement, may Allah have mercy on him: This is how the righteous from the people of knowledge should be. As for what you go to, leaving the Sunnah for other than it, and leaving that other thing for your own view, then knowledge becomes with you. You take from it what you want and you leave from it what you want.

You take without careful sight in what you say, and without good consideration in it. He mentioned the issue of perfume before Ihram. Malik forbade it because it continues to after Ihram, while it is established that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to apply perfume before Ihram and it would continue after it.

Al Shafiʿi also said in another place: Whoever follows the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ agrees with him. Whoever makes a mistake and leaves it opposes him. My companion whom I do not leave is what is firmly established from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ even if it is far. The one I leave is the one who does not accept the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ even if he is close.

He said elsewhere: If it is established from the Prophet ﷺ, then it is the most deserving matter for us. There is no proof in the statement of anyone besides the Prophet ﷺ, and not in analogy, and nothing in it except obeying Allah by submitting to him.

In Malik’s time, among those who struck Malik’s method of not acting upon hadith, even if it is sound and agreed upon in soundness, is Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Abi Dhi’b (d. 158 AH).

It was announced, in his time and Malik’s time: No one gives legal verdicts to people except Malik and Ibn Abi Dhi’b. He was brave in saying truth and did not fear kings. He was trustworthy and had taqwa.

Malik narrated from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The 2 parties to a sale, each of them has choice over the other as long as they do not separate, except a sale with a condition of choice.” Malik said: This has no known limit with us, and no practised matter upon it.

When Ibn Abi Dhi’b learned that Malik did not take the hadith “The 2 parties to a sale have choice,” he said strong speech against him.

Ibn Abi Sawwar al Judi said: I heard Malik say: The matter with us is such and such. I informed Ibn Abi Dhi’b of it. He said: It is not permissible for Malik to say this. This is not what we are upon. I informed Malik and he said: I do not rely on the view of Ibn Abi Dhi’b. I rely on the people of knowledge I met.

It was said: Malik used to avoid Ibn Abi Dhi’b because it was said he held the belief of al Qadar. Many of his contemporaries denied that he held the belief of al Qadar.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH) said: Ibn Abi Dhi’b was truthful and better than Malik, except that Malik was more careful in selecting men than him.

The Influence of Rabiʿah al Ra’y on Malik

It is clear that many of Malik’s views were influenced by the views of Rabiʿah al Ra’y, meaning Rabiʿah ibn Abi ʿAbd al Rahman (d. 136 AH), and that is clear in his legal understanding. Rabiʿah acts upon the practice of the people of Madinah when he finds them upon a matter they agreed upon, and he considers that stronger, in requiring practice, than a singular hadith.

For that reason, it is narrated from him that he said: “1,000 from 1,000 is more beloved to me than 1 from 1, because 1 from 1 pulls the Sunnah out of your hands.” The Sunnah with him, and with Malik (d. 179 AH), is most often the Sunnah of the Sahabah and the Tabiʿin, and those after them.

Consensus

The truth about consensus is this statement: there is no consensus on the proof value of consensus, and there is no consensus on its very meaning. Imam al Ghazali (d. 505 AH) said in al Mustasfa: “Malik said: the proof is only the consensus of the people of Madinah. Some said: what is considered is the consensus of the people of the 2 Harams, Makkah and Madinah, and the 2 great cities, Kufah and Basrah. Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) rejected the claim of consensus except in the foundations of issues.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH) rejected the existence of consensus except the consensus of the Sahabah. Rather, Ahmad said in a narration of his son ʿAbd Allah: ‘Whoever claims consensus is a liar. Perhaps people differed.’ In the narration of al Marwazi (d. 275 AH): ‘If hearing them say: “They agreed,” then accuse them. If they said: “No opposing view is known,” that would be better.’”

Consensus is mentioned many times by Malik as proof. He puts at the start of every issue in which he uses consensus as proof this statement: “The matter agreed upon with us.”

An example of that is: “Malik said: the matter agreed upon with us is that whoever takes an advance loan of an animal with a known description and known adornment, then there is no harm in that, and it is upon him to return its like, except what is from female slaves, because it is feared that this is a means to making permissible what is not permissible, so it is not sound.

The explanation of what I disliked in that is that a man takes an advance loan of a slave girl, then he has intercourse with her as he wishes, then he returns her to her owner in her very person. That is not sound and not permissible. The people of knowledge never stopped forbidding it and did not permit it for anyone.”

At times he would say: “The matter agreed upon with us,” and at times he would say: “The matter in which there is no difference with us.”

So what is this matter agreed upon with him. What is consensus with Malik.

Al Qarafi (d. 684 AH) said in defining consensus: “It is the agreement of the people of authority in this Ummah upon a matter from matters. By agreement we mean sharing, whether by speech, action, or belief. By the people of authority we mean those who strive in the Shariʿah rulings.”

Does his statement, “the agreement of the people of authority,” mean, with him, the ulama of Madinah, or the agreement of all the ulama of the lands of Islam.

Al Qarafi mentioned, from the foundations of the Malikis, both matters: “the consensus of the Ummah,” and “the consensus of the people of Madinah.” So he sees both. Was Malik upon that.

The closer view, and what he stated in al Muwatta by his statement, “the matter agreed upon with us,” or “the matter in which there is no difference with us,” is that Malik does not mean by consensus except the consensus of the people of Madinah. He said “with us” in everything he said, and he did not say even once: “the matter agreed upon in the lands of Islam,” for example. Consensus, if it was other than the consensus of the people of Madinah, would only be in matters like: Fajr is 2 rakʿahs and Zuhr is 4.

Al Ghazali (d. 505 AH) said in al Mustasfa: “Malik said: the proof is only the consensus of the people of Madinah. Some said: what is considered is the consensus of the people of the 2 Harams, Makkah and Madinah, and the 2 great cities, Kufah and Basrah.” The careful scholars meant by this only that these places gathered, in the time of the Sahabah, the people of authority.

If Malik meant that Madinah is what gathered them, that is accepted if it gathered them. At that point, the place itself has no effect. But this is not accepted, because Madinah did not gather all the ulama, not before the Hijrah and not after it. Rather, they always remained spread out in travels, campaigns, and cities.

So there is no way for Malik’s statement except that he says: the practice of the people of Madinah is proof because they are the majority and what matters is the view of the majority, and we already refuted it, or that their agreement in statement or practice shows they relied upon decisive hearing, because abrogating revelation descended among them, so the ways of the Shariʿah do not slip away from them.

This is forcing matters, because it is not impossible that others heard a hadith from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in travel, or in Madinah, then he left it before transmitting it. So the proof is in consensus, and there is no consensus.

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ahmad, well known as ʿAlish (d. 1299 AH), the Shaykh of the Malikis in Egypt, said about the practice of the people of Madinah, consensus, and singular reports: It is known that the people of Madinah are higher, more, and more knowledgeable than others, so there can be no return, at difference, except to them. If a hadith is sound, and the practice of the people of Madinah is against it, then the state must be 1 of 3.

Either it is ruled that all of them were ignorant, and a sensible person feels shy to even say that, because these are the most knowledgeable imams, and bad suspicion is sinful. Or it is ruled that they intentionally opposed the Sunnah and played with it, and that is worse.

Or it is ruled that they had knowledge and practice, and that if they left the hadith, they left it due to a strong reason. This is what is claimed. It is known that consensus is proof and it must have a basis, which may be known and may not be known. If their agreement is consensus, as the imam, meaning Malik, says, then the matter is clear.

Otherwise it is the same, meaning there must be a basis for their opposition, because there is no way to call them ignorant, and no way to declare them misguided. The clear truth has appeared if it is accepted. The ones whose knowledge the imam uses as proof are the Tabiʿin he met, and they do not leave the path of the Sahabah.

I say: It is nothing to satisfy Shaykh ʿAlish’s opponents with emotional speech. Knowledge is not by stirring feelings. A person can be wrong no matter how high his knowledge is, and no one calls him ignorant for that. Rather, he may be among the greatest ulama. No one is free of error in legislation except the prophets.

Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) said in his al Risalah: I said to him: What if he, meaning Malik, said to you: I do not say “the matter with us” except that the matter is agreed upon in Madinah. He said, meaning the Maliki debater: the matter agreed upon in Madinah is stronger than solitary reports, meaning singular reports.

He said, meaning the Maliki debater: so how is it required that he narrate to us the weaker, from the solitary reports, meaning singular hadith, and he refused to narrate to us the stronger, binding matter, from the matter agreed upon. Meaning: how did he choose singular hadith over the consensus of the people of Madinah.

Then al Shafiʿi said: I do not say, and no one from the people of knowledge says: “This is agreed upon,” except for what no ʿalim is ever met except that he says it, and he relates it from those before him, like Zuhr is 4, and like the prohibition of wine, and similar. Meaning: there is no consensus except in what is known from the religion by necessity.

Yet I find him saying: “the agreed upon,” and I find in Madinah many from the people of knowledge who say the opposite of it, and I find the generality of the people of the lands upon the opposite of what he says is “agreed upon.”

Al Shafiʿi replied, in the book Ikhtilaf Malik wa al Shafiʿi, within al Umm, to the foundation of the consensus of the people of Madinah.

He said: The least that is taken against you in this is that it is said: How did you claim that Abu Hurayrah performed the prostration in “If the sky is split” (Surah al Inshiqaq: 21) and that ʿUmar ordered prostration in it, and that ʿUmar ibn al Khattab performed the prostration in “The star” (Surah al Najm: 62), then you claimed that people agreed there is no prostration in al Mufassal, while they are from the Sahabah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

So it is said: your statement “people agreed,” while you narrate in it other than what you said, shows in your own statement that it is not as you said. Then you narrate from ʿUmar ibn al Khattab that he performed the prostration in “The star” (Surah al Najm: 62), and you do not narrate from anyone else the opposite.

Then you narrate from ʿUmar and Ibn ʿUmar that they performed 2 prostrations in Surah al Hajj, and you say: there is only 1.

You claim that people agreed there is only 1, then you say: people agreed, while you narrate the opposite of what you say. No one is excused in not knowing this, and no one accepts being found upon it, because it contains what is not hidden from any person of mind when he hears it.

If it is said to you: which people agreed there is no prostration in al Mufassal, while you narrate from the imams of people prostration within it, and you do not narrate from others their opposition, is it not more fitting for you to say: people agreed that in al Mufassal there is prostration, than to say: people agreed there is no prostration in al Mufassal.

If you say: it is not permissible, if they are not known to have agreed, to say: they agreed, then you already said: they agreed, while you did not narrate from a single imam your statement. I do not know which people are more fitting with you.

We did not bring the proof against you except from the statement of the people of Madinah, and we did not make consensus except their consensus.

So look well for yourselves. Know that it is not permissible to say: “the people in Madinah agreed” until there is no opposing view in Madinah from the people of knowledge.

Rather, say, in what they differed in: “we chose such and such.” Do not claim consensus, then claim what the tongues already carry that opposes it. I do not know anything taken against someone who claims knowledge that is uglier than this.

Al Rabiʿ ibn Sulayman (d. 270 AH) said: I said to al Shafiʿi: What if my statement “people agreed” means those from the people of Madinah whose view is accepted, even if they differed.

Imam Al Shafiʿi said: What if the one who opposes you and goes to the view of the one who opposed the one whose view is taken says: “people agreed.” Would he be truthful. If he is truthful, and there is in Madinah a third view that opposes both of you, then he says: “people agreed” upon a view.

If you are both truthful by interpretation, then there is in Madinah consensus in 3 different ways. If you say consensus is the opposite of difference, then it is not called consensus except for what has no difference in Madinah. Al Rabiʿ said: This is pure truth, so it is not left.

Never claim consensus except in what has no difference in Madinah. Nothing is found in Madinah except that it is found in all the lands with the people of knowledge agreeing in it. The people of the lands do not oppose the people of Madinah except in what the people of Madinah already differed among themselves.

Al Shafiʿi said: Let what was described in this chapter be enough, showing what is besides it, when the wish is to say: “people agreed.” If they did not differ in it, then say it. If they differed in it, then do not say it. Truth is in other than it.

It appears that Malik took the idea of the agreement of the people of Madinah from Rabiʿah al Ra’y, and his statement was already presented, and from Abu Bakr ibn Hazm. Malik said: Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Hazm used to say: “If finding the people of Madinah gathered upon a matter, then do not doubt it is the truth.” But al Shafiʿi, as already presented, did not see Malik taking what the people of Madinah were gathered upon without differing from them even 1.

This is what made all the imams oppose them in this. Qadi ʿIyad (d. 544 AH) said in the chapter “Proof by the consensus of the people of Madinah”: Know, may Allah honour all, that all the people of madhhahib, from jurists and those who write about creed, and the people of hadith, are all against our companions in this matter, considering us wrong in it by their claim, and arguing against us by what appeared to them, until he said: Know that the consensus of the people of Madinah is of 2 types.

A type from the way of transmission and report, which the masses relate from the masses, and they acted upon it in a way that is not hidden, and the majority transmitted it from the majority, from the time of the Prophet ﷺ. This type is split into 4 kinds. The first is what they transmitted as Shariʿah from the Prophet ﷺ by statement or action, like the saʿ and the mudd, and that he ﷺ used to take their charity and their fitrah by that measure, and like the adhan and the iqamah, and leaving reciting the basmalah aloud in prayer. (Some of the Sahabah used to recite the basmalah aloud with al Fatiha in the audible prayers, so there is no consensus in this issue.) And like endowments and holding property.

Their transmission of these matters from his ﷺ statement and action is like their transmission of the place of his grave, his masjid, his minbar, his city, and other matters that are known by necessity from his state, his way, and the description of his prayer, like the number of its rakʿahs and its prostrations, and similar.

Or their transmission of his ﷺ approval of what he saw from them, without transmitting from him that he rejected it.

Or their transmission that he left matters and rulings he did not obligate upon them, despite their being well known with them and clear among them, like him leaving taking zakah from vegetables while knowing they had many of them. This kind of their consensus, in these ways, is proof that must be taken.

Then he said: The second kind is their consensus upon a practice by the way of striving and proof. This kind has difference among our companions. Most of them went to it not being proof, and he named them.

Then he said: Some Malikis went to this kind being proof like the first kind, and they related it from Malik. He said: Qadi Abu Nasr said it, and Ahmad ibn al Muʿaddal’s statement points to it.

Abu Misʿab also points to it. Qadi Abu al Husayn went to it. He saw it put ahead of singular reports and analogy. The opponents all agreed that it is Malik’s madhhab.

The qadi reported a story from some people of legal foundations that Malik considers the consensus of the 7 jurists in Madinah as consensus. Malik was strongly influenced by the 7 jurists through his major shaykhs like Ibn Shihab al Zuhri (d. 124 AH) and Rabiʿah al Ra’y (d. 136 AH).

Ibn al Salah (d. 643 AH) said: Malik said: “If these 7 agree upon an issue, then consensus is formed by them.”

The Practice of the People of Madinah

The practice of the people of Madinah is close to the consensus of the people of Madinah, but it was placed among the foundations with the Malikis, so some speech was said about it.

Madinah was the place of Hijrah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his place of living. In it, most of the rulings descended from the Qur’an. In it, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ clarified to people what was sent down to them. The Sahabah were around him in it, hearing revelation and preserving what they heard. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then moved to the highest companion. After him, there were in Madinah many of his Sahabah. People came to them from the lands, in the season of Hajj, asking for verdicts.

The Sahabah who knew and preserved gave verdicts. Whoever did not have what he could give verdicts by asked the Sahabah who knew and preserved. If none of them found a text, he strove and did not fall short, building upon the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ.

After them came the Tabiʿin. They inherited, with the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ, what the Sahabah gave verdicts by. They preserved all that, or most of it, and built upon it, and they strove. The wealth of the major Tabiʿin, and among them the 7 jurists, from transmission and striving, became something that explains the Book of Allah, details the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and contains the striving of the Sahabah and the striving of the Tabiʿin.

People began to select. Some relied upon the Tabiʿin, especially the 7 jurists. What they agreed upon is from the practice of the people of Madinah, as already presented in consensus. Malik used to be very strict that the practice of the people of Madinah is proof above every proof, even if all the Islamic lands oppose it.

Muslim ibn Khalid al Zanjī (d. 180 AH), from the shaykhs of al Shafiʿi, from the people of Makkah, and its qadi, visited Malik. Malik said to him: “Muslim, what are these matters that reach me about you, that you oppose the people of Madinah in them.”

Muslim said: “Abu ʿAbd Allah, may Allah set matters right, I gathered matters I want to ask you about.” Malik said: “Bring them. I love that Allah guides you, but I dislike that you oppose the people of Madinah to others.”

From what he wrote to al Layth ibn Saʿd (d. 175 AH) on this foundation is his statement: “Know, may Allah have mercy on you, that it reached me that you give verdicts to people with matters that oppose what the generality of people are upon with us, and in our city that we are in.

You, in your leadership, merit, and rank among the people of your land, and the need of those before you for you, and their reliance upon what comes to them from you, makes it fitting that you fear for yourself and follow what salvation is hoped in following it. Allah says in His Book:”

وَالسَّابِقُونَ الْأَوَّلُونَ مِنَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالْأَنْصَارِ
“And the forerunners, the first from the emigrants and the helpers.” (al Tawbah 100)

“And Allah says:”

فَبَشِّرْ عِبَادِ ۝ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ
“So give glad tidings to My servants, those who listen to speech, then follow the best of it.” (al Zumar 17–18)

“People are only followers of the people of Madinah. To it was the Hijrah. In it the Qur’an descended. In it the permissible was made permissible and the prohibited was made prohibited, while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was among them. They used to witness revelation and sending down. He would command them and they would obey him. He would set Sunnah for them and they would follow him,” until the rest of what he said.

Al Shatibi (d. 790 AH) said in this context: The speculative matter that opposes a decisive foundation, and there is no decisive foundation that supports it, is rejected with no doubt.

The proof for that is 2 matters. The first is that it opposes the foundations of the Shariʿah. What opposes its foundations is not sound because it is not from it. What is not from the Shariʿah, how can it be counted from it. The second is that there is nothing that testifies to its soundness. What is like that is dropped from consideration.

This is of 2 types. The first is that its opposition to the foundation is decisive, so it must be rejected. The second is that its opposition is speculative, either because it is thought it is not opposing the decisive, or because the foundation itself is not confirmed as decisive. Here is the space of the mujtahids.

But what is established, in general, is that the opposition of the speculative to a decisive foundation cancels the speculative completely. There is no difference in it.

I say: This speech, in its outward form, has no doubt. The decisive is put ahead of the speculative. But from where does he say that the practice of the people of Madinah is the decisive that cancels a sound hadith, even if it is speculative. How is decisiveness established for the practice of the people of Madinah, while most of them have more than 1 opposing view.

Even if their agreement on a matter is assumed, where does that leave the jurists of the cities, and among them are the Sahabah, the Tabiʿin, and the people of hadith.

Ibn Abi Sawwar al Judi said: I heard Malik say: “The matter with us is such and such,” and I informed Ibn Abi Dhi’b (d. 158 AH), so he said: “It is not permissible for Malik to say this. This is not what we are upon.” I informed Malik and he said: “I do not rely on the view of Ibn Abi Dhi’b. I rely on those I met from the people of knowledge.”

The strange matter is that al Mansur (d. 158 AH), al Mahdi (d. 169 AH), and al Rashid (d. 193 AH) called Malik to make his Muwatta a book people are carried upon, and he refused. He said to al Mansur: “Amir al Mu’minin, the Sahabah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ spread out in the lands, and each gave verdicts in his city by what he saw.”

Malik said: Abu Jaʿfar said to me: “I intended to make this knowledge 1 knowledge, to write with it to the commanders of the armies and to the judges, so they act by it. Whoever opposes, I strike his neck.” I said: “Amir al Mu’minin, or other than that. The Prophet ﷺ was in this Ummah. He used to send out detachments,” until he said: “Then ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, stood after them, and the lands were opened by his hands.

He had no choice but to send the Sahabah of Muhammad ﷺ as teachers. It did not stop being taken from them, generation after generation, until our day. If removing them from what they know to what they do not know, they would see that as disbelief. So leave each city upon what it has of knowledge.”

I say: Then where is the practice of the people of Madinah after his statement: “So leave each city upon what it has of knowledge,” while he accepts that the Sahabah went as teachers to most of the lands of the Muslims, and after them Tabiʿin took from them. What is done with the statements of the Sahabah and the Tabiʿin outside Madinah.

Some use as proof for the practice of the people of Madinah the statement of the Prophet ﷺ: “Madinah removes its impurity as the bellows remove the impurity of iron.” Error is impurity, so it must be removed. I say: Does this mean no error exists in Madinah. Is that possible. Is the intent of the hadith removing error. That is not thought.

In Tartib al Madarik it is said that Malik said: Men from the people of knowledge and the Tabiʿin used to narrate hadith, and he would say: “We do not deny this, but practice passed upon other than it.” He also said: I saw Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr ibn ʿUmar ibn Hazm, and he was a qadi, and his brother was ʿAbd Allah, a truthful man, a man of many hadith.

I heard ʿAbd Allah, when Muhammad judged a case in which a hadith came opposing the judgement, he would blame him and say: “Did not a hadith come in this such and such.” He would say: “Yes.” His brother would say: “So why do you not judge by it.” He would say: “So where are people on it.” Meaning what he claims of the consensus of the ulama in Madinah. He means practice with it is stronger than the hadith.

Qadi ʿIyad (d. 544 AH) related from Ibn al Muʿaddal: I heard a person ask Ibn al Majishun (d. 212 AH): “Why did you narrate the hadith, then leave it.” He said: “So that it is known we left it upon knowledge.”

Qadi ʿIyad also related from Ibn Mahdi (d. 198 AH) that he said: “The earlier Sunnah, from the Sunnah of the people of Madinah, is better than the hadith, even if it is with me.”

Ibn Abi Hazim said: Abu al Darda used to be asked and he would answer. Then it would be said: It reached us such and such, opposing what you said. He would say: “I heard it, but I found practice upon other than it.”

Malik said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned from such and such a campaign, and there were 2,000 Sahabah. About 10,000 died in Madinah from them, and the rest spread across the lands. Which is more fitting to be followed and taken by their statement: those among whom the Prophet ﷺ and his Sahabah died, whom were mentioned, or those among whom 1 or 2 from the Sahabah of the Prophet ﷺ died.

I say: The conquests in the time of ʿUmar ibn al Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, spread the Sahabah across all the lands of Islam, and likewise in the time of ʿUthman, may Allah be pleased with him. Madinah no longer remained uniquely full of Sahabah. Most of them went for conquests and jihad. Only those unable to fight remained, and few returned from those who fought.

Ibn al Qayyim (d. 751 AH), in detailing what is accepted and what is rejected from the practice of the people of Madinah, by which some jurists of Madinah repel sound singular hadith, said:

As for the transmission of specific matters, and identifying places, then it is like their transmission of the saʿ and the mudd, and defining the place of the minbar, its standing place for prayer, and the grave and the chamber, and Masjid Quba, and defining al Rawdah, al Baqiʿ, and the prayer place, and similar.

This transmission is like the transmission of the places of the rites, like al Safa and al Marwah, Mina and the places of the stoning, Muzdalifah, ʿArafah, and the places of entering Ihram, like Dhu al Hulayfah and al Juhfah and others.

As for the transmission of ongoing practice, then it is like their transmission of endowments and share cropping, and the adhan from a high place, and the adhan for Fajr before dawn, and making the adhan 2 and the iqamah 1, and the khutbah with the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and leaving the crafted khutbah with artificial rhyming and needless patterns that do not feed and do not benefit.

This transmission and this practice are proof that must be followed, and Sunnah received with acceptance, on head and eyes. If the ʿalim gains this, his eye becomes calm and his soul becomes at rest.

Then he spoke about singular reports with the practice of the people of Madinah. He said: The state of singular reports does not leave 3 matters. Either the practice of the people of Madinah matches them, or their practice is against them, or they have no practice at all, neither opposing nor matching.

If their practice matches them, then it is stronger in their soundness and the obligation to act by them if the practice is by the way of transmission. If it is by the way of striving, then it strengthens the report. If their practice is against it, then look.

If the practice mentioned is upon the form described, like the saʿ and the mudd and leaving zakah on vegetables, and if their practice is striving, then the report is more deserving than it with the majority of our companions, meaning the Hanbalis.

Then he said: It is impossible, by habit, that they agree upon a matter by transmission or ongoing practice from them to the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while the sound Sunnah that is established opposes it. This is the clearest falsehood. If that occurs in what they agreed upon by the way of striving, then infallibility is not guaranteed for their striving.

They did not agree, by transmission and ongoing practice upon the condition described, upon invalidating the choice of the gathering, nor upon 1 taslimah, nor upon the qunut in Fajr before bowing, nor upon leaving raising the hands at bowing, while raising is Sunnah, nor upon leaving prostration in al Mufassal, nor upon leaving the opening supplication and the seeking refuge before al Fatiha, and similar matters from what is in Malik’s madhhab, relying upon the practice of the people of Madinah, while ignoring the sound hadith, without ongoing transmission.

Then he said: How, while their early people transmitted the sound, established knowledge, as if it is eye sight, from the Prophet ﷺ and his Sahabah, opposing that. So how is it said: leaving it is an ongoing practice from the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ until now. This is impossible. Rather, their transmission of the saʿ and the mudd and endowments and the like, and leaving zakah on vegetables, is truth, and there is no Sunnah from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that opposes it at all.

For that reason, Abu Yusuf returned to all that in the presence of al Rashid, when Malik debated him, and the truth became clear to him. So their practice by the way of striving is not attached to this, and it is not made an ongoing transmission from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and then the established Sunnah is left for it.

He said: It is known that practice, after the end of the era of the rightly guided caliphs and the Sahabah in Madinah, was according to those in it from muftis, commanders, and market overseers. The subjects did not oppose them. If the muftis gave verdicts, the commander enforced it, and the market overseer acted by it, and it became practice.

This is what is not looked at when it opposes the Sunnah, not the practice of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his caliphs and the Sahabah. That is the Sunnah. We are stronger in using that practice as judgement, and stronger in leaving the other practice when it opposes the Sunnah.

After he brought many examples in which the Sunnah was cancelled, he said: If the Sunnahs were left for the practice, meaning the practice of the people of Madinah, then the Sunnahs of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would be cancelled, their marks would be erased, and their traces would fade.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH) was asked about Malik ibn Anas, so he said: “Sound hadith, and weak opinion.” Al Bayhaqi (d. 458 AH) said: Ahmad ibn Hanbal only said that about Malik because he leaves his sound hadith and acts by the practice of the people of Madinah in some issues.

Al Darawardi (d. 187 AH) said: If Malik says: “I found the people of our city upon it,” and “the matter agreed upon in our city,” then he means Rabiʿah ibn ʿAbd al Rahman, titled Rabiʿah al Ra’y, and Ibn Hurmuz (d. 117 AH). Al Darawardi was a peer of Malik and took from him.

If this statement is firmly attributed to al Darawardi, and al Qurtubi al Maliki (d. 671 AH) related it, then consensus and the practice of the people of Madinah with him are only the consensus of 2 ulama and the practice of 2 ulama, not the consensus of the people of Madinah or the practice of the people of Madinah. Malik’s influence by these 2 great ulama is clear.

Malik mentioned some of his terms, in what Ibn Abi Uways (d. 226 AH), the son of his sister, narrated. It was said to Malik: What is meant in the book, meaning al Muwatta, by “the matter agreed upon with us,” and “in our city,” and “I found the people of knowledge,” and “I heard some of the people of knowledge.” Malik said:

“As for most of what is in the book, it is opinion. By Allah, it is not my opinion. Rather it is hearing from more than 1 from the people of knowledge, merit, and imams who are followed, those I took from, and they were those who feared Allah. It became much with me, so I said: my opinion. That is when their opinion was like the opinion of the Sahabah.

They found the Sahabah upon it, and I found them upon it. This is inheritance they passed on generation after generation until our time. What was opinion is the opinion of a group from the earlier imams.

What was in it “the matter agreed upon,” then it is what the people of legal understanding and knowledge agreed upon in speech, and they did not differ in it. What I said: “the matter with us,” then it is what people acted by with us, and by it rulings passed, and the ignorant and the knowledgeable knew it.

Likewise what I said: “in our city.” What I said: “some of the people of knowledge,” then it is something I found good from the speech of the ulama. As for what I did not hear from them, then I strove and looked upon the madhhab of those I met, until it landed in the place of truth, or close to it, so that it does not leave the madhhab of the people of Madinah and their views, even if I did not hear it itself.

So I attributed the opinion to the Sunnah and what the imams who are followed passed upon, and the matter acted upon with us from the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the imams after the striving with the rightly guided, with those I met. That is their opinion. I did not leave to others.”

Analogy

All the imams of the recognised madhhahib used analogy. The one who used it the most is Abu Hanifah (d. 150 AH), and Malik (d. 179 AH), and al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH). Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH) used it the least. Each has his own method in analogy, except that some Hanafis said: the analogies of al Shafiʿi are the strongest analogies because his causes are safe from being broken.

We do not expand here on analogy with Malik. It is enough to point to a special trait in analogy with him. Malik does not restrict analogy to what is directly carried on the texts alone, so it is a direct carrying upon the text, as al Shafiʿi mentioned.

Rather he makes analogy upon what was already analogised. If he derived a branch from a foundation by analogy, then this branch becomes fit to be a foundation that analogy can be made upon.

Ibn Rushd al Maliki (d. 520 AH) said in al Muqaddimat: “It is not as some ignorant people say: that issues are branches, so it is not sound to make analogy of some of them upon others, and analogy is only sound upon the Book, the Sunnah, and consensus.

This is clear error. The Book, the Sunnah, and consensus are the foundations of the Shariʿah. Analogy upon them comes first. It is not sound to make analogy upon what was extracted from them except after being unable to make analogy upon them. If a new matter occurs, and no text is found in the Book, the Sunnah, or the consensus of the Ummah, and no cause is found in anything from them that gathers it with the new matter, but it is found in what was extracted from them, then analogy upon that becomes necessary.”

He said: “Know that this meaning is from what Malik and his companions agreed upon. They did not differ in it, as is found in their books, of making analogy of issues by each other. It is sound in meaning, even if some opposed it, because the Book, the Sunnah, and the consensus are a foundation in the Shariʿah rulings, as necessary knowledge is a foundation in rational knowledge.

As rational knowledge is built upon necessary knowledge, or upon what is built upon necessary knowledge, with no end to the count, with order and system, the nearer upon the nearer, and it is not sound to build the nearer upon the farther.

Likewise, the transmitted sciences are built upon the Book, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the Ummah, or upon what is built upon them with soundness, with no end, and the system of the nearer upon the nearer, and it is not sound to build the nearer upon the farther.”

This method in analogy is not accepted by the rest of the imams who accept analogy. Analogy with the Hanafis is: attaching a matter with no text ruling to another matter with a text ruling.

With the Shafiʿis, as al Ghazali (d. 505 AH) said in al Mustasfa: “Its definition is carrying a known matter upon a known matter, in establishing a ruling for both of them, or removing it from both, by a shared matter between them, whether in establishing a ruling or a description, or removing them from both.”

Then he said: “Every analogy must have a branch, a foundation, a cause, and a ruling.” If the cause is clear in the foundation, and the branch shares in this cause, then the analogy is complete. Every branch is attached to the foundation when the cause is the same.

Unrestricted Interests

The foundation in the Shariʿah is the interests of the Ummah. Whatever contains its good, the proofs gather upon confirming it, establishing it, and commanding it, as obligation or as recommendation. Whatever contains harm, the proofs gather upon forbidding it and warning against it. There is no difference among the imams in this.

There is also no difference among them that events, as time extends and lands and environments differ, become many and renewed, until reaching a level in which it becomes impossible to find a specific foundation, for every event or every interest, in the Book and the Sunnah. Here the ulama split.

The Shafiʿis and the Hanafis see that, no matter how many events and new matters exist, the Shariʿah has space for them. If not in the Book and the Sunnah, then by analogy upon them. The door of analogy is wide, and every ruling that the 2 foundations did not address by a clear affirmation or a clear denial can enter it, by the shared cause between the foundation and the branch.

Here al Shafiʿi sees that the texts, analogy upon them, and consensus are enough to cover interests and remove harms forever. With that, matters stay within the Shariʿah of Allah. With al Shafiʿi, it is not accepted to confirm an interest if it has no witness from the Shariʿah. He uses as proof the statement of Allah Most High:

أَيَحْسَبُ الْإِنسَانُ أَن يُتْرَكَ سُدًى
“Does the human think he will be left neglected.” (al Qiyamah 36)

It is as if the meaning is that Allah did not leave the human without care. Rather, He controlled every movement and stillness, no matter how times and lands differ, and no matter how needs become many and varied, so they must have, in the Shariʿah of Allah, a way.

Yet even with that, the Shafiʿis still did not find a way out from using public interest in some issues, even if they did not make it a foundation.

As for Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, he made preference gather issues of interest and other than it.

The first to rely upon interests and make it a foundation is Malik, influenced in it by his shaykh Rabiʿah.

The reality of these interests is every benefit that falls within the aims of the Lawgiver, without a specific witness for it being considered or cancelled. This foundation is considered, with Malik, by Ahmad ibn Hanbal and al Shafiʿi in some of it, as already mentioned.

They both confirmed that the rulings of the Shariʿah only came with what is the interest. If a text comes, the interest is clear in it. If a text is not known, then there are general texts that can be used to support interests or remove harms, like Allah’s statement Most High:

وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٍ
“He did not place upon you, in the religion, any hardship.” (al Hajj 78)

And like the hadith: “There is no harm, and no returning harm.”

So by this, it can be ruled that everything containing interest with no harm, or in which benefit is greater than harm, is legislated, even if this kind of benefit has no specific witness for it. Likewise, everything containing harm is repelled, even if it has no specific witness that repels it.

From examples of interests is Abu Bakr gathering the Qur’an after fearing it would be lost by the death of Qur’an memorizers, especially since many of them died at al Yamamah. From it is his decision to fight the people of apostasy. From it is Abu Bakr choosing ʿUmar ibn al Khattab, may Allah be pleased with them, to be caliph after him.

As for harm, al Shatibi (d. 790 AH) said in al Iʿtisam: punishment in wealth is established with him. He said about adulterated saffron, if found with the one who adulterated it: he gives it in charity to the poor, little or much. Ibn al Qasim (d. 191 AH), Mutarrif (d. 220 AH), and Ibn al Majishun (d. 212 AH) went to him giving in charity what is little of it, not what is much.

That is related from ʿUmar ibn al Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, and that he poured out milk adulterated with water. The direction of that is disciplining the one who cheats. This disciplining has no text that specifically witnesses it, but it is from the way of ruling upon the private due to the public.

Al Ghazali (d. 505 AH) discussed public interest in al Mustasfa at length. He said, in meaning:

“The 4th foundation from the imagined foundations is public interest. The ulama differed in the permissibility of following unrestricted interests.

It is necessary to uncover the meaning of interest and its categories. Interest, in relation to the testimony of the Shariʿah, is 3 categories. A category the Shariʿah testified to considering. A category the Shariʿah testified to cancelling. A category the Shariʿah did not testify, neither to cancelling nor to considering, by a specific text.

As for what the Shariʿah testified to considering, it is proof, and its result returns to analogy, meaning extracting rulings from the understood meaning of a text and consensus. As for what the Shariʿah testified to cancelling, it is cancelled. As for the third, it is what has no witness from the Shariʿah for cancelling or considering a specific text, and this is public interest, and it is the place of looking.

Interest, by its strength in itself, is split into what is in the rank of necessities, what is in the rank of needs, and what relates to improvements and beautifications. Matters also fall below the level of needs. Each category has what completes it.

Interest is not meant as simply bringing benefit or removing harm in the sense of what people want, because the aims of people are benefit and removing harm.

Rather, interest means preserving the aim of the Shariʿah. The aim of the Shariʿah for the creation is 5: preserving the religion, the self, the mind, lineage, and wealth. Everything that contains preserving these 5 foundations is interest. Everything that removes these foundations is corruption, and removing it is interest.

These 5 foundations are preserved in the rank of necessities, and it is the strongest level of interests. Its example is the Shariʿah ruling of killing the disbeliever who misleads, and punishing the innovator who calls to his innovation, because this destroys religion.

And obligating retaliation preserves lives. The punishment for drinking preserves minds, which is the basis of obligation. The punishment for fornication preserves lineage. Deterring the usurper and the thief preserves wealth.

It is impossible that any millah or Shariʿah that aimed to correct creation would not contain preserving these 5 foundations and forbidding destroying them.

Then he mentioned an example of necessities that have no specific foundation. He said: If disbelievers use a group of Muslim captives as a shield, then if restraining from shooting, they will defeat the Muslims and kill all Muslims. If shooting, then a protected Muslim is killed without sin. This has no direct example in the Shariʿah. If restraining, then the disbelievers are enabled to kill all Muslims, then they kill the captives too. It can be said: this captive will be killed in every case.

Preserving all Muslims is closer to the aim of the Shariʿah, because the aim is reducing killing, and blocking its way when possible. If total blocking is not possible, then reducing is possible.

This is turning to an interest known, by necessity, to be the aim of the Shariʿah, not by 1 proof, but by proofs too many to count. Yet achieving this aim by this specific way, killing one who did not sin, is unusual and has no specific foundation. This interest is confirmed because it is necessary, decisive, and general.

Then he said: Every interest that does not return to preserving a Shariʿah aim understood from the Book, the Sunnah, and consensus, and it is from strange interests that do not match the actions of the Shariʿah, then it is false and rejected.

Whoever goes to it has legislated. Every interest that returns to preserving a Shariʿah aim known to be an aim by the Book, the Sunnah, and consensus is not outside these foundations. It is not called analogy, but unrestricted interest, because analogy is upon a specific foundation. These aims were known not by 1 proof, but by many proofs from the Book, the Sunnah, and the signs of states and the many signals, so it is called unrestricted interest.

If interest is explained as preserving the aim of the Shariʿah, then there is no reason for difference in following it. Rather, it must be decisive that it is proof.”

On this, the Maliki, the Hanbali, and the Shafiʿi relied upon unrestricted interests and placed it among their foundations. But al Shafiʿi relied upon it only as a public interest within the frame of the Shariʿah, and he did not make it an independent foundation.

Al Ghazali ended by saying: public interest is not a 5th independent foundation. Whoever uses interest without this control has legislated, as whoever uses uncontrolled preference has legislated.

Malik is the one who used it the most, and he made it a foundation from his foundations in large matters and small matters.

Preference

Malik used preference as Abu Hanifah used preference. Al Shatibi (d. 790 AH) related in al Muwafaqat from Asbagh (d. 225 AH) that he said: I heard Ibn al Qasim (d. 191 AH) say, narrating from Malik, that he said: “9 tenths of knowledge is preference.”

As for al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH), he did not see it as anything. Rather, he said: “Whoever uses preference has legislated.” He attacked preference strongly in al Umm and al Risalah. It is not said that al Shafiʿi did not understand preference, as some biased people claim. Rather, he rejected it because he knew it well. He is the leading student of Malik, and he read with care the books of the Hanafis through Muhammad ibn al Hasan al Shaybani (d. 189 AH).

Preference with Malik, as al Shatibi defined it in al Muwafaqat, is: “taking a partial interest in opposition to a general proof.”

Al Shatibi gave many examples, like loaning. In its outward form it resembles riba, because it is a dirham for a dirham to a term, but it was made permissible because it contains help and ease for those in need. If it stayed upon the foundation of prohibition, there would be hardship upon those charged. Likewise is selling al ʿariyyah by estimation as dried dates.

It is selling fresh dates for dried, but it was made permissible due to ease and removing hardship. Like combining Maghrib and ʿIsha for rain, combining for the traveller, shortening prayer and breaking the fast in long travel, prayer of fear, and others.

I say: These examples are established by the text from the Book and the Sunnah. Preference has no entry in them. It is obvious that the Book and the Sunnah are the 2 foundations, so no foundation has space with them, whether it is agreed to be considered or not.

Ibn al ʿArabi (d. 546 AH) explained preference as leaving what the proof requires, by way of exception and concession, then he made it categories. From it is leaving what the proof requires for custom.

From this it becomes clear that preference with Malik gives verdicts in issues as a concession within a foundation, not as the foundation itself.

It is said in explaining it: It is giving a ruling that leaves the strict foundation to remove hardship or avoid a harm, while keeping the aims of the Shariʿah.

Al Jurjani (d. 816 AH) said in al Taʿrifat: “Preference is leaving analogy to what is more gentle upon people.” If what is more gentle upon people has a foundation within the general Shariʿah, then it is accepted and agreed upon.

If it has no foundation, or its foundation is closer to illusion, then it is rejected. Al Shafiʿi strongly confirmed rejecting it. He said in his al Risalah, may Allah have mercy on him: This is as already said about preference.

Striving is only upon a sought matter, and the sought matter is only upon a specific known thing, searched for by a proof that is intended by it, or upon likeness to a known thing. This shows that it is forbidden for anyone to speak by preference if it opposes the report.

The report, from the Book and the Sunnah, is a known thing whose meaning the mujtahid seeks to reach, like a house is sought by one who does not see it until he reaches it.

Or he seeks it by analogy. No one can speak except from the direction of striving, and striving is, as described, seeking the truth. So does it become permissible that a man says: “I prefer,” without analogy.

Custom and Habit

Custom is the matter that a group of people agree upon in the course of their lives. Habit is the repeated practice of individuals and groups. When a group becomes used to a matter, it becomes their custom. Habit and custom have the same meaning in what they point to, as Ibn ʿAbidin (d. 1252 AH) said in his treatise “Nashr al ʿUrf fi Bina’ Baʿd al Ahkam ʿala al ʿUrf”, meaning that their outcome is 1.

Al Ghazali (d. 505 AH) defined it in al Mustasfa by saying: “Habit and custom are what settles in the selves through the mind, and sound natural sense accepts it.”

Habit, or custom, in Maliki fiqh is necessary to consider, and likewise in Hanafi fiqh. The Shafiʿis accept practical custom, not verbal custom, and they accept what has a text for it, or what no text addressed and did not deny. Al Shatibi (d. 790 AH) expanded speech on custom in al Muwafaqat.

Among what he said is: ongoing customs must be considered in the Shariʿah, whether they were Shariʿah based in their origin, or not Shariʿah based, meaning whether they are confirmed by evidence in the Shariʿah as command or prohibition, or not. As for what is confirmed by evidence, then its matter is clear. As for other than that, then the duty of responsibility cannot be established except by it, because the custom has run that deterrence is a reason for stopping from disobedience, like His statement, Most High:

وَلَكُم في القصاص حياة
“And in retaliation there is life for you.” (al Baqarah 179) (The custom was that deterrence is a reason for stopping from disobedience. If custom was not considered in the Shariʿah, then retaliation would not become required and would not be legislated, because it would be legislated with no benefit, and that is rejected by His statement, Most High: “And in retaliation there is life for you.”)

Then he said, supporting the foundation of custom: A third way is that when it is certain that the Lawgiver came by considering interests, it becomes necessary to be certain that customs must be considered, because when legislation is on 1 pattern, it shows that interests run on that.

The foundation of legislation is the cause of interests, and legislation is ongoing, as already mentioned, so interests are also ongoing. This is the meaning of considering customs in legislation.

A 4th way is that if customs were not considered, it would lead to burdening people with what they cannot bear, and this is not permissible, or it does not occur. That is because the address must either consider knowledge and ability for what is required, and similar matters from the customary matters considered in directing responsibility, or it does not. If it does, then that is what was meant.

If it does not, then it means that responsibility is directed to the one who knows and is able, and to the one who does not know and is not able, and to the one who has an obstacle and to the one who does not. That is the same as burdening with what cannot be borne. The proofs for this meaning are clear and many.

Habits are either natural and built in, like eating, drinking, and sleeping, or changing habits that differ by people and by environments and lands.

Al Shatibi mentioned the second type and gave an example. He said: “From the changing habits is what changes, in custom, from good to bad, and the opposite, like uncovering the head. It differs by regions in reality. For people of dignity it is bad in eastern lands, and not bad in western lands. So the Shariʿah ruling differs by that. With the people of the east it harms trustworthiness, and with the people of the west it does not harm it.” (its like is that if covering the head is a custom considered in trustworthiness in a time, then uncovering the head may become a custom that does not harm trustworthiness in another time.)

Al Qarafi (d. 684 AH) explained the effect of custom in contracts that are affected by it. A partnership contract, if unrestricted, goes to equal shares. A contract over land includes trees and building. A contract over building includes land. A contract over a house includes its doors, its stairs, and its shelves, and so on. Then he said: this speech, with the rest of the details of this chapter, is all built upon customs.

If it were not for customs, this would be pure forcing, and selling the unknown and price uncertainty is not permissible by consensus.

Blocking the Means

Imam Malik (d. 179 AH) relied a lot on blocking the means, and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH) accepted most of it. The meaning of blocking the means is that they are treated as lawful or unlawful based on what they lead to. A means to what is unlawful is unlawful, meaning the way to it. So looking at the private area of a non related woman is unlawful because it leads to indecency.

A means to an obligation is an obligation. Friday prayer is an obligation, and going to it is an obligation. So the means, meaning the ways, are paths leading to what is unlawful or lawful, and their ruling is the ruling of what they lead to.

Al Qarafi (d. 684 AH) said: “The means to the best aims are the best means, and the means to the ugliest aims are the ugliest means, and the means to what is average are average.”

The foundation of blocking the means is not based on intentions alone. Rather, what is intended in it is public benefit, or removing public corruption. So it considers the result with the intention, or it considers the result alone.

Ibn al Qayyim (d. 751 AH) said about blocking the means: When aims cannot be reached except by causes and paths that lead to them, then their paths and causes follow them and are considered by them. The means of prohibited matters and disobedience are disliked and prevented based on how much they lead to their ends. The means follow the aim.

Both are intended, but the aim is intended as an end, while the means are intended as means. When Allah forbids something and it has paths and means that lead to it, He forbids them and prevents them, to make the prohibition real, to strengthen it, and to prevent approaching its boundary. If the means and paths that lead to it were made permissible, then that would break the prohibition and invite people to it.

His wisdom and knowledge refuse that strongly. Rather, even the policy of kings of the universe refuses that. If one of them forbids his soldiers, his subjects, or his household from something, then he makes permissible to them the paths, causes, and means that reach it, he would be considered contradictory, and his subjects and soldiers would do the opposite of what he wanted.

Likewise doctors, if they want to remove a disease, they forbid the person from the paths and means that lead to it, or their attempt to fix him becomes ruined.

So what is thought of this complete Shariʿah that is at the highest level of wisdom, interest, and completion. Whoever looks carefully at its sources and its places of taking rulings will know that Allah Most High and His Messenger ﷺ blocked the means that lead to prohibited matters by forbidding them and warning against them. A means is what becomes a path and a way to a thing.

He said: It is necessary to make this place clear before setting it, so confusion is removed. A deed or a statement that leads to corruption is 2 kinds.

The first is that it was placed to lead to it, like drinking intoxicants that lead to the corruption of intoxication, and slander that leads to the corruption of false accusation, and fornication that leads to mixing lineages and corruption of family life, and similar. These deeds and statements were placed to lead to these corruptions, and they have no outward purpose other than it.

The second is that it was placed to lead to something permissible or recommended, then it is taken as a means to the unlawful, either by intending it, or without intending it.

The first is like the one who makes a marriage contract intending it for making lawful what is not lawful, or makes a sale intending it for usury, or makes a divorce settlement intending it for breaking an oath, and similar.

The second is like the one who prays voluntary prayer with no reason in times of prohibition, or insults the gods of polytheists while among them, or prays facing a grave, and similar.

Then this type of means has 2 types. The first is that the benefit of the deed is stronger than its harm. The second is that its harm is stronger than its benefit. So there are 4 categories.

The first is a means placed to lead to corruption.

The second is a means placed for the permissible, intended for reaching corruption.

The third is a means placed for the permissible, not intended for reaching corruption, but it usually leads to it, and its harm is stronger than its benefit.

The 4th is a means placed for the permissible, and it may lead to corruption, but its benefit is stronger than its harm.

The example of the first and second was already mentioned, meaning intoxication, and sale intended for usury.

The example of the third is prayer in times of prohibition, and insulting the gods of polytheists while among them.

The example of the 4th is looking at the woman one intends to marry, and speaking truth to an unjust ruler.

Then he expanded in detailing all of that.

Presumption of Continuity

From the foundations of Malik (d. 179 AH), Ahmad (d. 241 AH), and al Muzani (d. 264 AH), the companion of al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH), is presumption of continuity. It is continuing to affirm what was affirmed, or to deny what was denied, as Ibn al Qayyim (d. 751 AH) said, until proof comes that changes the state. This continuation does not need an affirming proof.

It continues because there is no proof that changes it. This is what is called the original freedom from obligation. If a mujtahid is asked about the ruling of a contract or a disposal, and he does not find a text in the Qur’an or the Sunnah, and he does not find a Shariʿah proof that attaches a ruling to it, he judges the contract or disposal as permissible, based on the foundation that the origin in things is permissibility.

So what has no proof that changes it stays upon its original permissibility. Its example is a missing person, whose death or life is not known. He is given the ruling of the living, because he was living, and his life is continued to the present and after it, because the origin is that he was living.

This is the view of the Malikis and the Hanafis. Ibn al Qayyim (d. 751 AH) divided it into 3 categories: presumption of original freedom from obligation, and I say it is the foundation, and presumption of the description that establishes a Shariʿah ruling until its opposite is proven, and presumption of the ruling of consensus in the place of dispute.

As for the first type, people disputed about it. A group of jurists and legal foundations scholars said it works for rebutting, not for establishing.

Its meaning is that it works to rebut the one who claims a change in the state, so the matter remains as it was, as some Hanafis said. Meaning that this group accepts presumption of continuity on the basis that it is proof for the continuation of previously established rights, not as a cause for gaining a new right, like the example of the living missing person whose life or death is not known.

The second type is presumption of the description that establishes the ruling until the opposite is proven. It is proof, like presuming the continuation of purity and the continuation of ritual impurity, presuming the continuation of marriage, and the continuation of ownership.

The Lawgiver indicated attaching rulings to this in his statement about hunting: “If finding it drowned then do not eat it, because you do not know whether the water killed it or your arrow,” and his statement: “If other dogs mix with it then do not eat, because you only mentioned Allah’s name over your dog and did not mention it over others.”

When the foundation in slaughtered animals is prohibition, and it is doubted whether the condition that makes it permissible occurred or not, the hunted animal stays on its foundation of prohibition. When water is pure, the foundation is that it stays pure, and it is not removed by doubt.

When the foundation is that the one in purity stays in purity, he is not commanded to make wudu with doubt in ritual impurity. Rather, he ﷺ said: “He does not leave until he hears a sound or finds a smell.” This is with al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) and Ahmad (d. 241 AH).

Imam Malik disputes some of this, because he sees that examples like these are between 2 foundations that oppose each other. He prevented the man, if he doubts whether he became in ritual impurity or not, from praying until he makes wudu, because even if the foundation is the continuation of purity, the foundation is also that prayer remains a duty upon him. If it is said: he is not taken out of purity by doubt, Malik says: he is not put into prayer by doubt. So he has left it by doubt.

From that with Malik is also: if he doubts whether he divorced 1 time or 3, Malik obligates 3, because he is certain of a divorce, and he doubts whether it is from what return removes, or not.

The third category is presumption of the ruling of consensus, and it is in the place of dispute. Most say it is not proof, as is understood from the statement of Ibn al Qayyim (d. 751 AH).

Here ends some of the foundations of Malik, with the farthest level of brevity. (References: al Muwafaqat 3/346, 3/21, 3/19, 3/23, and also 4/206–207, and also 2/286. Al Umm 7/177, 7/250, 7/188. Manaqib al Shafiʿi by al Bayhaqi 1/479, 1/483, 1/485. Tartib al Madarik 1/166. al Mustasfa 1/187 and 1/289–315. al Risalah by al Shafiʿi 533–534 and 503–504. Tartib al Madarik 66–67, 70, 71, 194. Iʿlam al Muwaqqiʿin 2/372–376 and 3/147–148 and 3/339–341. al Taʿliq ʿala al Muwafaqat 4/208. Kitab al Imam Ahmad by the author 88. al Tabaqat al Kubra 5/147. Muqaddimah Sharh al Muwatta by al Suyuti 17. Nafh al Tib 5/307. Zad al Maʿad 1/261. Manaqib al Zawawi 39. Jamiʿ Bayan al ʿIlm wa Fadlih 2/159. al Dibaj 25. al Imam Ahmad by the author 80–88.)

Malik’s Letter to al Layth

We mention here Malik’s letter to al Layth, then the reply of al Layth to it, because it is from the heart of his method and foundations. Here is the letter of Malik ibn Anas, with its wording:

From Malik ibn Anas to al Layth ibn Saʿd (d. 175 AH): Peace be upon you. I praise Allah to you, the One besides whom there is no god. To proceed. May Allah protect both of us by obeying Him in private and in public, and may He protect both of us from every disliked matter.

Know, may Allah have mercy on you, that it reached me that you give verdicts to people with matters that oppose what the group of people with us are upon, and in our city that we are in. You, in your leadership, merit, and rank among the people of your land, and the need of those before you for you, and their reliance on what comes from you, makes it fitting that you fear for yourself and follow what you hope salvation is in following. Allah Most High says in His Book:

And He says, Most High:

People are only followers of the people of Madinah. To it was the Hijrah. In it the Qur’an descended. In it the permissible was made permissible and the prohibited was made prohibited, because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was among them.

They used to witness revelation and sending down. He would command them and they would obey him. He would set Sunnah for them and they would follow him. Then Allah took him, and chose for him what is with Him.

The prayers of Allah, His mercy, and His blessings be upon him. Then those after him from his Ummah who took authority after him stood for him. Whatever came down upon them, they carried out what they knew of it. Whatever they did not have knowledge of, they asked about it.

Then they took the strongest of what they found in their striving, with their recent time from him. If an opposer opposed them, or a person said: other than it is stronger and more deserving, they left his statement and acted by other than it.

Then the Tabiʿin after them used to follow that path and follow those Sunnahs. If the matter in Madinah was clear and acted upon, I do not see for anyone to oppose what is in their hands from that inheritance that no one may claim and no one may pretend. If the people of the cities were to go saying: this is the practice in our city, and this is what those before us passed upon, they would not be upon confidence in that. They would not have of that what was permissible for them.

So look, may Allah have mercy on you, at what I wrote to you about, for yourself. Know that I hope my calling you to what I wrote to you about is only sincere advice for Allah Most High alone, and looking out for you, and good expectation of you.

So place my letter with you in its place. If you do that, you will know I did not fall short in sincere advice. May Allah grant both of us success to obey Him and obey His Messenger ﷺ in every matter and in every state. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.

This is Malik’s letter to al Layth. We transmitted it from Tartib al Madarik by Qadi ʿIyad al Maliki (d. 544 AH). It would have been right, or fair, to bring the complete reply of al Layth, not to shorten it to a few lines that support some of Malik’s ways.

We bring here the reply of al Layth to Malik, from Iʿlam al Muwaqqiʿin.

The Reply of al Layth to Malik

He said in his letter, with its wording:

Peace be upon you. I praise Allah to you, the One besides whom there is no god. To proceed. May Allah grant wellbeing to both of us, and make good for us the end in the universe and the next.

Your letter reached me, mentioning the soundness of your state, which makes me happy, so may Allah keep that for you, and complete it by helping you thank Him, and by increasing His kindness. You mentioned your looking at the books that you sent to me, and keeping them, and sealing them with your seal.

They came to us, so may Allah reward you with good for what you sent from them, because they are books that ended to us from you. I loved to confirm their reality by your looking at them.

You mentioned that what you wrote to me about stirred you, from correcting what came to you from me, to beginning advice. You hoped it would have a place with me. You said nothing prevented you before from that, except that your view of us was good. Yet because I did not speak with you about such a matter, it reached you that I give verdicts in matters that oppose what the group of people with you are upon. You said it is upon me to fear for myself because those before me rely on what I gave verdicts by.

You said people are followers of the people of Madinah, to which was the Hijrah and in which the Qur’an descended. You were correct in what you wrote about that, Allah willing. It landed with me in the place that is loved. I do not find anyone attributed to knowledge who dislikes odd verdicts more than me, and no one who prefers the ulama of the people of Madinah who passed more than me, and no one who takes their verdicts, in what they agreed upon, more than me, and praise be to Allah, Lord of all creation, with no partner.

As for what you mentioned about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ living in Madinah and the Qur’an descending in it while he ﷺ was among his Sahabah, and what Allah taught them of it, and that people became followers of them in it, then it is as you mentioned.

As for what you mentioned of the statement of Allah Most High:

وَالسَّابِقُونَ الْأَوَّلُونَ مِنَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالْأَنْصَارِ وَالَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُم بِإِحْسَانٍ رَّضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي تَحْتَهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا ذَلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ
“And the forerunners, the first from the emigrants and the helpers and those who followed them with excellence, Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him and He prepared for them gardens with rivers flowing beneath them, staying in them forever that is the great success.” (al Tawbah 100)

Then many of those early forerunners went out to jihad in the path of Allah, seeking Allah’s pleasure. They formed the armies, and people gathered to them. They showed among them the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet ﷺ. They did not hide from them anything they knew. In every army there was a group who taught the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet ﷺ, and they strove by their view in what the Qur’an and the Sunnah did not explain to them.

Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUthman were before them, those whom the Muslims chose for themselves. Those 3 did not neglect the Muslim armies and were not heedless of them. Rather, they used to write about small matters, for establishing the religion and guarding against difference, by the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet ﷺ. They did not leave a matter that the Qur’an explained, or the Prophet ﷺ acted by, or they agreed upon after him, except that they taught it to them.

If a matter came that the Sahabah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ acted by in Egypt, al Sham, and al ʿIraq, in the time of Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUthman, and they did not stop upon it until they were taken, they did not command them with other than it. We do not see it permissible for the Muslim armies to bring today a matter their earlier people from the Sahabah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and those who followed them did not act by.

The Sahabah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ differed afterwards in verdicts in many matters. If I did not know that you already know them, I would write them to you.

Then the Tabiʿin differed in matters after the Sahabah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Saʿid ibn al Musayyib and his peers differed strongly. Then those after them differed.

I met them in Madinah and other than it. Their leader then was Ibn Shihab, meaning al Zuhri, and Rabiʿah ibn Abi ʿAbd al Rahman, and you know what Rabiʿah opposed from what passed, and I was present and heard your statement about it, and the statement of people of view from the people of Madinah, like Yahya ibn Saʿid and ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿUmar and Kathir ibn Farqad and many who were older than him, until what you disliked from that pushed you to leave his gathering.

You and ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn ʿAbd Allah spoke with me about some of what we blame Rabiʿah for. You both agreed about what you rejected, and you both disliked from him what I disliked. Yet, by praise to Allah, there is much good with Rabiʿah, and deep mind, and clear tongue, and clear merit, and a good path in Islam, and good manners for his brothers generally, and for us especially. May Allah have mercy on him, forgive him, and reward him with the best for his deeds.

Ibn Shihab also used to have much difference when we met him. If one of us wrote to him, he might write to him in the 1 matter, with 3 types, each breaking the other, and he did not notice what passed from his view in it. This is what calls me to leave what you rejected me leaving.

You also know my blame of leaving that no imam from the Muslim armies combines the 2 prayers on a night of rain, and the rain of al Sham is more than the rain of Madinah by what only Allah knows. No imam among them ever combined on a night of rain, and among them were Abu ʿUbaydah ibn al Jarrah, Khalid ibn al Walid, Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan, ʿAmr ibn al ʿAs, and Muʿadh ibn Jabal.

It reached us that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The most knowledgeable of you in what is permissible and what is prohibited is Muʿadh ibn Jabal.” He ﷺ said: “Muʿadh will come on the Day of Resurrection ahead of the ulama by a step.”

Shurahbil ibn Hasanah was in al Sham, and Abu al Darda, and Bilal ibn Rabah. Abu Dharr was in Egypt, and al Zubayr ibn al ʿAwwam, and Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas. In Hims there were 70 from the people of Badr. In all the Muslim armies, and in al ʿIraq, there was Ibn Masʿud, Hudhayfah ibn al Yaman, and ʿImran ibn al Husayn. Amir al Mu’minin ʿAli ibn Abi Talib lived in it for years, and with him were many from the Sahabah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. They never combined Maghrib and ʿIsha at all.

From that is judging by the testimony of 1 witness and the oath of the owner of the right. You know it did not stop being judged by in Madinah. The Sahabah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not judge by it in al Sham and Hims, nor in Egypt, nor in al ʿIraq. The rightly guided caliphs Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthman, and ʿAli did not write it to them.

Then ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz took authority, and he was as you know in reviving Sunnahs, being serious in establishing the religion, being correct in view, and knowing what passed from the matter of people. Ruzayq ibn al Hakam wrote to him: you used to judge in Madinah by the testimony of 1 witness and the oath of the owner of the right.

ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz wrote to him: We used to judge by that in Madinah, then we found the people of al Sham on other than that, so we only judge by the testimony of 2 just men, or 1 man and 2 women. He never combined on a night of rain, while rain was pouring upon him in his home in Khanasirah. (Khanasirah is a small town from the works of Halab, near Qinnasrin towards the desert, as in Muʿjam al Buldan.)

From that is that the people of Madinah judge in the dowries of women that whenever she wants to speak about the delayed part of her dowry, she may speak and it is paid to her. The people of al ʿIraq agreed with the people of Madinah on that. The people of al Sham and the people of Egypt did not. No one from the Sahabah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ nor those after them judged for a woman with her delayed dowry except when death separates them, or divorce happens, and she stands on her right.

From that is their statement about ila’ that there is no divorce upon him until he is stopped, even if 4 months pass.

You used to say about the ila’ that Allah mentioned in His Book: it is not permissible for the one who makes ila’ when the time ends except that he returns as Allah commanded, or he decides divorce. You say: if he stayed after the 4 months that Allah named in His Book and he was not stopped, then there is no divorce upon him.

It reached us that ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan, Zayd ibn Thabit, Qabisah ibn Dhu’ayb, and Abu Salamah ibn ʿAbd al Rahman ibn ʿAwf said about ila’: if the 4 months pass, it is 1 final divorce. Saʿid ibn al Musayyib and Abu Bakr ibn ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Harith ibn Hisham and Ibn Shihab said: if the 4 months pass, it is 1 divorce, and he has return during the waiting period.

From that is that Zayd ibn Thabit used to say: if a man gives his wife authority over herself and she chooses her husband, it is 1 divorce, and he has return during the waiting period. If she divorces herself 3 times, it is 1 divorce. ʿAbd al Malik ibn Marwan judged by that. Rabiʿah ibn Abi ʿAbd al Rahman used to say it.

People nearly agreed that if she chose her husband there is no divorce, and if she chose herself one or two then he has return, and if she divorced herself 3 then she is separated from him and is not permissible for him until she marries another husband, who enters with her, then dies or divorces her, except that he returns to her in his sitting and says: I only gave you authority over 1. Then he is made to swear, and he is left with his wife.

Something from the verdicts reached us that is disliked. I wrote to you before about some of it and you did not answer my letter. I feared you found that heavy, so I left writing in some of what I reject and what I brought against your view.

That is that it reached me that you commanded Zufar ibn ʿAsim al Hilali, when he wanted to pray for rain, that he puts the prayer before the khutbah.

I say this is great, because the khutbah in prayer for rain is like Friday, except that the imam, when he nears finishing his khutbah, he makes supplication and turns his cloak, then he goes down and prays. ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz, Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Hazm, and others prayed for rain, and all of them put the khutbah and supplication before the prayer. So people all spread and followed Zufar ibn ʿAsim’s act in that and rejected it.

From that is that it reached me that you say about 2 partners in wealth that charity is not obligatory upon them until each of them has what charity becomes obligatory upon. In the letter of ʿUmar ibn al Khattab it is that charity is obligatory upon them and they return it equally.

That used to be acted upon in the governorship of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz with you and others. Yahya ibn Saʿid narrated it to us, and he was not beneath the best of the ulama in his time. May Allah have mercy on him, forgive him, and make Paradise his end.

From that is that it reached me that you say: if a man becomes bankrupt and a man sold him goods, and he took some of its price, or the buyer used some of it, he takes what he finds of his goods. People were on that the seller, if he took anything of its price, or the buyer used anything of it, then it is not its very item.

From that is that you mention that the Prophet ﷺ did not give al Zubayr ibn al ʿAwwam except 1 share for 1 horse, while people all narrate that he ﷺ gave him 4 shares for 2 horses and stopped the third horse.

The Ummah is all upon this hadith, the people of al Sham, the people of Egypt, the people of al ʿIraq, and the people of Ifriqiyah. 2 do not differ in it. It was not fitting for you, even if you heard it from a person acceptable, to oppose the Ummah altogether.

I left many matters like this. I love Allah granting you success and lengthening your life, because I hope for people benefit in that, and I fear loss when someone like you goes, and because I feel close to your place. If coming to the city, then this is your rank with me and my view of you, so be certain of it.

Do not leave writing to me about your news, your state, and the state of your children and your family, and any need you have, or any person whose need is reached through you, because that makes me happy.

I wrote to you while we are well and safe. We ask Allah to give us and you the gratitude for what He gave, and to complete what He blessed us with. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.

This is the letter of al Layth. He replied to Malik’s letter in which Malik called him to some of his foundations, and among them the practice of the people of Madinah that Malik built much of his fiqh upon. Al Layth’s reply was the reply of a great ʿalim, wide in understanding, precise in looking, strong in proof. He is not less in fiqh and insight than the ʿalim of Dar al Hijrah, Malik.

He replied to some of what he went to and broke it, until the practice of the people of Madinah was weighed by the proof from the Sunnah, and by the practice of the Sahabah and the major Tabiʿin. Malik’s fame, strength, and authority in Madinah did not stop him from that. Speaking the truth with the people of taqwa comes before all that, and Allah’s pleasure comes before people’s pleasure. (Reference for the 2 letters: Malik’s letter to al Layth from Tartib al Madarik page 63, and al Layth’s letter to Malik from Iʿlam al Muwaqqiʿin 3/94–100.)

The Fiqh of Malik

In the time of the Sahabah, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ among them, fiqh was not as it was known with Malik, Abu Hanifah, al Shafiʿi, and Ahmad. Rather, it was closer to simplicity than complexity.

They saw the prayer of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, so they prayed like it. He ﷺ said to them: “Pray as you saw me pray.” Hajj was like that. He ﷺ said to them: “Take from me your rites.”

He did not list for them pillars, obligations, and recommended acts in counting as jurists do. Rather, at times he strongly confirmed a matter, so they took from it the meaning of binding and obligation, like his ﷺ statement to them: “Hajj is ʿArafah,” and his ﷺ statement: “There is no prayer for the one who does not recite al Fatiha.” They recited the Qur’an and took from it what appeared, and what was hidden, or what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ clarified for them in short.

Rulings were like that. Whenever a matter happened, a Qur’an verse came down about it, or a hadith spoke about it. They preserved the rulings of the Qur’an, and they preserved from the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ its explanation. Every Sahabi had a small amount or a large amount from the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. No 1 Sahabi had all hadith.

Rather, all the Sahabah together had all hadith, as al Shafiʿi said. The Sahabah spread in regions and lands, and each carried some of what he heard. The ulama took from each what he had, all or some. Then the Tabiʿin came. Their major people narrated many hadith from a number of Sahabah, and others narrated less than that. With them fiqh began.

Those after them took from the narrations of the Tabiʿin before them, and they took from their knowledge. They increased in fiqh based on how events and new matters became. The more time extended, the more events increased, so the ulama had to strive.

Each set a method for his fiqh, so every new matter is put under the shade of the Shariʿah by text, analogy, or consensus. This is what they agreed upon. Some of them forced texts and extracted foundations and rules that perhaps would not have been extracted while Islam was 1 lamp. The scholar Wali Allah al Dihlawi (d. 1176 AH) explained this in Hujjat Allah al Balighah. He said:

Know that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not have fiqh written down in his noble time. Research in rulings then was not like the research of these jurists, who clarify with the farthest effort pillars, conditions, and manners of everything, each separated from the other, with its proof, and they assume scenarios and speak about those assumed scenarios, and they define what can be defined, and they gather what can be counted, and other crafts of theirs.

As for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he would make wudu, and the Sahabah would see his wudu, so they would take it, without him clarifying that this is a pillar and that is a manner. He ﷺ would pray and they would see his prayer, so they would pray as they saw him pray.

He performed Hajj and people watched his Hajj, so they did as he did. This was his usual state, and he did not explain that the obligations of wudu are 6 or 4. He did not assume that it is possible that a person makes wudu without continuity, then he judges it sound or invalid, except what Allah wished. They rarely asked him about these matters.

From Ibn ʿAbbas, may Allah be pleased with him, he said: I did not see a people who were better than the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. They did not ask him about 13 issues until he was taken. All of them are in the Qur’an. From them is His statement, Most High:

يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الشَّهْرِ الْحَرَامِ قِتَالٍ فِيهِ قُلْ قِتَالٌ فِيهِ كَبِيرٌ
“They ask you about fighting in the sacred month. Say: fighting in it is a great matter.” (al Baqarah 217)

And they ask you about menstruation. He said: They only asked about what benefited them.

Ibn ʿUmar said: Do not ask about what has not happened, because I heard ʿUmar ibn al Khattab curse the one who asked about what has not happened.

Al Qasim said: You ask about matters we did not ask about. You dig into matters we did not dig into. You ask about matters I do not know what they are. If we knew them, it would not be permissible for us to hide them.

From ʿUmar ibn Ishaq he said: Those I met from the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ were more than those I was before from them. I did not see a people with a more easy way, and with less hardness than them.

From ʿUbadah ibn Busr al Kindi, and he was asked about a woman who died with people and she had no wali, he said: I met people who did not tighten like your tightening, and did not ask your questions.

These reports were brought out by al Darimi.

People used to ask him ﷺ about events and he would give verdicts. Cases were brought to him and he would judge. He would see people doing a good matter and he would praise it, or an evil matter and he would reject it. Everything he gave verdict by to a questioner, or judged in a case, or rejected from its doer, was in gatherings.

Abu Bakr and ʿUmar were like that. If they did not have knowledge in a matter, they asked people about a hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, said: I did not hear the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say anything about it, meaning the grandmother.

He asked people. After he prayed Zuhr, he said: Which of you heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say something about the grandmother. Al Mughirah ibn Shuʿbah said: I did. He said: What did he say.

He said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave her 1 sixth. He said: Does anyone know that besides you. Muhammad ibn Maslamah said: He spoke truth. So Abu Bakr gave her 1 sixth.

The story of ʿUmar asking people about the foetus compensation, then returning to the report of al Mughirah, and his asking them about the plague, then returning to the report of ʿAbd al Rahman ibn ʿAwf, and his returning in the case of the Magian to his report, and the happiness of ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud at the report of Maʿqil ibn Yasar when it matched his view, and the story of Abu Musa returning from the door of ʿUmar, and his asking about the hadith and Abu Saʿid testifying for him, and many examples like that are well known and narrated in al Bukhari and Muslim and the Sunan.

In summary, this was his noble habit ﷺ. Every Sahabi saw what Allah made easy for him from his worship, his verdicts, and his judgements, so he preserved it and understood it, and he took from each matter a direction through the surrounding signs and states. He carried some of it upon permissibility, and some upon abrogation, by signs and clues that were enough with him.

Their foundation was only finding calmness and certainty, without turning to paths of proof as later people do. This is like how Bedouins understand the aim of speech among themselves, and their hearts become calm by direct words, indirect words, and signals, in ways they do not notice. His noble time ended and they were upon that.

Then they spread in the lands, and each became followed in a region. Events became many and questions turned. They were asked, so each answered by what he preserved or extracted.

If he did not find what he preserved or extracted fit to answer, he strove by his view, and he knew the cause that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ turned the ruling around in his stated rulings, so he applied the ruling wherever he found it, not falling short in matching the aim of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Here difference happened among them in many types.

I say: from these types was Malik’s method. He knew the rulings of the Book of Allah and he narrated the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and he was an imam by both. He inherited from the knowledge of the Sahabah and the Tabiʿin, and he preserved much from the verdicts of the Sahabah and the Tabiʿin, like the judgements of Abu Bakr and ʿUmar and ʿUthman and their verdicts, and the verdicts of Ibn ʿAbbas and ʿA’ishah, and the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, and others.

From the major Tabiʿin whose fiqh and verdicts Malik cared for are the 7 jurists. He took their knowledge from those who took from them. He had a strong fiqh ability from their knowledge and their verdicts, at the highest level of strength and understanding. The major shaykhs in Madinah fell short of its peak and its greatness, until ʿAli ibn al Madini (d. 234 AH) said: There was not in Madinah anyone more knowledgeable of the madhhahib of their Tabiʿin than Malik.

What increased Malik in fiqh and striving was the many people who came to him from the west and the east, each bringing him problems, questions, and events. Among them were common people, leaders, and ulama. If the answer was present, he answered. If not, he said: “I do not know,” clearly and openly.

He did not fear saying it no matter what people said about him. He only answered with insight, understanding, caution, and bringing the proof to mind. Whether he answered or did not answer, the different questions and events forced him to search, so he would prepare an answer for every question, even if only within himself.

Events in wide lands and different customs made him free from the assumed cases that the Hanafis, and the later Shafiʿis, loved.

There is no doubt that Malik’s shaykhs had a great effect on him. The most famous in hadith that he was influenced by is Ibn Shihab al Zuhri (d. 124 AH). The strongest in view that influenced him is Rabiʿah ibn Abi ʿAbd al Rahman (d. 136 AH), known as Rabiʿah al Ra’y. All of that made Malik’s madhhab rich, with many foundations and varied branches.

By this he gave the Islamic universe, especially all its west, and in it al Andalus, when al Andalus was al Andalus, living fiqh, with much flexibility, wide in understanding, built on interest. Rather, interest with him is a control for everything that is Shariʿah based and what is not Shariʿah based. For it he crossed some foundations, if it became clear to him that the Shariʿah confirms it in a general way.

With Malik, the truth does not multiply. It must be in 1 direction. Malik said about that: “The truth is only 1. 2 opposing statements cannot both be correct.”

After that, is Imam Malik from the people of hadith reports, or from the people of view.

Some said he is from the people of hadith reports. Al Tabari (d. 310 AH) mentioned in his book Tahdhib al Athar: al Hasan ibn al Sabbah al Bazzar said: Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al Hanini said: Malik said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was taken while this matter was complete and finished. It should only be to follow the traces of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and not to follow view, because if view is followed then another man comes who is stronger in view than you, then you follow him.

Every time a man comes over you, you follow him. I think this does not become complete. In al Dibaj al Madhhab: Malik used to put following first, he disliked innovation, and he disliked leaving the ways of those who passed.

Malik said: What is in the Book of Allah, or what the Sunnah made firm from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, is truth with no doubt. What is from striving by view, then Allah knows best about it.

Malik said: Beware the people of view, because they are enemies of the Sunnah.

Ibn Khaldun (d. 808 AH) said in al Muqaddimah: As for the Malikis, reports are more what they rely on, and they are not people of deep looking. Most of them are people of the west, and they are desert people, unaware of crafts, except for the few.

The statement of Ibn Khaldun is not precise. Rather, it contains ignorance or deliberate ignoring. Maliki madhhab in most of it is not less than Hanafi madhhab in view and deep looking, rather it may have passed it in some issues. Looking at its foundations and its branches is enough to prove Ibn Khaldun’s error. These statements show that Malik is from the jurists of hadith, like Ahmad ibn Hanbal and similar.

Malik’s statement about the people of view may be aimed at the jurists of Kufah, because he did not accept their view, as will come.

Some said he is from the people of view, among them Ibn Qutaybah (d. 276 AH). He mentioned in al Maʿarif, under the title “People of View”, the names of imams, among them Ibn Abi Layla (d. 148 AH), Abu Hanifah (d. 150 AH), Rabiʿah al Ra’y (d. 136 AH), Zufar sahib al ra’y (d. 158 AH), Malik (d. 179 AH), Abu Yusuf al Qadi (d. 182 AH), and Muhammad ibn al Hasan (d. 189 AH).

Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH) said: the view of al Awzaʿi, the view of Malik, and the view of Abu Hanifah is all view, and with me it is the same. Proof is only in reports.

Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) opposed Malik in much of his view and replied to him in his books Ikhtilaf al Hadith, Ibtal al Istihsan, and Jimaʿ al ʿIlm. He only opposed him because he increased view while being the hadith critic and preserver.

Ibn Lahiʿah (d. 174 AH) said: Abu al Aswad came to us in the year 131 AH. We said: Who is left for view after Rabiʿah in al Hijaz. He said: the young man al Asbahi, meaning Malik. Abu al Aswad is Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al Rahman, the cousin of ʿUrwah ibn al Zubayr, and ʿUrwah raised him. He was called the orphan of ʿUrwah. He is among Malik’s shaykhs.

View appears with Malik in the many issues in which he relied on view, whether by analogy, preference, unrestricted interests, presumption of continuity, blocking the means, and other than that. His many ways of view are more than others.

All Malikis confirm that he sometimes puts analogy ahead when it opposes a singular hadith. This is view. Malik, though a great hadith scholar, was made to lean to view by some of his shaykhs who gave view the greatest concern, among them Rabiʿah al Ra’y, and he is the strongest of them in view upon Malik.

It appears that the beginning of view, or the beginning of striving, started with the 7 jurists. It was not view or striving in the known later meaning, but if they did not find what they could give verdicts by from the clear Book and Sunnah, they sought it either from their general meanings, or what is near a text by a clear shared cause between the text and the event.

This is the first attempt in analogy. Rather, a kind of analogy may have begun in the time of the Sahabah.

Malik’s method in much of his view did not resemble the method of the people of al ʿIraq. Malik’s aim in his fiqh and view was knowing interests in everything in which no Book or Sunnah came that is clear and present, and no practice passed from before him from Sahabah and Tabiʿin. Malik is a great hadith scholar. He is the first who authored in hadith in an arranged and chaptered form upon fiqh.

He takes by hadith. Hadith with him is a foundation put ahead of all foundations after the Qur’an, whether the hadith is mass transmitted or singular. As for mass transmitted, and it is little, no one may leave acting by it. It is decisive in establishment like the Qur’an, except if its indication is speculative. As for singular reports, they have another state with Malik. Malik takes them when the practice of Sahabah and Tabiʿin supports them, and when analogy, interest, or a means does not stop it.

In summary, what Malik has of analogy, preference, unrestricted interests, presumption of continuity, and other than that makes him from the people of view. Whoever said he is upon the path of the Salaf said that because of his care for hadith and his taking from it.

The imams in view are types. Some used much of it, some were balanced, and some used little. From those who used much are Malik and Abu Hanifah, and Malik may have passed Abu Hanifah in some issues. The balanced is al Shafiʿi. If he does not find a clear hadith, even if it is singular, but he finds it, he throws view away and does not care for it.

The one who used the least is Ahmad ibn Hanbal. He used to give verdict by the text of reports, and he only used analogy a little, but he accepted some of what Malik accepted, like blocking the means and unrestricted interests. (Reference: al Madarik 1/121 and 1/123. Manaqib al Zawawi 12–13 and 15 and 23. Jamiʿ Bayan al ʿIlm 2/149. al Dibaj 16. Muqaddimah Ibn Khaldun 362. al Hilyah 6/327. Malik li Abi Zahrah 298. Hujjat Allah al Balighah 141–144. al Maʿarif 216–219.)

Fatawa

Imam Malik ibn Anas (d. 179 AH) showed excellence in knowledge at an early age. He sat with people to teach and to give fatwa at a time when Yahya ibn Saʿid al Ansari (d. 143 AH), Rabiʿah ibn Abi ʿAbd al Rahman (d. 136 AH), and Nafiʿ, the freedman of Ibn ʿUmar (d. 117 AH), and others like them were giving fatwa. These were among his teachers.

They said: The first fatwa Malik gave was after the death of some of his teachers. That was when the delegation of the people of Egypt came with their questions for Rabiʿah, and they found that he had died.

He said: “I did not want to return without an answer. I saw in the masjid a circle discussing knowledge, so I sat with them and told them my situation. I said: If there are answers with you, then answer me, or guide me. All of them pointed to Malik ibn Anas. He was then a young man, sitting by a pillar on his own.

I did not leave a circle except that I sat with them and asked them, and all of them directed me to him. So I went to him and told him my situation, and what the people had directed me to.

He mentioned that he asked him, and every time he read a question to him, he cried, then answered him.” Sahnun (d. 240 AH) said: He cried when he understood it and understood that he was needed for it.

I say: If this report is authentic, then this fatwa was given when he was 44 years old at the least. Rabiʿah died in 136 AH. If this request for fatwa was immediately after the death of Rabiʿah, then Malik was a senior man, with his major gathering in the Prophet’s masjid, and people came to him from the regions. He was not a young man, as the report says. Yet exaggeration by followers makes what is far seem near, and what is impossible seem possible.

It is said: The first clear sign of his brilliance in jurisprudence and giving fatwa is that a man, at the time of his death, made a bequest: He had married his 2 daughters to 2 sons of his brother, and had taken their dowries. The man died. The governor al Hasan ibn Yazid gathered the people, among them Ibn Abi Dhuyb (d. 158 AH), Ibn ʿImran, Ibn Abi Sabrah, and Malik, who was then young. He mentioned the issue. All of them said: That is valid. Malik was silent.

He said: “What do you think, Malik?” He said: That is not valid. All of them became angry, and Ibn Abi Dhuyb said: He does not want to respond to us except with a response.

The governor said: He is correct, and you are mistaken. Then he said: “From where did you say this, Abu ʿAbd Allah?”

He said: “Do you see if we guided them to their husbands, and each one of them clung to 1 litter, each saying: She is my wife, not the other, to whom would you judge her?”

The people were silent. They said: He is correct.

The governor said: “So what do you think, Abu ʿAbd Allah?” He said: The marriage is annulled until each woman is named for a specific man.

Among his excellence and firm answers in fatwa, while he was in the prime of youth, is what Ibn al Majishun said: What showed Malik’s standing is that a thief was caught with a large amount of wheat, and he confessed. The governor brought those in Madinah, among them Rabiʿah and Yahya ibn Saʿid, and Malik with his young age, because they knew his knowledge.

When they sat, the governor asked them about the matter and brought out the wheat.

It was like it reached the amount that requires cutting. All of them thought cutting was required, and Malik was silent. He said to him: Speak. He said: There is no cutting. Those present found it very great, and they asked him: From where did you say it? He said: Is cutting required except for a quarter of a dinar or more? As for stealing from this sack what is worth 1 dirham, and from this 1 dirham, and so on, then there is no cutting.

The people left, and the strength of his knowledge became clear.

Al Harith said: Ibn Hurmuz (d. 117 AH) advised Malik and ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Abi Salamah (d. 164 AH): “When you enter upon the ruler, be the last to speak.” Malik held to his advice.

It reached me that he attended with the ruler along with Ibn Abi Dhuyb and those like him. He asked them about a man who confessed to intentional killing. All of them gave fatwa for killing unless the heirs pardon. Malik was silent. He asked him, and he said: Wait, while he lowered his head. Then he asked him, and he said: It is killing, until I look.

They said: What are you looking at? A man confessed that he killed intentionally. What is this? Malik said: Where is the one who confessed to killing? There was a young boy. He said: How long has he been detained? It was said: From such and such. His detention and confession were before he had reached puberty, so release him.

He continued to rise in excellence in fatwa until a caller in Madinah announced: “Let no one give fatwa to the people except Malik ibn Anas and Ibn Abi Dhuyb.”

He became the destination of those who seek fatwa from the far ends of the lands of Islam, west and east. He remained on that for a long time. In Madinah he was the head. With his knowledge, the height of his mention, and the fame of his name, he had authority by which he prevented those who were bold from giving fatwa before the ulama testified for them, out of fear that someone unfit would stretch himself to give fatwa and corrupt the people’s religion.

No one, even if he was a person of knowledge, dared to give fatwa in the Prophet’s masjid or in Madinah, even in 1 matter, unless Imam Malik approved him after asking about him from those who remained among the senior teachers. Malik himself did not give fatwa until 70 of the senior teachers testified for him. Malik said: “Not everyone who loves to sit in the Prophet’s masjid for hadith and fatwa sits, until the people of righteousness and virtue and the people of standing from the masjid are consulted about him. If they see him fit for it, he sits.

I did not sit until 70 teachers from the people of knowledge testified for me that I am fit for that.”

With all this, he feared giving fatwa greatly. That is why he hastened to say: “I do not know,” seeking safety by it from giving fatwa without certainty.

If they increased their questions to him, he stopped them and said: Enough. Whoever gives much is mistaken. Whoever loves to answer a question should place himself before Paradise and Hell, then answer. We met people such that when one of them was asked, it was as if death had come close to him.

Ibn Abi Uways (d. 226 AH) said: I heard Malik say: “A man is asked about a matter, and he does not answer, and it is pushed away from him. That is a trial. A matter is asked of him, and Allah turns it away from him.”

Malik used to say: Fatwa is not permissible except for the one who knows what the people differed about. It was said to him: The difference of the people of opinion? He said: No, the difference of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he knows what abrogates and what is abrogated in the Qur’an and the hadith.

Imam Malik did not see that he must answer everyone who asked him, for fear the questioner was seeking hardship or was one who loves argument for argument, not for guidance to what is correct. He said: Part of lowering knowledge is that a person answers everyone who asks him.

He did not answer a matter until he had exhausted it with search and evidence. Malik said: “A matter may come to me that keeps me from food and sleep.” It was said: Why, Abu ʿAbd Allah? By Allah, your speech with the people is only like an engraving in stone. He said: “The one who is like this has the right to be like this.”

For that reason he was sparing in answering every matter. Al Shatibi (d. 790 AH) said in al Muwafaqat: Malik was not approached much in questioning, and his companions feared that.

Asad ibn al Furat (d. 213 AH), when he came to Malik, said: His companions used to make me ask him about a matter, and when he answered, they would say: Say to him: If it is such and such. One day he became tight with me and said: “This is a child of a child. If you want this, then go to Iraq.”

He did not answer except about a real case. He did not answer about made up cases. ʿUmar ibn Qays asked him about a person in ihram who pulled out the canine tooth of a fox. He did not answer him at all. A man asked Malik about a matter and he did not answer him. The man said: If you asked about what benefits you, I would answer you.

He did not dare, like the early generations among the major ulama, to say about something: This is haram and this is halal, fearing that he would forbid what Allah made halal, or make halal what Allah made haram.

Malik said: “It was not from the way of the people, nor from those who passed from our early ones, nor did I meet anyone I follow who says about something: This is halal and this is haram. They did not dare to do that. Rather they would say: We dislike this, and we see this as good, and we avoid this, and we do not see this.” ʿAtiqa ibn Yaʿqub added from Malik: “They did not say halal and haram. Did you not hear the statement of Allah, Mighty and Majestic:

قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُمْ مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ مِنْ رِزْقٍ فَجَعَلْتُمْ مِنْهُ حَرَامًا وَحَلَالًا قُلْ اللَّهُ أَذِنَ لَكُمْ أَمْ عَلَى اللَّهِ تَفْتَرُونَ

Say: Have you considered what Allah has sent down for you of provision, and you made from it what is forbidden and what is lawful? Say: Has Allah given you permission, or are you inventing lies about Allah. (Yunus 59)

The halal is what Allah and His Messenger made halal, and the haram is what Allah and His Messenger made haram.”

He did this to himself out of fear of Allah, and deep caution. From this is that he used to say about some matters that came down and he was asked about them, so he would apply his effort and say:

إِنْ نَظُنُّ إِلَّا ظَنًّا وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمُسْتَيْقِنِينَ

“We only guess, and we are not certain.” (al Jathiyah 32)

Abu al ʿAtahiyah (d. 211 AH) did well when he said, with the meaning of the statement of Allah:

“And not every guess is true, and not every correct answer is by analogy.”

His nephew Ismaʿil ibn Abi Uways (d. 226 AH) said: My maternal uncle Malik would not give fatwa until he said: “There is no power and no strength except with Allah.”

His nephew Ismaʿil ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi Uways (d. 226 AH) also said: Malik used to act upon himself with what he did not give fatwa to the people with. He took caution for himself in what, if he left it, there would be no sin on him. (Maraʾat al Jinan, 1/375; al Intiqaʾ, 27; Tartib, 127, 142; Muqaddimat Sharh al Suyuti li al Muwattaʾ, 6; al Tadhkirah, 12; al ʿIqd al Farid, 2/225.)

Madhhab Based Ijtihad

No one among the companions of Malik was able to do unrestricted ijtihad in all branches of jurisprudence except al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH). In his earlier position he agreed with Malik more, and in his later position he differed from him a great deal. If he agreed with him in something, he did not agree with him by imitation, but he looked at it himself. Agreement can come from the meeting of thoughts. Al Layth ibn Saʿd (d. 175 AH) also differed with Malik by ijtihad. So is ijtihad continuing in Malik’s madhhab?

The truth is that one who is bound to a madhhab cannot combine with that binding unrestricted ijtihad, because he combines between 2 opposites: between being unrestricted and being bound.

As for ijtihad within the madhhab and deriving on it, it exists in all madhhahib. Without it, the madhhab would become narrow and would not cover the events of all eras and the different environments.

The Maliki jurists gave themselves the right of extracting and deriving upon the foundations of Imam Malik which he held to.

Al Shatibi (d. 790 AH) said: Looking into ijtihad has aspects: one aspect related to the mujtahid from the side of ijtihad, one aspect related to his fatwa, and one aspect related to acting upon his words and following him.

As for the first, it has issues. The first issue: Ijtihad is 2 types. One type cannot end until the foundation of legal responsibility ends, and that is at the establishment of the Hour. The second can end before the end of the universe. As for the first, it is ijtihad related to verifying the basis, meaning verifying the agreed cause in the specific case, and there is no disagreement among the Ummah in accepting it. Its meaning is that the ruling is established by its Sharia basis, but the look remains in identifying where it applies.

That is because if the Lawgiver says: “And take as witnesses two just men from among you,” and the meaning of justice is established with us in Sharia, we still need to identify the one who has this attribute. Then he said: the second issue: The rank of ijtihad is only reached by the one who has 2 qualities: complete understanding of the aims of the Sharia, and ability in extraction based on that understanding.

As for the first: it has passed in the Book of Aims that the Sharia is built upon considering benefits, and benefits are considered because the Lawgiver placed them as such, not by what the servant thinks. As for the second: it is like a servant to the first, because ability in that is only through knowledge needed to understand the Sharia first. That is why it serves the first.

He then said: If he is a mujtahid in it as Malik was in hadith, and al Shafiʿi was in legal theory, then there is no problem. If he is able to reach its aims, as they said about al Shafiʿi and Abu Hanifah (d. 150 AH) in hadith, then there is also no problem in the soundness of his ijtihad.

He then said: From this it is clear that it is not required for the mujtahid in Sharia rulings to be a mujtahid in every science connected to ijtihad.

Al Hattab (d. 954 AH), the commentator on Mukhtasar Khalil, transmitted from Ibn Rushd (d. 595 AH), in a shortened form: The group that is attributed to knowledge and is distinct from common people in memorisation and understanding is divided into 3 groups. One group thinks the soundness of Malik’s madhhab by imitation without proof.

This group is not fit to give fatwa by what it memorised from Malik and his companions, because it has no knowledge of the soundness of any of that.

The second group thinks the soundness of Malik’s madhhab by what became clear to it of the soundness of its foundations. It took itself to memorise only his statements and the statements of his companions in jurisprudence and understood their meanings.

It knew what is sound upon his foundations, yet it did not reach the rank of careful verification by knowing how branches are measured upon foundations. This group is fit, if asked, to give fatwa by what it knows from Malik and others among his companions, and it is not permissible for it to give fatwa by ijtihad in what it has no text for.

The third group thinks the soundness of his madhhab by what became clear to it of the soundness of its foundations, because it knows Qur’an rulings, knows abrogating and abrogated, detailed and general, specific and general, knows the Sunnah related to rulings, can distinguish the authentic from the faulty, knows the statements of the Companions and the Followers and those after them from the jurists of the regions, and knows what they agreed on and differed about, knows from the Arabic tongue what makes the meanings of speech understood, and knows how proofs are placed in their places.

This group is the one fit to give fatwa generally by ijtihad and analogy upon the foundations which are the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the agreement of the Ummah, by the shared meaning between them and the case, and upon what is measured upon them if analogy upon them is not possible.

This group is like al Muzani (d. 264 AH) in relation to al Shafiʿi, and like Abu Yusuf (d. 182 AH) and Muhammad ibn al Hasan (d. 189 AH) in relation to Abu Hanifah.

I say: There is also a group among the followers of the imams that finds imitation pleasant and stops at it without passing it. For this group, the “text” is what the books of jurisprudence say, even though they can distinguish between truth and falsehood, mistake and correctness.

If it is said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said something that differs from what they said, they do not take it, even if it is a clear text in the matter, claiming they are imitators and what the imam says is the truth. Yet the imams pushed their followers to look at their statements. If it was correct, they took it, and if not, they searched for it outside their madhhab.

Imam Malik said: “I am only a man. I make mistakes and I am correct. So look at my opinion. Whatever agrees with the Sunnah, take it.”

ʿIzz al Din ibn ʿAbd al Salam pointed to these meanings when he said: It is strange that the jurists who imitate find the weakness of the proof of their imam, such that they find no defence for its weakness, yet they still imitate him in it, and they leave what the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and sound analogy testify to, out of being stuck on imitation.

They even make far and false interpretations to push away the clear meaning of the Qur’an and the Sunnah, defending the one they imitate.

He said: People did not stop asking whomever they found among the ulama without binding themselves to a madhhab, and there was no rejection of any questioner, until these madhhahib appeared and their strict followers among imitators appeared. One of them follows his imam even when his view is far from the proofs, as if he is a prophet sent. This is turning away from the truth, and far from correctness. No one with reason accepts it.

Imam Abu Shamah (d. 665 AH) said: The one who studies jurisprudence should not limit himself to the madhhab of an imam, and should think in every matter that what is nearest to the clear meaning of the Qur’an and the Sunnah is correct. That is easy for him if he has mastered the earlier sciences. He should avoid fanaticism and the late methods of disagreement, because they waste time and disturb calmness.

It is authentic from al Shafiʿi that he forbade imitating him and imitating others. His companion al Muzani said at the start of his Mukhtasar: “I summarised this from the knowledge of al Shafiʿi and the meaning of his words, to bring it near for the one who wants it, while informing him of his forbidding imitation of him and imitation of others, so that he looks into it for his religion and takes caution for himself.”

Al Tirmidhi reported from ʿAdi ibn Hatim that he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recite:

اتَّخَذُوا أَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ أَرْبَابًا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ

“They took their scholars and monks as lords besides Allah.” (al Tawbah 31)

He said: They did not worship them, but when they made something lawful for them, they took it as lawful, and when they made something forbidden for them, they took it as forbidden.

The Most Well Known Early Books of the Madhhab

The most well known of these written books are: al Mudawwanah, al Wadihah, al ʿUtbiyyah, al Mawwaziyyah, and al Asadiyyah.

Ibn Khaldun (d. 808 AH) said in al Muqaddimah: ʿAbd al Malik ibn Habib (d. 238 AH) travelled from al Andalus. He took from Ibn al Qasim (d. 191 AH) and his level, spread Malik’s madhhab in al Andalus, and wrote al Wadihah.

Then al ʿUtbi (d. 255 AH), from his students, wrote al ʿUtbiyyah. Asad ibn al Furat (d. 213 AH) travelled from Ifriqiyah. He first wrote from the companions of Abu Hanifah, then moved to Malik’s madhhab and wrote from Ibn al Qasim in the chapters of jurisprudence.

He came to al Qayrawan with his book, and it was called al Asadiyyah. Sahnun read it to Asad, then travelled to the East and met Ibn al Qasim and took from him, and compared it with the issues of al Asadiyyah. Ibn al Qasim went back from much of it. Sahnun wrote its issues and wrote what he went back from, and wrote to Asad that he should take Sahnun’s book.

Asad refused that, so the people left his book and followed the Mudawwanah of Sahnun, even with what was in it of mixing issues inside the chapters. It was called “the Mudawwanah” and “the mixed one”.

The people of al Qayrawan devoted themselves to the Mudawwanah, and the people of al Andalus to al Wadihah and al ʿUtbiyyah. Then Ibn Abi Zayd (d. 386 AH) summarised the Mudawwanah and the mixed one in his book called al Mukhtasar. Abu Saʿid al Baradhaʿi (d. 372 AH) also summarised it in his book called al Tahdhib. The senior scholars of Ifriqiyah relied on it and left what was other than it.

The people of al Andalus also relied on al ʿUtbiyyah and left al Wadihah and what was other than it.

The ulama of the madhhab continued to take care of these mother books with explanation, clarification, and combining. The people of Ifriqiyah wrote on the Mudawwanah much, like Ibn Yunus (d. 451 AH), al Lakhmi (d. 478 AH), Ibn Mahraz (d. 413 AH), Ibn Bashir (d. 536 AH), and others.

The people of al Andalus wrote on al ʿUtbiyyah much, like Ibn Rushd (d. 595 AH) and others. Ibn Abi Zayd collected all that is in the mother books of issues, disagreements, and statements in his book al Nawadir, so it contained all the statements of the madhhab. He branched all the mother books into this book, and Ibn Yunus transmitted most of it in his book on the Mudawwanah, and so on.

But Ibn Rushd said: Sahnun travelled to Ibn al Qasim. Among what he read to him were the Mudawwanah and the mixed one and he wrote them down. They became the foundation of the knowledge of the Malikis, and they are preferred over other diwans after the Muwattaʾ of Malik. It is narrated: There is no book after the Book of Allah more authentic than the Muwattaʾ of Malik, and there is no diwan in jurisprudence after the Muwattaʾ more beneficial than the Mudawwanah.

The Mudawwanah, for the people of jurisprudence, is like the book of Sibawayh for the people of grammar, and like the book of Euclid for the people of calculation. Its place in jurisprudence is the place of Umm al Qur’an in prayer. It suffices without other than it, and other than it does not suffice without it.

Ibn Rushd was from al Andalus. He saw that the Mudawwanah is the main reliance in al Andalus and elsewhere. Ibn Khaldun saw that al ʿUtbiyyah is the reliance of al Andalus, and that may have been in the time of Ibn Khaldun.

As for al Mawwaziyyah, it is by Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Rabbah (d. 269 AH), known as Ibn al Mawwaz. In al Madarik it was said about al Mawwaziyyah: It is the greatest book of the early Malikis, the most authentic in issues, the widest in speech, and the most comprehensive.

Abu al Hasan al Qabisi (d. 403 AH) mentioned it and preferred it over the other mother books, because its author intended to build the branches of the people of the madhhab upon their foundations in his writing, while others intended collecting narrations and transmitting what was heard.

It was understood from those they transmitted from that they had preferences in separate explanations and answers to questions. Some intended defence of the madhhab in what has disagreement. Except Ibn Habib, he intended building the madhhab upon meanings that reached him, and he might be satisfied with the texts of narrations as they are.

There is no doubt that Ibn al Hajib (d. 646 AH) and Ibn Rushd had a major share in arranging and organising the books of the madhhab. The last book relied upon in the madhhab is Mukhtasar by Diyaʾ al Din Khalil ibn Ishaq (d. 776 AH), from the people of Egypt. His book was translated into French. (al Muqaddimah, Ibn Khaldun, 356–357; Tartib al Madarik, section 2, 72; Malik li Abi Zahrah, 242–243.)

“I Do Not Know” and Caution in Knowledge

This was Malik’s sign. He was quick to say “I do not know” when asked and the proofs of the matter were not complete for him from all ways. He used this sign. If the answer became clear to him and no doubt remained for him, he answered. Otherwise he said: “I do not know.”

Not everyone can say “I do not know.” Only those strong by Allah can do it, those who prefer His pleasure and Paradise and fear His anger and Hell. Malik said: “The shield of the scholar is ‘I do not know’. If he leaves it, his weak point is struck.”

Ibn Hurmuz, Malik’s first teacher, used to say: The scholar should pass to his companions the statement “I do not know,” until it becomes a foundation in their hands that they return to. If one of them is asked about what he does not know, he says: “I do not know.” Malik was affected by him in that and used it often.

Musʿab said: Malik was asked about a matter and said: “I do not know.” The questioner said to him: It is a light, easy matter. I only wanted to tell it to the ruler, and the questioner had standing. Malik became angry and said: A light, easy matter. There is nothing light in knowledge. Have you not heard the statement of Allah, Mighty and Majestic:

إِنَّا سَنُلْقِي عَلَيْكَ قَوْلًا ثَقِيلًا

“We will cast upon you a heavy word.” (al Muzzammil 5)

Knowledge is all heavy, especially what will be asked about on the Day of Resurrection.

Some said: It was as if Malik, when asked about a matter, was standing between Paradise and Hell. Malik used to say: Whoever loves to answer a matter should place himself before answering between Paradise and Hell, and how his salvation will be in the Hereafter, then answer.

He used to say: I met the people of knowledge and jurisprudence in our land, and one of them, when asked about a matter, it was as if death had come close to him. I saw the people of our time desire speech and fatwa. If they knew what they will face tomorrow, they would reduce this.

ʿUmar ibn al Khattab, and ʿAli, and ʿAlqamah, the best of the Companions, matters used to come to them and go back and forth, and they are from the best generations the Prophet ﷺ was sent among. They used to be asked, then give fatwa. The people of our time have made their pride fatwa. According to that, knowledge is opened for them.

It is authentic from Abu al Darda that he said: “I do not know is half of knowledge.”

Someone said to Malik: If you say, Abu ʿAbd Allah, “I do not know,” then who knows? Malik said: Woe to you. You did not know me. What am I, and what is my place, that I would know what you do not know? Then he began to use the report of Ibn ʿUmar, saying: “I do not know,” so who am I? People are only destroyed by self admiration and seeking leadership, and this disappears soon.

He said another time: ʿUmar ibn al Khattab was tried with these matters and did not answer in them. Ibn al Zubayr said: “I do not know.” Ibn ʿUmar said: “I do not know.”

Ibrahim al Nakhaʿi (d. 96 AH) asked ʿAmir al Shaʿbi (d. 103 AH) about a matter. He said: “I do not know.” Ibrahim said: This, by Allah, is the scholar. He was asked about what he does not know, so he said: “I do not know.”

ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Mahdi (d. 198 AH) said: We were with Malik and a man came and said: Abu ʿAbd Allah, I came from a journey of 6 months. The people of my land carried a matter for me to ask you about. Malik said: Ask. He asked him. Malik said: I do not know how to do it. The man was cut off, as if he had come to one who knows everything. He said: What can I say to the people of my land if I return to them? Malik said: Say to them: Malik said: I do not know how to do it.

A man asked him about a matter the people of the West entrusted to him. Malik said: I do not know. We were not tried with this in our land, and we did not hear any of our teachers speak about it. But come back. The next day he came, having loaded his baggage on a mule he was leading, and said: My matter. Malik said: I do not know what it is.

The man said: Abu ʿAbd Allah, I left behind me those who say: There is no one on the face of the earth more knowledgeable than you. Malik said without unease: When you return, tell them that I do not know.

A man came to Malik asking him about something for days, and Malik did not answer him. He said: Abu ʿAbd Allah, I want to leave. Malik lowered his head for a long time, then raised his head and said: “What Allah wills. O man, I only speak in what I hope for good in it, and I do not know your matter well.”

Khalid ibn Khirash (d. 169 AH) said: I came from Iraq to Malik with 40 matters. He only answered me in 5.

Malik was asked about 40 matters and he said in 36: “I do not know.” “I do not know” is the shield of the scholar.

Ibn Wahb (d. 197 AH) said: I asked Malik in 30,000 matters of new cases in his life. He said in a third of them, or half of them, or as Allah willed: “I do not know,” and “I do not know.”

Ibn ʿAbd al Hakam (d. 214 AH) said: Malik, when asked about a matter, would say to the questioner: Go away until I look into it. He would go away, and Malik would return to it. We said to him about that. He cried and said: I fear that the questioner will be for me on a day, and what a day.

When he was asked about a matter, his colour would change. He was red, and he would turn yellow, lower his head, and move his lips, then say: “There is no power and no strength except with Allah.” He might be asked about 50 matters, and he would not answer 1 of them.

Sahnun said: Malik said one day: Today I have 20 years thinking about this matter.

ʿAbd al Rahman al ʿUmari said: Malik said to me: A matter may come to me that keeps me from food, drink, and sleep. I said: Abu ʿAbd Allah, your speech with the people is only like an engraving in stone. Whatever you say, they take it from you. Malik said: The one who is like this has the right to be like this. I saw in sleep someone saying: Malik is protected. (Tartib, 1/144–148; al Intiqaʾ, 37–38; Manaqib al Zawawi, 31; Tazyin al Mamalik, 16; Nafh al Tib, 5/426.)

Disliking Argument in Religion

It is not from blameworthy argument in religion that a person searches a matter of religion, wanting to know it with certainty supported by proof. The blameworthy argument is when the one arguing wants to overpower the one he argues with, so that he appears as a person of knowledge and ability.

The one arguing in religion might be the one who, whenever he forms a made up case and sets proof for it, he forms another made up case further, and sets proof for it, and so on, until he reaches a state where it appears he is no longer searching religion, but speech with no meaning, far from the aims of religion. Both are not praised.

Malik said: “Every time a man more argumentative than another comes to us, shall we leave what Jibril brought down upon Muhammad ﷺ for his argument.”

He said: Argument and disputing in knowledge removes the light of knowledge from the heart of the servant.

He said: Argument hardens the heart and causes spite.

Al Zuhri (d. 124 AH) said: I saw Malik and some people arguing in front of him. Malik stood, shook his cloak, and said: You are only war.

Al Haytham ibn Jamil (d. 213 AH) said: It was said to Malik: A man has knowledge of the Sunnah, should he argue for it? Malik said: No. He should inform with the Sunnah. If it is accepted from him, fine. Otherwise he should be silent.

Maʿn (d. 198 AH) said: Malik went one day to the masjid and I was supporting him. A man called Abu al Juwayrah, accused of irjaʾ, followed him and said: Abu ʿAbd Allah, listen from me to something. I will show it to you and debate you, and tell you my opinion. Malik said: Beware that I testify against you. The man said: By Allah, I only want the truth.

Listen. If it is correct, say it, or speak. Malik said: If you overpower me, follow me. The man said: If I overpower you, Malik said: Follow you. The man said: Then if a man comes and speaks with us and overpowers us, Malik said: We follow him. Malik said: O ʿAbd Allah, Allah sent Muhammad ﷺ with 1 religion, and I see you moving.

ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz said: Whoever makes his religion a target for disputes increases in moving.

Abu Talib al Makki (d. 386 AH) said: Malik was the furthest of people from the methods of the people of speculative theology, the strongest in dislike of the people of Iraq, and the most holding to the Sunnah of the earlier ones from the Companions and the Followers. (al Intiqaʾ, 34; al Hilyah, 6/324; Tartib al Madarik, 1/170; al Tadhkirah, 208.)

Malik and Abu Hanifah

Both imams, Abu Hanifah (d. 150 AH) and Malik (d. 179 AH), were people of opinion. This is not doubted. Why, then, this dispute between them? The truth is that if Malik was from the people of opinion, he was also from the greatest hadith scholars. His place in Madinah and his taking from the Followers and from those who took from the 7 jurists among the Followers gave him a large wealth of fatwas of the Companions and the Followers and their ijtihad. So his opinion, in most cases, came from all that.

As for Abu Hanifah, his wealth from transmitted reports did not reach what Malik and those like him reached. If their transmitted reports are not on the level of their ijtihad, then some of their opinion must be outside the reports of the early generations, even if they are at the highest level of jurisprudence and ijtihad.

It was said to Abu Hanifah: How did you see the ulama of Madinah? He said: If a noble one among them, then the red and white young man, meaning Malik. In another report: I saw knowledge spread. If someone gathers it, then the white and red young man. Ibn Ghanim mentioned that to Malik. Malik said: He spoke the truth. I met him and I saw a man with knowledge and understanding. If he built upon a foundation, meaning the foundation of the people of Madinah.

Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) said: Malik ibn Anas was asked about Abu Hanifah and he said: If he came to these pillars of yours, he would measure them by analogy until he made them gold. Al Layth ibn Saʿd (d. 175 AH) said: I met Malik in Madinah and I said to him: I see you wiping sweat from your forehead. Malik said: I sweated with Abu Hanifah. He is a jurist, O Egyptian. Then I met Abu Hanifah and I said to him: How good is this man’s acceptance of you. Abu Hanifah said: I have not seen someone faster than him in a truthful answer and complete criticism, meaning Malik.

If only things stayed like that between them, in respect and valuing each other. Both are great imams. Both are mujtahids who may be mistaken or correct. No one is free from mistake in Sharia except the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Yet Malik became severe in criticising Abu Hanifah later. He said: If Abu Hanifah came against this Ummah with the sword, it would be easier for them than what appeared among them, meaning analogy and opinion.

The strange thing, if the report is authentic, is that both of them used analogy. As for opinion, both had a large share, even if they differed in how they saw it.

Some of Malik’s use of analogy and opinion may have benefited from the books of al Darawardi (d. 187 AH). ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Muhammad (d. 184 AH) said: Malik used to look into the books of Abu Hanifah and benefit from them.

When Hammad ibn Abi Hanifah came to Malik, Malik made space for him and asked him about some issues of his father.

Stronger than that is what Mansur ibn Muzahim said: I heard Malik ibn Anas, and Abu Hanifah was mentioned, so Malik said:

The religion almost collapsed, and whoever almost collapses the religion is not from its people.

In this, if it is authentic, there is great excess. Malik said: This affair remained balanced until Abu Hanifah appeared and took analogy, so he did not succeed and did not prosper.

And more than that. If it is authentic from Malik, it is overstepping against Imam Abu Hanifah.

Abu ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al Barr (d. 463 AH), the Maliki scholar, said: The people of hadith went too far in criticising Abu Hanifah and crossed the limit. The reason for that, with them, was that he brought opinion and analogy into the reports and used them. Most people of knowledge say: When a report is authentic, analogy and looking is cancelled.

Abu Hanifah’s rejection of some solitary reports was by an interpretation with possibility. Much of it others before him did, and those like him among the people of opinion followed him in it.

Most of what is found from him in that was following the people of his land like Ibrahim al Nakhaʿi and the companions of Ibn Masʿud. Yet he and his companions went deep in creating made up cases and answering them by their opinion and their preference. From that came major disagreement with the early generations, and the critics made it appear as innovations.

I do not know anyone among the ulama except that he has an interpretation in a Qur’an verse or a view in a Sunnah, due to which he rejected another Sunnah by a permissible interpretation, or by claiming abrogation. Yet Abu Hanifah had much of that, and for others it is little.

Ibn ʿAbd al Barr continued: Yahya ibn Sallam said: I heard ʿAbd Allah ibn Ghanim in the gathering of Ibrahim ibn al Aghlab narrating from al Layth ibn Saʿd: “I counted against Malik ibn Anas 70 issues, all of them opposing the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, where Malik said in them by his opinion.” He said: I wrote to him about that.

He continued: It is not for anyone from the ulama of the Ummah to affirm a hadith from the Prophet ﷺ, then reject it, without claiming abrogation by a report like it, or by agreement, or by an action that, according to his foundation, must be followed, or by criticism of its chain. If anyone did that, his uprightness would fall, let alone being taken as an imam, and the sin of wrongdoing would be upon him.

Malik’s View of the People of Iraq

Imam Malik ibn Anas (d. 179 AH) attached the Iraqi people of opinion to Abu Hanifah (d. 150 AH) and criticised them with sharp criticism that was not free from mockery. A man from Kufah came to Malik and stayed about sixty or seventy days. He heard that number of hadith. He complained about that to Malik and said: “In Iraq, we write more hadith in an hour than this.”

Malik said to him: “My nephew, in Iraq, there is the mint. It strikes at night and is taken out by day.” Then Malik said: “Iraq used to send us dinars and dirhams. Now it sends us hadith.”

There is much speech from major imams about the knowledge of the people of Iraq, to the point that Wakiʿ (d. 197 AH) and Rabiʿah (d. 136 AH) said: “It is as if the Prophet who was sent in the Hijaz is not the Prophet who was sent to the people of Iraq.”

Ibn Shihab al Zuhri (d. 124 AH) said: “Hadith leaves us by a handspan, then it returns in Iraq by a cubit.”

When Hammad ibn Zayd (d. 179 AH) came to Madinah, none of Malik’s companions came to him. Hammad went and complained about that to Malik. Malik said: “I ordered them to do that.” He said: “Why, Abu ʿAbd Allah?” Malik said: “Because you, people of Iraq, write in Madinah from those who have no standing with us, so it is thought about you that you do this in your land as well.” Hammad returned and dropped most of his knowledge.

I say: Hammad ibn Zayd was trustworthy, firm, and a jurist. He died in the year Malik died, the year 179 AH, as it is in al Taqrib.

It is obvious that Malik did not mean all the people of Iraq in his speech, because among them are major hadith scholars and mujtahid jurists.

Al Zawawi, the Maliki, was fair and said: Speech like this and what is like it from the people of Madinah in criticising Iraq is much, yet we do not deny that Iraq had knowledge in religion and transmission in the Sunnah. We do not claim protection from error for our imam, nor do we deny correctness from other ulama, but we claim virtue for him and preference for his madhhab. (Manaqib al Zawawi: 56 and 57; Hilyah: 6/325; Jamiʿ Bayan al ʿIlm: 2/147 and 2/148; Manaqib al Shafiʿi by al Bayhaqi: 1/171; al Intiqaʾ: 14. )

Criticising the One Who Claims the Madhhab and Rejects the Evidence

In Manaqib al Shafiʿi by al Bayhaqi (d. 458 AH): al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) only wrote the book against Malik because it reached him that, in al Andalus, there was a “cap” of Malik, meaning a hat, by which rain was sought.

It was said to them, meaning the Malikis: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,” and they would say: “Malik said.” Al Shafiʿi said: “Malik is human. He makes mistakes and he slips.” That is what moved him to write that book.

He used to say: “I disliked doing that, but I sought Allah’s guidance in that for a year.” (Manaqib al Zawawi: 56 and 57; Hilyah: 6/325; Jamiʿ Bayan al ʿIlm: 2/147 and 2/148; Manaqib al Shafiʿi by al Bayhaqi: 1/171; al Intiqaʾ: 14. )

Abu al Hakam Mundhir ibn Saʿid al Baluti (d. 355 AH), the chief judge of al Andalus, said about that:

“If I ask people for proof, they say: ‘This is what Malik said.’
If I press them, they say: ‘Sahnun said the same,’ and the ways were not hidden from him.
If I say: ‘Allah said,’ they cry out and wail against me, and they say: ‘You are a quarrelsome opponent.’”

This imitation without returning to evidence is not a trait of Malik’s followers alone. Rather it is in them, and in the followers of Abu Hanifah, then the followers of al Shafiʿi and Ahmad ibn Hanbal. They do not accept evidence, no matter how clear it is. The “text” with them is not the text of the Qur’an and the Sunnah when it is mentioned without restriction.

Rather it is the statement of jurists. Imitation without evidence increased in later eras. This weakens thinking, kills juristic ability, and stops the growth and development of jurisprudence. The statement of ʿIzz al Din ibn ʿAbd al Salam (d. 660 AH) has already been mentioned.

Those Who Criticised Malik

No imam among the imams is free from a strict imitator, nor from a critic, nor from a reforming and fair critic. This is how criticism of Malik was. We mention here some of those who criticised him. Allah knows the reformer from the corrupter.

Ibn ʿAbd al Barr (d. 463 AH) said in Jamiʿ Bayan al ʿIlm: Ibrahim ibn Saʿd (d. 183 AH) used to speak against him and make supplication against him. Those who spoke about Malik, as al Saji (d. 307 AH) mentioned in his book al ʿIlal, include ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Abi Salamah (d. 164 AH), ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam (d. 182 AH), Ibn Ishaq (d. 150 AH), Ibn Abi Yahya (d. 184 AH), and Ibn Abi al Zinad (d. 174 AH). They criticised matters from his madhhab.

Others spoke against him because he left reporting from Saʿd ibn Ibrahim (d. 125 AH), and because he reported from Dawud ibn al Husayn (d. 135 AH) and Thawr ibn Zayd (d. 153 AH).

He then said: Al Shafiʿi and some companions of Abu Hanifah criticised him in some of his opinion, out of jealousy for his place as an imam.

I say: This is clearly unfair and partisan speech from Ibn ʿAbd al Barr against al Shafiʿi. Al Shafiʿi used to say: “I did not debate anyone while loving that he would be mistaken.” He used to say: “I wished that the people would learn these books and they would not attribute them to me.” The one like this does not attack and does not envy. He criticises to separate falsehood from truth. Al Shafiʿi has imamate and ijtihad that both agreement and disagreement have admitted.

Ibn ʿAbd al Barr then said: Some criticised Malik for rejecting wiping over leather socks in residence and travel, and for staying away from attending the congregational prayer in the masjid, and other than that. Then he said: Whoever speaks against Malik and al Shafiʿi and those like them among the imams is only as al Aʿsha (d. 7 AH) said:

“Like one who butts a rock one day to weaken it,
he does not harm it, but he weakens his own horn, the mountain goat.”

It is strange from Ibn ʿAbd al Barr that he criticised earlier, then here he praised.

Al Shafiʿi said: Malik made an error, Allah have mercy on him. He said: “ʿAbbad ibn Ziyad is from the descendants of al Mughirah ibn Shuʿbah,” while it is: he is the freedman of al Mughirah ibn Shuʿbah.

The criticism of al Shafiʿi against Malik, in leaving practice upon authentic solitary hadith and preferring the practice of the people of Madinah, has already been mentioned.

He said: “ʿAbd al Malik ibn Qurayr,” while it is: ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Qurayb, the brother of al Asmaʿi (d. 216 AH).

The criticism of Ibn Abi Dhuyb (d. 158 AH) against Malik, with strong harshness, has already been mentioned, regarding leaving practice upon the hadith: “The two sellers have the option,” and similar.

No one should be alarmed by criticism of Malik. All the imams were criticised. All of them make mistakes and are correct. In both states, there is reward for him. If he is mistaken, then one reward. If he is correct, then two rewards. Yet followers of madhhahib may reach, in their bond and belief about them, claims of protection from error. Protection from error is only for a messenger in conveying and explaining. (Jamiʿ Bayan al ʿIlm: 2/161; Manaqib al Shafiʿi by al Bayhaqi: 1/491)

The Narrators Who Reported from Malik

Introduction

Many of the ulama of the Ummah, from hadith scholars and jurists who lived in his time, came to take hadith or jurisprudence from a great imam, rare in his era. Hearing from him, even one hadith, was pride, and what pride. It is enough for a man to have reported from Malik for the people to see him as great. Bishr ibn al Harith al Hafi (d. 227 AH), the known ascetic, used to say: “Haddathana Malik,” then he would seek forgiveness from Allah, and say: “From the adornment of the universe is that a man says: ‘Haddathana Malik.’”

Yahya ibn Hassan said: I wrote one day from Malik eight hadith, and I was very pleased with them.

Al Shafiʿi said, and his statement has already passed: Muhammad ibn al Hasan (d. 189 AH), when he narrated in Iraq from Malik, his house filled until it became tight, and when he narrated to them from other shaykhs of Kufah, only a few came. He would say: “I do not know anyone who speaks worse about your companion than you do.”

Al Dhahabi (d. 748 AH) said: Nations reported from him, and they can hardly be counted.

Abu al Hasan al Daraqutni (d. 385 AH) said: I do not know anyone earlier or later for whom what gathered for Malik gathered, because two men reported from him one hadith, and between their deaths there was about one hundred and thirty years: Muhammad ibn Shihab al Zuhri, his teacher, who died in 125 AH, and Abu Hudhafah al Sahmi, who died after 250 AH.

They reported from him the hadith of al Furayʿah bint Malik ibn Sinan, about the residence of the woman in waiting. It will come soon. Malik used to say: “Rarely do I learn from a man, then he dies, except that he comes to me and asks me for fatwa.”

Some hadith scholars and ulama tried to count those who took from him. Al Khatib wrote a book about the narrators from him, and he included one thousand men, except seven.

Among them are Abu al Hasan al Daraqutni and Ismaʿil al Darrab. Then al Qadi ʿIyad (d. 544 AH) said: We placed that in another book in the compendium of the narrators from Malik. It contained more than one thousand and three hundred narrators, in detail, from the books written in that.

ʿIyad counted, in his al Madarik, more than one thousand, then said: We mentioned the famous and left many. This means that no one, until now, has been able to count them, though al Suyuti claimed he counted them.

We cannot mention here what they mentioned in the books, nor even most of them. We will only mention some of the famous and briefly translate some of those whom the imam gave extra care.

Those of His Teachers Who Reported from Him

From the Followers, Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn ʿUbayd Allah ibn Shihab al Qurashi al Zuhri (d. 124 AH) reported from him one hadith, the hadith of al Furayʿah bint Malik ibn Sinan al Khudriyyah. She is the sister of Abu Saʿid al Khudri. Malik reported it from Saʿid ibn Ishaq ibn Kaʿb ibn ʿUjrah, from his paternal aunt, from Zaynab bint Kaʿb ibn ʿUjrah: al Furayʿah bint Malik ibn Sinan told her that she came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to ask him to return to her family among Banu Khudrah, because her husband went out seeking runaway slaves of his.

When they were at the edge of al Qadum, a place about six miles from Madinah, he caught them and they killed him. She said: I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to return to my family among Banu Khudrah, for my husband did not leave me in a house he owned, nor any spending. She said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Yes.” She said: I left. When I was in the chamber, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ called me, or he ordered that I be called to him, so I was called. He said: “How did you say it?”

I repeated to him the story I mentioned about my husband. He said: “Stay in your house until the term of the Book reaches its end.” She said: I observed my waiting period there four months and ten. She said: When it was the time of ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan, he sent for me and asked me about that, so I told him. He followed it and judged with it.

In al Isabah, the report of al Zuhri from Malik is like this: from Yunus ibn Yazid, from Ibn Shihab: “A man called Malik ibn Anas told me,” then he mentioned it.

Yahya ibn Saʿid said: Malik and al Thawri met, and al Thawri used to ask Malik.

Maʿn said: I saw al Thawri pushing with us at the doors of Malik.

From his teachers who reported from him: Rabiʿah ibn Abi ʿAbd al Rahman (d. 136 AH), known as Rabiʿah al Raʾy. He is a famous jurist with precise thinking.

Ibn Saʿd said: They used to avoid him because of the place of opinion. When he went far in opinion and differed from the earlier major Followers, Malik left him. He reported from Malik the hadith of mutʿah, and he reported from him the forbiddance of selling fruit before its ripeness becomes clear. He is trustworthy in transmission. He died in 136 AH, according to what is correct.

From his teachers who reported from him: Ayyub ibn Abi Tamimah Kaysan al Sakhtiyani (d. 131 AH), Abu Bakr al Basri, trustworthy, firm, a proof, from the major jurists and worshippers.

From his teachers who reported from him: Yahya ibn Saʿid ibn Qays al Ansari al Nujari (d. 143 AH), Abu Saʿid al Madani, the judge. He reported from Anas ibn Malik, Saʿid ibn al Musayyib, al Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al Siddiq, and those like them, and from many of his peers and those below him. He reported from Malik much of the hadith of Ibn Shihab.

Ibn Saʿd said: He was trustworthy, abundant in hadith, a proof, firm. Al Thawri counted him among the preservers who bring hadith as it should be. Malik said: “No one from us went to Iraq and changed, except Yahya ibn Saʿid.” He died in 143 AH.

From the Followers who reported from Malik, as in al Tartib: Hisham ibn ʿUrwah ibn al Zubayr ibn al ʿAwwam al Asadi (d. 145 AH). Ibn Saʿd said: trustworthy, a proof. He died in 145 AH.

From the Followers who reported from Malik, as in al Tartib: Yazid ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Qusayt ibn Usamah al Laythi (d. 122 AH), Abu ʿAbd Allah al Madani al Aʿraj. He was trustworthy. He died in 122 AH, and he was ninety years old. He reported from ʿUmar and Abu Hurayrah. In al Tahdhib it is Ibn ʿUmar instead of ʿUmar. Malik reported from him. Then Malik’s teacher Yazid took from him. Al Nasaʾi declared him trustworthy.

From his teachers, other than the Followers: ʿAmr ibn al Harith ibn Yaʿqub al Ansari (d. 148 AH), Abu Umayyah al Misri, the jurist and reciter, one of the imams. Ibn Maʿin declared him trustworthy. Ibn Wahb said: If ʿAmr had remained for us, we would not have needed Malik. He died in 148 AH.

This is enough as a mention of some of his teachers from whom they took. The truth is that if they took from Malik, while they were his teachers, they only took a little, hadith that did not reach them that Malik reported from others, and similar.

Those of His Equals Who Reported from Him

From those of his equals in virtue and knowledge who took from him: ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Abi Hazim (d. 184 AH), al Makhrumi, their freedman, al Madani, the jurist. Ibn Maʿin declared him trustworthy. Malik said: “A people in whom there is Ibn Abi Hazim will not be struck by punishment.” Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: No one in Madinah after Malik was more juristic than him. He died while in sujud in the Prophet’s masjid in 184 AH.

From them: ʿAbd al Malik ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Jurayj (d. 150 AH), Abu al Walid al Makki, the jurist, one of the major imams. Ibn Maʿin said: No one on earth knew ʿAtaʾ more than Ibn Jurayj. Ahmad said: If he says “akhbarana” and “samiʿtu,” then that is enough for you. Abu Nuʿaym said: He died in 150 AH.

From them: ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Muhammad ibn ʿUbayd (d. 187 AH), Abu Muhammad al Madani, known as al Darawardi, one of the major imams. Ibn Saʿd said: trustworthy, abundant in hadith, he makes mistakes. He died in 189 AH.

From those who took from him, and he was his match: the scholar of Egypt, its jurist, and its head, al Layth ibn Saʿd (d. 175 AH). Ibn Bukayr said: He is more juristic than Malik. Ahmad, Ibn Maʿin, and the people declared him trustworthy. It is said: al Layth was from Malik’s companions and upon his madhhab, then he chose for himself. He used to write to Malik and ask him. Ibn Bukayr said: He was born in 94 AH and died in 175 AH.

From them: Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah (d. 198 AH), Abu Muhammad, one of the imams of Islam. Some of his teachers, Shuʿbah and Misʿar, reported from him. Al ʿIjli said: He is the firmest of them in al Zuhri. Ibn Wahb said: I did not see anyone more knowledgeable of the Book of Allah than Ibn ʿUyaynah. Al Shafiʿi said: If not for Malik and Ibn ʿUyaynah, the knowledge of the Hijaz would be lost. He died in 198 AH.

From them: ʿAbd al Rahman ibn ʿAmr al Awzaʿi (d. 157 AH), Abu ʿAmr al Shami, the imam, the great scholar. One of his teachers, Yahya ibn Abi Kathir, reported from him. Ibn Mahdi said: an imam. Ibn Saʿd said: trustworthy, secure, virtuous, much good, abundant in hadith, knowledge, and jurisprudence. Ishaq said: If al Awzaʿi, al Thawri, and Malik agree on a matter, then it is Sunnah. He died in 157 AH.

From them: Sufyan al Thawri (d. 161 AH), Sufyan ibn Saʿid ibn Masruq, Abu ʿAbd Allah al Kufi, one of the great imams. It is said: twenty thousand reported from him. Ibn al Mubarak said: I did not write from anyone better than Sufyan. Al Khatib said: al Thawri was an imam among the imams of the Muslims, a banner among the banners of religion, agreed upon as an imam with precision, accuracy, memorisation, knowledge, zuhd, and waraʿ. He died in al Basrah in 161 AH.

Saʿid ibn Mansur said: I saw Malik making tawaf, and behind him Sufyan al Thawri learning from him like a child learns from his teacher. Whenever Malik did something, Sufyan did it, following him.

I say: I think this, if authentic, is from his humility. Otherwise Sufyan is not less knowledgeable of that than Malik.

From them: Shuʿbah ibn al Hajjaj (d. 160 AH), Abu Bistam, the preserver, one of the imams of Islam, al Wasiti, resident of al Basrah. Ahmad said: Shuʿbah is an Ummah on his own. Al Hakam said: Shuʿbah is the imam of the imams. Ibn Maʿin said: the imam of the people of taqwa. Abu Zayd al Harawi said: He was born in 80 AH, the same year Abu Hanifah was born, and he died in 160 AH.

Others like these are many. Malik’s time was filled with major ulama, among those who were his teachers, those at their level, and those at his level. These may take from him and he may take from them. When they take from each other, they only take a little, because the hadith scholar is keen that his chain be higher.

A Report That Abu Hanifah Reported from Malik

There is a report that Abu Hanifah took from Malik. Al Daraqutni mentioned it in the Book of Slaughter, Ibn Khusraw al Balkhi mentioned it in Musnad Abi Hanifah, and al Khatib al Baghdadi mentioned it in the Book of Those Who Reported from Malik.

Among later ulama who mentioned it: Mughaltay (d. 762 AH) in his notes on ʿUlum al Hadith by Ibn al Salah, and Siraj al Din al Bulqini (d. 805 AH) in Mahasin al Istilah.

Badr al Din al Zarkashi (d. 794 AH) said in his notes on Ibn al Salah: Al Daraqutni wrote a small work of the hadith that Abu Hanifah reported from Malik. He said: The Hanafis said: The greatest of those who reported from Malik is Abu Hanifah. Al Suyuti said: This wording indicates that he reported several hadith from Malik.

Al Suyuti said: What I found is only two hadith: one of them in Musnad Abi Hanifah by Ibn Khusraw, and the other in Those Who Reported from Malik by al Khatib. Al Suyuti said: I found a book about what the great ones reported from Malik by Ibn Makhlad, and I saw in it what al Zuhri, Shuʿbah, Ibn Jurayj, al Awzaʿi, the two Sufyans, and a group of other great ones reported from him.

Then Ibn Makhlad found a Musnad for Abu Hanifah by Abu al Diyaʾ, who gathered it from fifteen Musnads.

He saw that he included in it, from the report of Abu Hanifah from Malik from Nafiʿ from Ibn ʿUmar: “If you prayed Fajr and Maghrib, then you caught them again, do not repeat them.”

In Tabaqat al Huffaz by al Dhahabi: Saʿid ibn Abi Maryam reported from Ashhab that he said: I saw Abu Hanifah in front of Malik like a child in front of his father.

It is said: Abu Hanifah reported from Malik hadith, including: “The previously married woman has more right to herself than her guardian, and the virgin is asked for her consent, and her silence is her consent.”

Ibn Hajar said: The report of Abu Hanifah from Malik is not established. Al Daraqutni then al Khatib only mentioned two reports that occurred to them with two chains, and in them there is criticism. As for Hammad, the son of Abu Hanifah, he took from Malik.

Some of His Students Who Reported from Him

Those who reported from Malik from his students are many and cannot be counted. We mention here some of them, one from each letter: Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Malik, his grandson. Khalaf ibn Hisham al Bazzaz, the reciter, from Baghdad. Dawud ibn Ibrahim al Qazwini al Taymi, from al Andalus. Dhu al Nun ibn Ibrahim al Ikhmimi, from Egypt. Rawh ibn ʿUbadah, from al Basrah.

Zayd ibn Yahya ibn ʿUbayd, from Damascus. Saʿid ibn al Jahm, from Egypt. Shuʿayb ibn Ishaq, from Damascus. Talhah ibn Yahya ibn al Nuʿman al Zurqi, from Madinah. Dumrah ibn Rabiʿah, from Yemen. Salih ibn Bayan al Sirafi, the judge. ʿAbidah, an umm walad, a black female slave from the slaves of Madinah.

ʿAbd Allah ibn al Hakam, from Egypt. ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Qasim. ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn ʿAbd Allah al ʿAmiri. ʿAbd al Malik ibn Maslamah al Qurashi, from Egypt.

ʿUmar ibn Aban ibn ʿUthman. Ghiyath ibn Ibrahim. Fudayl ibn ʿIyad. Qasim ibn Maʿn ibn ʿAbd al Rahman al Masʿudi, from Kufah. Kathir ibn Hisham. Layth ibn Khalid al Khurasani. Al Haytham ibn ʿAdi al Taʾi, from Baghdad. Warqaʾ ibn ʿAmr al Kufi al Madaʾini. Yahya ibn Malik, his son. From those with kunyah: Abu Bakr ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar ibn al Khattab. (Zarqani: 1/5 and 1/6; al Dibaj: 22, 23, 24, 40; Tazyin al Mamalik: 18, 38, 59, 240; Tartib al Madarik: 1/45–254; Nafh al Tib: 2/21, 646, 139, 700, 45–46; al Intiqaʾ: 13, 14, 15; Taʿliq Wafayat al Aʿyan: 1/555; Tadhkirat al Huffaz: 207 and 209; al Fihrist: 281; Manaqib al Shafiʿi by al Bayhaqi: 1/102, 2/11–100; Sharh al Muwattaʾ by al Suyuti: 2/36 and 2/37; Tabaqat Ibn Saʿd: 5/439 and 5/442; al Isabah: 4/375; al Jarh wa al Taʿdil: 8/204; Jamhurat Ibn Hazm: 165. )

His Companions Who Reported from Him and Studied His Fiqh

There is no doubt that most of the major ulama, peers, and companions who reported from him benefited, alongside transmission, from some of his jurisprudence. Yet his companions, those who sat with him for a long time to hear his hadith and his jurisprudence, are also many. They did not reach the number of narrators in count, yet they are many.

We mention here some of those who became famous and spread the Maliki madhhab in the regions, and we mention the most famous of them with a short description:

Imam al Shafiʿi, ʿAbd Allah ibn Wahb, Ziyad ibn ʿAbd al Rahman Shabtun, ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Qasim, Ashhab ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz al Qaysi, Asad ibn al Furat, ʿAbd al Malik ibn al Majishun, ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al Hakam, Sahnun, Ibn Habib, al Qaʿnabi.

Imam al Shafiʿi

As for Imam al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH), he went to Imam Malik while young and stayed with him until Malik died. He had memorised al Muwattaʾ before reaching him. When he reached him, Malik said to him: “Find someone to read to you.” I said: “I will read.” I read to him. Sometimes he would say to me about something that passed: “Repeat the hadith of such and such,” and I would repeat it from memory, as if he liked that. Then I asked him about a matter and he answered me, then another, then another. He said: “You should be a judge.”

He had heard Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah before coming to Malik and he filled two jars from his hadith. When he went to Iraq he read the jurisprudence of the Hanafis from the books of Muhammad ibn al Hasan. Even so, he used to say: “No one is safer for me than Malik.”

Then he became independent with ijtihad. The mujtahid seeks to know the truth, and truth with the scholar and mujtahid is more beloved to him than the most beloved of people. There is no blame on him in that when the proof is clear.

The judge of the community in Granada, Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Muhammad ibn al Azraq, said: The student differing with the teacher in some matters, if there is a way for it and an established proof that ulama other than the teacher accept, is not bad manners from the student toward the teacher, as long as there is constant respect and fitting honour.

Ibn ʿAbbas differed with ʿUmar, ʿAli, and Zayd ibn Thabit, may Allah be pleased with them, and he took from them. Many of the Followers differed with some of the Companions, while they only took knowledge from them. Malik differed with many of his teachers. Al Shafiʿi, Ibn al Qasim, and Ashhab differed with Malik in many matters, and so on.

Almost everyone who took knowledge was differed with by some of his students in a number of matters.

Al Shafiʿi became an imam among the major imams. He had his foundations and his juristic method. No one, no matter what strength of understanding and grasp he is given in knowledge and jurisprudence, can push the Shafiʿi madhhab in Egypt back to one imam or one madhhab. Even if some matters are close, al Shafiʿi had full independence and applied ijtihad in every small and large matter. Many books were written about him across the eras. This is enough of his biography here. (Nafh al Tib: 2/700)

ʿAbd Allah ibn Wahb

He is ʿAbd Allah ibn Wahb ibn Muslim al Fahri al Qurashi, their freedman, Abu Muhammad al Basri, one of the imams. He took from Malik and al Layth. Ahmad said: How authentic is his hadith. Ibn Maʿin said: trustworthy. Ibn Hibban said: He preserved for the people of Egypt and the Hijaz their hadith. He died in 197 AH.

Shabtun

He is Abu ʿAbd Allah Ziyad ibn ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Ziyad ibn Nashidah, titled “Shabtun.” He heard al Muwattaʾ from Malik. He has a known book of hearing from Malik in fatwas, known as the hearing of Ziyad.

He reported from al Layth ibn Saʿd, Sulayman ibn Bilal, Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah, Ibn Abi Hazim, ʿAmr ibn Qays, and others.

Yahya ibn Yahya reported al Muwattaʾ from him before his journey from al Andalus. Ziyad advised him to travel to Malik as long as he was alive, and he did.

Ziyad was the first to bring Malik’s al Muwattaʾ into al Andalus, confirmed by direct hearing from Malik. Then Yahya ibn Yahya came after him.

Yahya said: Ziyad was the first to bring the knowledge of the Sunnah, the matters of halal and haram, and the ways of jurisprudence and rulings.

Al Shirazi said: The people of Madinah used to call Ziyad “the jurist of al Andalus.”

Shabtun, meaning Ziyad, had two journeys. One of them was when Muʿawiyah ibn Salih, the judge, met him. Ziyad was a worshipper with waraʿ.

The amir Hisham tried to make him a judge. He refused and fled with his own self. Hisham said: “I wish all the people were like Ziyad, so I would be spared from the people of desire for the universe.” Then he gave him safety, and he returned to Cordoba. Hisham also said: “I tested people and I did not see a man who hides more of zuhd than he shows, except Ziyad.” He died in 203 AH, and it is said 204 AH, and it is said 199 AH.

ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Qasim al ʿUtayqi

He is Abu ʿAbd Allah ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Qasim ibn Khalid ibn Junadah, the freedman of Zubayd ibn al Harith al ʿUtayqi. His origin is from al Ramlah in Palestine. In Egypt he had a masjid known as Masjid al ʿUtayqi. He is linked to the slaves who came down from al Taʾif to the Prophet ﷺ, and he made them free. He reported from al Layth, Ibn al Majishun, al Darawardi, ʿUthman ibn al Hakam, and others. Malik mentioned Ibn al Qasim and said: “Allah grant him wellbeing. He is like a bag filled with musk.”

Al Daraqutni said: Ibn al Qasim, the companion of Malik, is from the major Egyptians and their jurists.

Malik was asked about Ibn al Qasim and Ibn Wahb. He said: “Ibn Wahb is a scholar, and Ibn al Qasim is a jurist.”

Ibn Maʿin said: he is trustworthy. Al Nasaʾi said: Ibn al Qasim is trustworthy, a righteous man. “Subhan Allah, how good and how authentic is his hadith from Malik.” Abu Ishaq al Shirazi said: He combined jurisprudence and waraʿ.

Ibn al Harith said: He is the most juristic of the people in Malik’s madhhab. He said: We heard our teachers prefer Ibn al Qasim over all Malik’s companions in knowledge of transactions. Ibn ʿAbd al Barr said about him: He was a jurist whose opinion was strong. He had opinions by which he differed with Malik, his teacher.

Ahmad ibn Khalid said: Ibn al Qasim only had al Muwattaʾ, yet he did not read well. One day the reader was absent and Ibn al Qasim needed to read. He did not complete one page until his face became red, and he could not do anything. He said: “Find someone to read for you,” and he threw the book.

He accompanied Malik for twenty years, yet he did not go out to him until he had heard from the Egyptians. He said: “I did not go out to Malik until I already knew his views.” Abu Zurʿah said: an Egyptian, trustworthy, a righteous man. He had about three hundred volumes from Malik, issues that Asad ibn al Furat asked him.

Ibn al Qasim was a striking example in waraʿ and zuhd, as al Harith ibn Miskin said. He died in 191 AH.

Ashhab ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz al Qaysi

Abu ʿAmr Ashhab ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Dawud ibn Ibrahim, the Egyptian jurist. He reported from Malik, al Layth, Fudayl ibn ʿIyad, Ibn ʿUyaynah, and others. Ibn ʿAbd al Barr said: He was a jurist with good opinion and strong thought. Ibn ʿAbd al Hakam preferred him over Ibn al Qasim in opinion.

He, may Allah pardon him, used to attack Imam al Shafiʿi with strong attack, and he used to supplicate against him in his prayer.

Al Rabiʿ ibn Sulayman said: I saw Ashhab saying in his sujud: “O Allah, cause al Shafiʿi to die, or Malik’s knowledge will be lost.” That reached al Shafiʿi, and he smiled and recited:

“Men wished that I would die, and if I die, that is a way, and I am not alone in it.
So say to the one who seeks other than what passed: prepare for another like it.
They knew that if knowledge benefited them, then the one who supplicates against me will not remain forever.”

The strange thing is that Ashhab died in the year al Shafiʿi died, the year 204 AH.

Al Muzani, the companion of al Shafiʿi, was asked: Who is the most juristic of Malik’s companions? He said: Ashhab ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz is more juristic of the two men.

Al Shafiʿi said about him: Egypt did not produce anyone like Ashhab, if not for impulsiveness in him.

Ashhab authored a book called al Mudawwanah, other than the Mudawwanah of Sahnun. Al Qadi ʿIyad said about it: A great, large book, abundant in knowledge.

Ibn al Harith said: When al Asadiyyah was completed, Ashhab took it and established it for himself and argued for some of it, and it became a noble book. When Ibn al Qasim heard that, he mentioned that he found a complete book and built upon it, so Ashhab sent to him: “You only drew from one spring, and I drew from many springs.” Ibn al Qasim answered: “Your springs are muddy, and my spring is clear.”

Asad ibn al Furat

Asad ibn al Furat ibn Sinan, his origin is from Khurasan. His father moved with him to Tunis while his mother was pregnant with him. He grew up in Tunis and memorised the Qur’an. Then he remained with ʿAli ibn Ziyad in Tunis and studied jurisprudence with him. Then he travelled to Malik and gathered his al Muwattaʾ and other than it. Then he went to Iraq and met Abu Yusuf and Muhammad ibn al Hasan. Abu Yusuf took al Muwattaʾ of Malik from him.

He read what Muhammad ibn al Hasan gathered, and Muhammad ibn al Hasan asked Asad to accompany him to Hajj. On the road and in the rites he asked him many questions until he saw the madhhab. While he was in Iraq it was said: Malik died, and the people were shaken by his death. He understood that Malik had great standing even with those who differed with his madhhab. Asad regretted. This pushed him to return to Egypt.

He came to Ibn Wahb and said to him: These are the books of Abu Hanifah. Answer them upon Malik’s madhhab. Ibn Wahb held back and refused. He went to Ibn al Qasim and he agreed to what he asked. Ibn al Qasim answered him with what he had memorised from Malik, with Malik’s view. In what he doubted, he would say: “I think,” and “I assume,” and “I guess,” and similar. Those books were called al Asadiyyah. When Asad wanted to leave to Ifriqiyah he gave Ibn al Qasim his hearing from Malik.

Sahnun said to Ibn al Qasim: I want to hear the books of Asad from you. He sought Allah’s guidance and heard them to him. He dropped from them what he doubted as Malik’s view. He answered in it with his own view.

He wrote to Asad: Compare your books to the books of Sahnun, because I went back from matters I reported to you from me. Asad became angry and said: Tell Ibn al Qasim: I made you Ibn al Qasim. Return to what we agreed upon. Ibn al Qasim heard that he intended to correct them, and some of the companions stopped him. Ibn al Qasim said: “O Allah, do not place blessing in al Asadiyyah.” Al Shirazi said: It is rejected until today.

ʿAbd al Rahim, the ascetic, said: I said to Asad when he came to us with the books of the people of Madinah and the people of Iraq: Which of the two views do you command me to follow and to hear from you? He said: “If you want Allah and the Hereafter, then take the view of Malik. If you want the universe, then take the view of the people of Iraq.”

His life is very full. He died in 181 AH.

ʿAbd al Malik ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn ʿAbd Allah al Taymi, Abu Marwan al Madani, Ibn al Majishun

ʿAbd al Malik ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn ʿAbd Allah al Taymi, Abu Marwan al Madani, Ibn al Majishun. His father ʿAbd al ʿAziz was from Malik’s peers, and he compiled a Muwattaʾ before Malik compiled a Muwattaʾ. His son, ʿAbd al Malik, reported from his father, Ibrahim ibn Saʿd, and Malik. Ibn ʿAbd al Barr said: “He was a jurist and eloquent.

Fatwa turned around him, and around his father before him. He was very keen on listening to singing.” Ibn Hibban included him in “al Thiqat”. Abu Dawud said: “He does not understand hadith.” Sahnun praised him and said: “I was about to travel to him and present the books to him. Whatever he approved, I would approve, and whatever he rejected, I would reject.”

Ibn Habib, the author of “al Wadihah”, also praised him, took much from him, and raised him in understanding above most of Malik’s companions. He died in 212 AH.

ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al Hakam

Abu Muhammad ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al Hakam ibn Aʿyan ibn al Layth, the freedman of ʿUmayrah, a woman from the freedwomen of ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan. He heard from Malik, al Layth, Bakr ibn Mudar, ʿAbd al Razzaq, al Qaʿnabi, Ibn Lahiʿah, Ibn ʿUyaynah, and others. Al Kindi said: “He was a jurist.” Abu Zurʿah al Razi said: “He is truthful and trustworthy.” Muhammad ibn Muslim said: “I wrote from him, and he is a shaykh in Egypt.” Ahmad ibn ʿAbd Allah al Kufi said: “Sensible, forbearing, trustworthy. I wrote from him.”

Al Shirazi, the Shafiʿi, said: Leadership in Egypt ended with him after Ashhab. He was the most knowledgeable of Malik’s companions in Malik’s differing views.

He reported much from Ibn Wahb, Ibn al Qasim, and Ashhab. He wrote a book in which he abridged what he heard, then he abridged from it a small book. Upon these two books, along with others, the Malikis of Baghdad relied for study.

Ibn ʿAbd al Barr said: ʿAbd Allah was a friend of al Shafiʿi, and al Shafiʿi stayed with him when he came from Baghdad. He honoured him greatly and reached the limit in kindness to him, and al Shafiʿi died with him. ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al Hakam reported from al Shafiʿi and wrote his books with his own hand, and he attached his two sons, and joined his son Muhammad to him.

I say: This is a clear way of madhhab tolerance, which only sincere, sensible ulama can manage. People gave great care to his abridgements, the kind of care they did not give to any book of the madhhab after al Muwattaʾ and al Mudawwanah. He had an ordeal with Yahya ibn Maʿin, mentioned in “al Tartib”. ʿAbd Allah fell ill and died in 214 AH.

ʿUthman ibn al Hakam

ʿUthman ibn al Hakam al Judhami al Misri, from Banu Nadarah. He reported from Yahya ibn Saʿid al Ansari, Musa ibn ʿUqbah, ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Ziyad, Yunus ibn Yazid al Ayli, and others. Abu Zurʿarah al Layth ibn ʿAsim, Hubays ibn Saʿid al Khawlani, Ishaq ibn al Furat, and others reported from him.

Abu Hatim said: “A shaykh who is not strong.” Ahmad ibn Salih al Misri declared him trustworthy. Ibn Wahb said: “The first to bring Malik’s issues to Egypt was ʿUthman ibn al Hakam, and ʿAbd al Rahim ibn Khalid ibn Yazid.” He was a jurist, devoted in religion. He was offered the judgeship in Egypt, and he did not accept. He died in 163 AH.

Asbagh ibn al Faraj

His kunyah was Abu ʿAbd Allah. He reported from al Darawardi, Ibn Samʿan, Yahya ibn Salam, ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam, and others. He travelled to Madinah to hear from Malik, entered it on the day Malik died, and accompanied Ibn al Qasim, Ashhab, and Ibn Wahb. He reported from al Dhuhali and al Bukhari, and he included hadith from him.

He was a jurist in understanding, with good qiyas. Abu Hatim al Razi said: “He is the highest of Ibn Wahb’s companions, truthful.” Ibn Maʿin said: “Trustworthy.” Ibn al Mawwaz, the author of “al Mawwaziʿah”, and Ibn Habib studied jurisprudence through him. He died in 225 AH.

Sahnun

He was Abu Saʿid Sahnun, and his name was ʿAbd al Salam, son of Saʿid, son of Habib, al Tanukhi. He was an Arab, strong in character, from the Maghrib. His origin was from Hims in al Sham. His father Saʿid came in the army of Hims. He was named Sahnun after a bird, sharp in mind because of his sharpness in issues, as it was said. In “Hayat al Hayawan” by al Damiri it says: it is a bird in the Maghrib.

Sahnun said: “I was with Ibn al Qasim, and Malik’s answers would come to him.” It was said to him: “What stopped you from hearing from him?”

He said: “Lack of dirhams.” Another time he said: “May Allah ruin poverty. If it were not for it, I would have reached Malik.” It appears, based on what his son said, that he intended Egypt in 178 AH, while Malik was alive, and it was not made possible for him to hear from Malik. Yet he heard from Ibn al Qasim, Ibn Wahb, Ashhab, Tulayb ibn Kamil, ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al Hakam, Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah, Abu Dawud al Tayalisi, and others. Then he returned to the Maghrib in 191 AH.

In it, Ibn al Qasim died. Leadership in knowledge ended with Sahnun, and his view became relied upon. He compiled “al Mudawwanah”.

He had companions and students, more than any of Malik’s companions. He was trustworthy, with waraʿ, truthful, firm upon the truth, detached from the universe. Abu Bakr al Maliki said: Along with a gentle heart, he had many tears, clear khushuʿ, humble, little affectation, and severe against the people of bidʿah.

Ashhab was asked: “Who came to you from the Maghrib?” He said: “Sahnun.” It was said: “So Asad?” He said: “Sahnun, by Allah, is more juristic than him by ninety nine times.”

He took the judgeship, after harshness was used with him, while he used to refuse, in 234 AH, and he was about seventy four years old. He remained in that position until he died in 240 AH. In his judgeship, he did not take a salary for himself, nor a gift from the ruler, in all of his judgeship.

ʿAbd al Malik ibn Habib

He was ʿAbd al Malik ibn Habib ibn Sulayman ibn Harun ibn ʿAbbas ibn Mirdas al Sulami al Andalusi, Abu Marwan. He travelled east in 208 AH and took from Malik’s companions, including Ibn al Majishun, ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al Hakam, Mutarrif, Ibrahim ibn al Mundhir, ʿAbd Allah ibn al Mubarak, and others. He returned to al Andalus in 210 AH with great knowledge.

He memorised Malik’s jurisprudence, and he had no knowledge of hadith. Ibn ʿAbd al Barr said: He gathered knowledge, had many books, had a long tongue, was a jurist in understanding, a grammarian, a poet in meter, and a poet. He died in 291 AH.

Al ʿUtbi

He was Abu al Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn ʿUtbah. His lineage ends at Abu Sufyan Sakhr ibn Harb. The more correct view is that he was a freedman of the family of ʿUtbah ibn Abi Sufyan.

He heard from Yahya ibn Yahya and Saʿid ibn Hassan, and he travelled and heard from Sahnun and Asbagh. He memorised issues and gathered them, knew the new cases well. Ibn Lubabah used to say: “No one here used to speak with al ʿUtbi in jurisprudence, and no one after him understood as he understood, except one who learned with him.”

Ibn ʿAbd al Barr said: He had great standing, honoured among the general people in his time.

He was the one who gathered “al Mustakhrajah”. He would include in it many discarded reports and rare issues. Rare issues would be brought to him. If he liked them, he would say: “Put them into al Mustakhrajah.” Ibn Waddah said: In al Mustakhrajah there is much error.

Aslam ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz said: Muhammad ibn al Hakam said to me: I brought well written books called al Mustakhrajah, meaning al ʿUtbiyyah, from the work of your companion al ʿUtbi, and I saw that most of it is made up, and issues with no foundations. Al ʿUtbi died in 254 AH.

Ibrahim ibn Abi Salamah, the last to report from Malik

Ibn Hazm said in “Jamhiratuhu”: Ibrahim ibn Abi Salamah was from the jurists of Makkah, the last who remained narrating from Malik ibn Anas. His father Abu Salamah was the son of ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAfif ibn Nubayh ibn al Hajjaj ibn ʿAmir ibn Hudhayfah ibn Sahm. (Reference for his companions: Tartib al Madarik, al Dibaj al Madhhab, Tahdhib al Tahdhib, Taqrib al Tahdhib, and Jamhirat al Ansab by Ibn Hazm)

Malik’s advice to the student of knowledge

The student of knowledge, with Malik and with all the Salaf, should have the traits of one who carries the inheritance of Prophethood, and the inheritance of the Companions and the Followers. Because of this, his conduct should be upon fear of Allah and calmness, with good bearing, good character, and obedience to his Lord in commands and prohibitions, as an example for people.

Malik said: “It is a right upon the one who seeks knowledge that he should have dignity, calmness, and fear of Allah, and that he should follow the trace of those who came before him.”

Ibn Wahb said: “I heard Malik ibn Anas say: Jesus son of Mary, peace be upon them both, said: ‘A nation from the nation of Muhammad ﷺ will come as ulama, wise, as if they are prophets in jurisprudence.’”

Malik said: “I think they are the early part of this nation. It is a right upon the one who seeks knowledge that he should have dignity, calmness, and fear of Allah. Knowledge is good for the one who is given its good, and it is a share from Allah. Do not give people power over yourself. From a man’s happiness is that he is given success toward good, and from a man’s misery is that he keeps making mistakes. It is humiliation and disgrace for knowledge that a man speaks knowledge in front of one who does not obey him.” (Reference: al Hilyah 6/320 and 6/324)

The spread of Malik’s madhhab

The lands where the madhhab spread, in earlier times and later times

Malik’s madhhab spread widely in Ifriqiyah, from Egypt to the Maghrib, then al Andalus. The Maghrib, except Egypt, remained with no madhhab but the Maliki madhhab, with a little of Dawud al Zahiri in al Andalus. Al Qadi ʿIyad said:

Malik’s madhhab dominated the Hijaz, al Basrah, Egypt, and what follows it from the lands of Ifriqiyah, al Andalus, Sicily, and the far Maghrib, until the lands of those from the Sudan who entered Islam, up to our time. It appeared in Baghdad in a strong appearance, then it weakened there after four hundred years. It appeared in Naysabur, and in it and elsewhere there were imams and teachers.

There is no doubt that the Maliki madhhab dominated Madinah and what is around it. As for Makkah, it existed in it but did not dominate it, because Makkah continued in its jurisprudence upon the view of Ibn ʿAbbas. Even Madinah had the Maliki madhhab become quiet for a long time until Ibn Farhun took its judgeship and made it clear.

It appeared in al Basrah, then weakened after the fifth century.

As for Egypt, the madhhab appeared in it in Malik’s lifetime. Ibn Farhun said in “al Dibaj”: “The first to bring Malik’s knowledge into Egypt was ʿUthman ibn al Hakam al Judhami,” and his biography has passed, and al Hafiz Ibn Hajar نقل from Ibn Wahb: “The first to bring Malik’s issues to Egypt were ʿUthman ibn al Hakam and ʿAbd al Rahim ibn Khalid ibn Yazid.”

Egypt had many great ulama of the madhhab, such as Ibn al Qasim, Ashhab, Ibn Wahb, Asbagh, ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al Hakam, and others. Through these ulama, the madhhab became the dominant one in Egyptian lands. There were some Hanafis there.

When al Shafiʿi came in 200 AH and made Egypt his home for about five years, he overcame Malik’s madhhab, to the point that Ashhab said: “O Allah, cause al Shafiʿi to die or Malik’s knowledge will be lost.” Yet the madhhab remained firm. The madhhab of al Shafiʿi also became strong, until it became, as al Maqrizi said: The madhhab of Malik and the madhhab of al Shafiʿi continued to be acted upon by the people of Egypt. Judgeship was taken by those who followed them, or the madhhab of Abu Hanifah, until the commander Jawhar came and the madhhab of the Fatimid Shiʿah arose and was used in judgeship and fatwa.

Then it revived in the Ayyubid state, and schools were built for its jurists. Then it was used in judgeship independently when al Zahir Baybars, in the Turkic Bahri state, established the four judges, and its judge came after the Shafiʿi. Judgeship in the Ayyubid state was for the Shafiʿis, and their judge had deputies from the three madhhahib. It remained widespread in Egypt until now, alongside the Shafiʿi, with more spread in Upper Egypt.

The people of Ifriqiyah, meaning its northern part, were mostly upon the Sunnah, then the Hanafi dominated.

When al Muʿizz ibn Badis took rule in 407 AH, he carried its people and what follows it from the lands of the Maghrib upon the Maliki madhhab, and he cut the root of madhhab disagreement, so it continued to dominate it and all the lands of the Maghrib. In that, Malik ibn al Marhal said, in meaning: “My madhhab is kissing a cheek. What is the madhhab of my master? Do not oppose Malik in his view, for upon it are most of the people of the Maghrib.”

The people of al Andalus were mostly upon the madhhab of al Awzaʿi, as in al Sham. The first to bring it there was Saʿsaʿah ibn Salam when he moved there. It remained there until the time of the amir Hisham ibn ʿAbd al Rahman, then the madhhab of al Awzaʿi stopped there after the two hundreds, and the Maliki dominated.

In “Nayl al Ibtihaj”: The people of al Andalus stayed upon the madhhab of al Awzaʿi until the first group came to them of those who met Imam Malik, such as Ziyad ibn ʿAbd al Rahman Shabtun, al Ghazi ibn Qays, Qarʿus, and the like. They spread his madhhab, and the amir Hisham took the people upon it, so they held to it, and he carried them upon it by the sword.

It appears that Shabtun was the first to bring the madhhab into al Andalus, as in “Nafh al Tib” and “al Muntazam”.

When ʿAli ibn Yusuf ibn Tashfin took rule, he strongly preferred the people of jurisprudence and religion. He would not decide any matter in his whole kingdom without consulting jurists.

He obliged judges that they should not take a ruling in small matters or large matters except with the presence of four jurists. So the standing of jurists became great. No one would draw close to him and hold standing with him except one who knew Malik’s madhhab.

The books of the madhhab became active in his time, they were acted upon, and other than them was left. This increased until the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ were forgotten, and no one gave them full care.

In this way, the madhhab spread by Hisham ibn ʿAbd al Rahman carrying people upon it by the sword, as mentioned, and Ibn Tashfin carried people upon it by drawing close those who memorised the branches of the Maliki madhhab. It spread through that until Ibn Hazm said: “Two madhhahib spread at the beginning of their affair by leadership and ruler power: the Hanafi in the East and the Maliki in al Andalus.”

In “Nafh al Tib”: It was said that Imam Malik was asked by an Andalusi about the conduct of the king of al Andalus, and he described his conduct to him, so Malik was pleased with it, because the conduct of Banu al ʿAbbas at that time was not pleasing, and he suffered from what Abu Jaʿfar al Mansur did to the Alids in Madinah, of imprisonment and humiliation, and other than that, as is well known in the books of history.

So Imam Malik said to that informer, in meaning: “Allah is asked to adorn our sanctuary with your king.” The issue was carried to the king of al Andalus, with what was known of Malik’s standing and religion, so he carried the people upon his madhhab and left the madhhab of al Awzaʿi.

Then the Almohads took control in the far Maghrib in the early sixth century. Their caliph ʿAbd al Muʾmin ibn ʿAli followed this way, so he gathered the people of the Maghrib upon Malik’s madhhab in branches, and the creed of Abu al Hasan al Ashʿari in foundations.

His hidden aim, and that of his son Yusuf, was to erase the Maliki madhhab and carry people to act upon the apparent meaning of the Qur’an and hadith, but they did not manage that.

When his grandson Yaʿqub ibn Yusuf ibn ʿAbd al Muʾmin took rule, he showed the madhhab of the Zahiris and turned away from Malik’s madhhab. The Zahiris then became strong in his days. In the Maghrib there were many of them called the Hazmiyyah, linked to Ibn Hazm, their leader, yet they were covered by the Malikis, so they appeared and spread in Yaʿqub’s days. Then at the end of his days he appointed Shafiʿis as judges in some lands and leaned toward them.

After that, the Maliki madhhab came out strong. If it disappears and returns in some lands, in the Maghrib it remains the first.

In “al Kamil” by Ibn al Athir: al Muʿizz was the first to carry the people of Ifriqiyah upon Malik’s madhhab. (Sources: al Maqrizi 334; “Nazrah Tarikhiyyah” by Ahmad Taymur, quoting Ibn al Athir and Ibn Khallikan; “Mawasimm al Adab”; “Manaqib al Shafiʿi” by al Bayhaqi 2/73–74; al Kamil by Ibn al Athir 9/257; al Muntazam 6/294; “Tazyin al Mamalik” 37; “Nafh al Tib” 3/220)

Those who differed with Malik from his companions

Some of Malik’s companions differed with Malik in issues, among them al Qadi Muhammad ibn Bashir al Muʿafari. He left judging with one witness plus the oath. This is one of the four issues in which the people of al Andalus in earlier times differed from Malik’s madhhab.

They did not judge with mixing, nor with one witness plus an oath. They permitted renting land for a share of what comes out of it, which is the madhhab of al Layth. They permitted planting trees in masjids, which is the madhhab of al Awzaʿi. There are also those who did madhhab based ijtihad from Malik’s companions and differed with Malik in established issues within the books of the madhhab. (Reference: “Tarikh Qudat al Andalus” 51. One witness plus an oath is the madhhab of Malik, al Shafiʿi, and Ahmad)

Malik honours his companions and treats them well

ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al Hakam said: Malik prepared a meal for the students, and I was among them, so we went to his house. When we entered, he said: “This is the restroom, and this is the water.” Then we entered the room, and he did not enter with us. He entered after that. Food was brought to us, and water was not brought before it to wash our hands, then it was brought after.

When the people left, I asked him. He said: “As for telling you about the restroom and the water, I only invited you to treat you well, and perhaps one of you is struck by urine or other than that, and he does not know where to go. As for leaving entering the room with you, perhaps I would say: ‘Here is Abu so and so, and here is Abu so and so,’ and some of you may take it badly and think I left him out of dislike, so I left you until you took your places, then I entered.

As for leaving water before food, then washing hands before it is from the Sunnah of non Arabs. As for after it, a hadith came about that.” (Sources: al Dibaj 20–23; al Tartib 1/118)

I say: May Allah have mercy on Malik. He applied ijtihad even in less than this. Not everything non Arabs do is blameworthy. Washing hands before food is stronger in cleanliness than washing after, yet here he followed what he saw as the Sunnah. Cleanliness is from the religion, whatever it may be.

Malik was criticised for preferring his companions, so he said: “My companions are the neighbours of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”

Malik’s creed

Introduction

Malik’s creed is the creed of Ahl al Sunnah. He took it from the Book of Allah Most High, from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and from what the Salaf of the Ummah were upon, from the Companions and the Followers. He used to say: “Whoever seeks the religion through theological argument becomes a heretic. Whoever seeks wealth through alchemy becomes bankrupt.

Whoever seeks rare hadith vocabulary lies.” He knew much of what the people of desires were upon. He was from the most knowledgeable of people about their disagreements, without anything of their speech entering him. Rather, he was from the strongest against them.

He was from the great ones who protected the religion of the Ummah, fought whoever tried to bring into the religion what Allah did not command, spread among people the sound creed that is Allah’s straight path, and warned them from the ways of deviation and desires.

Faith increases and decreases

This is what most imams are upon: Malik, al Shafiʿi, Ahmad, and others from the imams. Abu Hanifah differed.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Nafiʿ said: Malik used to say about that: “Faith is speech and action. It increases and decreases.”

ʿAbd al Razzaq ibn Hammam said: “I heard Ibn Jurayj, Sufyan al Thawri, Maʿmar ibn Rashid, Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah, and Malik ibn Anas saying: ‘Faith is speech and action. It increases and decreases.’”

Many نقل Malik saying: “Faith is speech and action. It increases and decreases, and some of it is better than some.”

Abu al Qasim said: Malik used to say: “Faith increases,” and he paused from saying “it decreases.” He said: Allah mentioned its increase in more than one place, so leave speech about its decrease and stop there.

I say: Every increase is met by decrease, necessarily. Whoever’s faith increases above another, then the other, compared to him, has reduced faith. Yet Malik was careful here, so he did not say “decreases” here, though he said it elsewhere, as passed.

A Qur’an verse was used as proof:

ليزدادوا إيماناً مع إيمانهم

“So that they may increase in faith along with their faith.” (al Fath 4)

Ibrahim, peace be upon him, was also mentioned:

رب أرني كيف تحيي الموتى

“My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead.” (al Baqarah 260)

I say: This is linked to His saying:

أو لم تؤمن قال بلى ولكن ليطمئن قلبي

“He said: ‘Yes, but so that my heart may be at peace.’” (al Baqarah 260)

So the calmness of the heart with faith is higher and more complete in faith.

The Qadariyyah

The Qadariyyah are the Muʿtazilah, the Jahmiyyah, and a few besides them. They were called Qadariyyah because they do not affirm decree as others understand it.

They say that ability is before the action. Allah created creation and placed within it an ability, each according to its measure. A person strives, works, believes, or disbelieves, all of that by an ability created in him, by which he does what he wishes. A knife cuts by an ability within it, and so on.

Many from Ahl al Sunnah say: Allah creates ability when it should be. He creates the cutting by the knife when it touches what is cut.

The summary of what the Ashʿaris are upon is what al ʿAdud said: the voluntary actions of servants occur by Allah’s power alone. The Muʿtazilah said: by the servant’s power alone.

A group said: by both powers. Al Ustadh, meaning al Isfaraʾini, said: the two powers together, both relating to the act. Al Qadi said: Allah’s power relates to the root of the act, and the servant’s power relates to it being obedience or disobedience, like striking an orphan as discipline or harm.

Philosophers and Imam al Haramayn said: Allah creates ability in the servant. This is not far from the Muʿtazilah’s view. Al ʿAdud rejected all of these and supported the view of Ahl al Sunnah.

Al Karabisi said: “I heard Malik being asked about the Qadariyyah, who are they?” He said: “Whoever says: ‘He did not create disobedience.’”

Al Qasim ibn al Hakam said: “I asked Malik about the Qadariyyah, who are they?” He said: “I asked Abu Suhayl as you asked me, and he said: ‘They are those who say that ability belongs to them, if they wish they obey, and if they wish they disobey.’”

Malik said: ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz used to say: “If Allah had wanted that He not be disobeyed, He would not have created Iblis,” and he said: “He is the head of sins.”

Malik said: “How clear this verse is against the people of qadar, and how strong it is against them”:

ولو شئنا لآتينا كل نفس هداها ولكن حق القول مني لأملأن جهنم من الجنة والناس أجمعين

“If We had willed, We would have given every soul its guidance, but the word from Me has become true: ‘I will surely fill Hell with jinn and people all together.’” (al Sajdah 13)

I say: There is no doubt that Allah created everything. From His creation are good and evil, obedience and disobedience. He created for a person a will and an intellect by which he chooses what he wishes and leaves what he wishes. Allah and His Messenger ﷺ commanded commands in which there is benefit for a person and his society, and forbade matters in which there is harm for him and his society.

If he chooses good and obedience, he is saved. If he chooses evil and disobedience, he is ruined and held to account, and he is not wronged at all.

Malik attacked the Qadariyyah and gave them harsh rulings that make people avoid them. He was asked about them and said: “The Qadariyyah are an evil people. Do not sit with them. Do not pray behind them. If they accompany you in travel, expel them.”

Ibn ʿAbd al Jabbar said: “I heard Malik ibn Anas say: My view about them is that they are asked to repent. If they repent, otherwise they are killed,” meaning the Qadariyyah.

Malik ibn Anas was asked about marrying a Qadari, so he recited:

ولعبد مؤمن خير من مشرك ولو أعجبكم

“A believing slave is better than a polytheist, even if he pleases you.” (al Baqarah 221)

Malik said: “I did not see anyone from the people of qadar except people of foolishness, impulsiveness, and lightness.”

I say: Malik has much attack against the Qadariyyah in particular, and the people of desires in general. There is no doubt that in some of his harshness and charging them with disbelief there is excess. Whatever their affair is, they are Muslims, not polytheists.

Their belief in Allah and denial of a partner is from the highest beliefs. No one is free from error, and protection from error is for prophets.

Malik’s view about the Qur’an being Allah’s speech

Ahl al Sunnah, from the early and later ulama, said: Allah’s speech is eternal, because it is an attribute from His attributes, and His attributes are eternal, like His Essence.

The Muʿtazilah said: the Qur’an is created, because they deny attributes, and the Qur’an is from the attributes. They have many proofs, and this is not the place to mention them.

The Companions and the major Followers did not enter into this, because they did not find in the Book of Allah, nor the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, something like this.

So speech about that is bidʿah. When some of the Muʿtazilah began to speak about the Book of Allah without knowledge, the major imams of Ahl al Sunnah rose to fight this bidʿah with what strength Allah gave them, and among them was Imam Malik.

He used to say: “The Qur’an is Allah’s speech.” He used to say: “Whoever says the Qur’an is created is struck with painful beating and imprisoned until he dies.”

Ibn Abi Uways said: Malik said: “The Qur’an is Allah’s speech, and Allah’s speech is from Allah, and there is nothing from Allah that is created.”

Malik, like the ulama of the Salaf, would strongly reject these views, out of fear of playing with the Book of Allah. The Book of Allah is Islam, faith, and rulings.

ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Mahdi said: I entered upon Malik, and with him was a man asking about the Qur’an. Malik said: “Perhaps you are from the companions of ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd.”

He said: “May Allah curse ʿAmr. He invented these bidʿahs of theological argument. If theological argument were knowledge, the Companions and the Followers would have spoken in it, as they spoke in rulings and laws. Rather it is falsehood that points to falsehood.”

I say: If it is authentic that Malik cursed ʿAmr, then cursing is not permitted in Islam, especially since ʿAmr ibn ʿUbayd was an ascetic, devoted, pure. He was a mujtahid who made an interpretation and made a mistake.

The unclear matters with Malik

The unclear matters are those with no way to fully reach them, so seeking their exact meaning falls away. The ruling is to stop in them in the universe, while believing that what Allah meant by them is true, without specifying how. This is the madhhab of most of the Companions and Followers, and most early Ahl al Sunnah.

Most later ulama went to the view that the deeply grounded scholar knows the explanation of the unclear matters.

The madhhab of the Salaf is that Allah kept the knowledge of the unclear matters to Himself, and the deeply grounded have no share in knowing them. Their share is to leave them and hand them to Allah’s knowledge.

Allah Most High said:

هو الذي أنزل عليك الكتاب منه آيات محكمات من أم الكتاب وأخر متشابهات فأما الذين في قلوبهم زيغ فيتبعون ما تشابه منه ابتغاء الفتنة وابتغاء تأويله وما يعلم تأويله إلا الله والراسخون في العلم يقولون آمنا به كل من عند ربنا وما يذكر إلا أولو الألباب

“He is the One who sent down to you the Book. In it are clear verses, they are the foundation of the Book, and others are unclear. As for those in whose hearts is deviation, they follow what is unclear from it, seeking trial and seeking its explanation.

None knows its explanation except Allah. Those firmly grounded in knowledge say: ‘We believe in it. All of it is from our Lord.’ None takes heed except people of understanding.” (Al ʿImran 7)

The Salaf stop in the verse at “except Allah”. The later ulama stop at “those firmly grounded in knowledge”, meaning they connect them to the Name of Allah. This is far, because connecting would mean shared knowledge, and that does not fit.

The clear stop is at “except Allah”, then beginning with “those firmly grounded”.

Malik is from the Salaf. They pass what is unclear as it came, without explaining how, and none knows its true explanation except Allah.

Sahnun said: Some companions of Malik informed that they were sitting with him, and a man came and said: “Abu ʿAbd Allah, a question.” Malik was silent. The man repeated it. Malik raised his head as if to answer, and the man said: “The Most Merciful rose over the Throne, how is His rising?”

Malik lowered his head for a while, then raised it and said: “You asked about something not unknown, and you spoke about something not grasped, and I see you are only an evil man. Take him out.”

Al Walid ibn Muslim said: I asked Malik ibn Anas, Sufyan al Thawri, and al Layth ibn Saʿd about the reports that came about the attributes. They said: “Let them pass as they came, without asking how.”

Malik used to repeat the poet’s line in meaning: “The best matters of religion are what are Sunnah, and the worst matters are the newly introduced innovations.”

Another man asked him about rising and said: “Abu ʿAbd Allah, ‘The Most Merciful rose over the Throne’, how did He rise?” Malik became very disturbed by the question. He looked to the ground and began to scratch with a stick in his hand until sweat rose on him. Then he raised his head, threw the stick, and said: “The how is not grasped.

Rising is not unknown. Belief in it is required. Asking about it is bidʿah. I think you are a person of bidʿah.” He ordered that he be taken out.

Seeing Allah in the Hereafter

The Muʿtazilah believed that Allah is not seen in the Hereafter. They used as proof:

لا تدركه الأبصار وهو يدرك الأبصار

“Vision does not reach Him, and He reaches vision.” (al Anʿam 103)

Al Zamakhshari said that Musa, peace be upon him, will never see his Lord, in the universe or the Hereafter, and he said that “lan” is for permanence. This was not accepted from him.

Ahl al Sunnah, from the Companions and Followers and those after them, say: Allah is seen in the Hereafter. The believers who deserve the Gardens of Bliss will see Him, and the seeing is with eyesight.

Ibn Nafiʿ and Ashhab said: “Abu ʿAbd Allah, ‘Faces that day will be radiant, looking toward their Lord’, do they look at Allah?” He said: “Yes, with these two eyes.”

I said: “A people say: He is not looked at, and ‘looking’ means waiting for reward.” Malik said: “They lied. Rather Allah is looked at. Did you not hear Musa, peace be upon him, saying: ‘My Lord, show me so that I may look at You’? Did Musa ask his Lord for something impossible?”

Allah said: “You will not see Me,” meaning in the universe, because it is a land of passing, and what remains is not seen by what passes. When they reach the land of remaining, they will see by what remains what remains.

Allah said:

كلا إنهم عن ربهم يومئذ لمحجوبون

“No, they will be screened from their Lord that day.” (al Mutaffifin 15)

Malik’s view about the Murjiʾah

The slogan of the Murjiʾah is: “A sin does not harm with faith, just as an act of obedience does not benefit with disbelief.” So faith, to them, is something other than action.

Malik replied: The people prayed toward Bayt al Maqdis for sixteen months, then they were commanded toward the Sacred House, so Allah said:

وما كان الله ليضيع إيمانكم

“Allah would not let your faith be lost.” (al Baqarah 143)

Meaning: your prayer.

Malik said: “I remember with this verse the statement of the Murjiʾah: ‘Prayer is not from faith.’”

Ibn Wahb said: I heard Malik say: “The Murjiʾah made a mistake and said a great statement. They said: If he burned the Kaʿbah or did everything, he is a Muslim.” It was said to Malik: “What is your view about them?” He said: Allah said:

فإن تابوا وأقاموا الصلاة وآتوا الزكاة فإخوانكم في الدين

“If they repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, then they are your brothers in religion.” (al Tawbah 11)

Maʿn said: Malik left one day to the masjid, leaning on my hand. A man called Abu al Juwayriyah, accused of irjaʾ, followed him and said: “Abu ʿAbd Allah, listen to something from me. I will teach you it, debate you, and tell you my view.” Malik said: “Beware that I testify against you.” He said: “I only want the truth. Listen. If it is correct, say it is correct, or speak.”

Malik said: “If you defeat me?” He said: “Follow me.” Malik said: “If I defeat you?” He said: “I follow you.” Malik said: “If a man comes and debates us and defeats us?”

He said: “We follow him.” Malik said: “Servant of Allah, Muhammad was sent with one religion, and I see you moving.” ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz said: “Whoever makes his religion a target for disputes increases in moving.”

Malik’s view about preferring some major Companions over others

Ahl al Sunnah prefer the major Companions among the Rightly Guided Caliphs in this order: Abu Bakr, then ʿUmar, then ʿUthman, then ʿAli, may Allah be pleased with them.

Imam Malik, and he is from the heads of Ahl al Sunnah, would stop in preference at Abu Bakr then ʿUmar, and sometimes he would add ʿUthman, then stop.

ʿAbd al ʿAziz ibn Abi Hazim said: “I asked Malik, privately, who is preferred after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?” He said: “I prefer Abu Bakr and ʿUmar,” and he did not add.

ʿAbd al Rahman ibn al Qasim reported from Malik: “I did not meet anyone from the people of knowledge except that he saw stopping between ʿUthman and ʿAli, and there is no doubt about Abu Bakr and ʿUmar that they are better than others.” Ibn Wahb added from him: “And upon this the people continued.”

In the report of Abu Musʿab: Malik was asked: “Who are the best people after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?” Malik said: “Abu Bakr.”

It was said: “Then who?”

He said: “ʿUmar.” It was said: “Then who?” He said: “ʿUthman.”

It was said: “Then who?” He said: “Here the people stopped. These are the best of the Companions.

He put Abu Bakr in charge of the prayer. Abu Bakr chose ʿUmar. ʿUmar put it to six, so they chose. The people stopped here. The one who sought the matter is not like the one who did not seek it.”

Al Rashid said to Malik: “We do not see in your book mention of ʿAli and Ibn ʿAbbas.”

Malik said, escaping the pressure: “They were not in my land, and I did not meet their men.” Yet in al Muwattaʾ there are hadith from them, and perhaps he meant he did not mention them much.

There is no doubt that Malik did not forget the virtue of ʿAli, may Allah be pleased with him, in his jihad, his knowledge, his good effort, and his standing with the Prophet ﷺ, and that he has virtue like the major Companions. Yet Malik looked at him from the side of the caliphate, and in his view he was seeking it, and he said: “The one who sought the matter is not like the one who did not seek it,” as passed.

Malik was, along with this, from the strongest people in dislike and condemnation of those who spoke against the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them. A man who spoke badly of the Companions was mentioned to him, so Malik recited:

محمد رسول الله والذين معه أشداء على الكفار رحماء بينهم تراهم ركعاً سجداً يبتغون فضلاً من الله ورضواناً سيماهم في وجوههم من أثر السجود ذلك مثلهم في التوراة ومثلهم في الإنجيل كزرع أخرج شطأه فآزره فاستغلظ فاستوى على سوقه يعجب الزراع ليغيظ بهم الكفار

“Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those with him are severe against the disbelievers, merciful among themselves. You see them bowing and prostrating, seeking bounty from Allah and His pleasure. Their mark is on their faces from the effect of prostration.

That is their example in the Torah, and their example in the Gospel is like a crop that brings forth its shoot, then strengthens it, then it becomes thick, then it stands straight on its stalks, pleasing the farmers, so that by them He may enrage the disbelievers.” (al Fath 29)

Malik said: “Whoever wakes up with anger in his heart against anyone from the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, then this verse has struck him.”

Malik said: “Whoever speaks badly of any of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, or has resentment in his heart, has no right in the fayʾ of the Muslims.” Then he recited:

والذين جاءوا من بعدهم يقولون ربنا اغفر لنا ولإخواننا الذين سبقونا بالإيمان ولا تجعل في قلوبنا غلاً

“And those who came after them say: ‘Our Lord, forgive us and our brothers who came before us in faith, and do not place in our hearts any resentment.’” (al Hashr 10)

So whoever speaks badly of them or has resentment in his heart has no right in fayʾ.

Malik said: “Staying in a land where action is upon other than the truth, and where the Salaf are insulted, is not fitting.”

Malik said about the one who insults a Companion: “Whoever insults any of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthman, Muʿawiyah, or ʿAmr ibn al ʿAs, and if he says they were upon misguidance, he is killed. If he insults them in the mockery of people’s insulting, he is punished with a strong punishment.”

It was narrated from Malik: “Whoever insults Abu Bakr is flogged, and whoever insults ʿAʾishah is killed.” It was said to him: “Why?” He said: “Whoever accuses her has opposed the Qur’an.”

Malik said: “A monk was in al Sham. When he saw the early Companions of the Prophet ﷺ who came to al Sham, he looked and said: ‘By the One in whose hand is my life, the disciples of Jesus son of Mary, peace be upon them both, who were crucified on wood and cut with saws, did not reach, in striving, what the Companions of Muhammad ﷺ reached.’” ʿAbd Allah ibn Wahb said: “Name them.” He named Abu ʿUbaydah, Muʿadh, Bilal, and Saʿd ibn ʿUbadah.

Malik’s attack against desires and innovations

Ibn Wahb said: “I heard Malik say: If a person of desires comes and says: ‘As for me, I am upon clear proof from my Lord, and as for you, you are doubting,’ then he should be told: ‘Go to one like yourself and argue with him.’” Then he recited:

قل هذه سبيلي أدعو إلى الله على بصيرة

“Say: This is my way. I call to Allah upon clear proof.” (Yusuf 108)

Malik said: “It reached me that ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz said: In the Book of Allah there is clear knowledge. Whoever knows it knows it, and whoever is ignorant of it is ignorant.” Allah says:

فإنكم وما تعبدون ما أنتم عليه بفاتنين إلا من هو صال الجحيم

“Indeed, you and what you worship, you will not tempt anyone away from it, except the one who is to burn in Hell.” (al Saffat 161–163)

Malik said: “The people of desires are an evil people. They are not greeted. Avoiding them is more beloved to me.”

Ashhab said: “I heard Malik say: Beware of innovations.” It was said: “Abu ʿAbd Allah, what are innovations?” He said: “The people of innovations who speak about Allah’s Names, His Attributes, His Speech, His Knowledge, and His Power, and they do not stay silent about what the Companions and the Followers stayed silent about.”

ʿAbd Allah ibn Nafiʿ said: “I heard Malik say: If a man committed all major sins, as long as he does not associate anything with Allah, then he leaves these desires and innovations, he enters Paradise.” I say: meaning after repentance.

Mutarrif said: I heard Malik, when a person of deviation and desires was mentioned to him, say: ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al ʿAziz said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ and those in authority after him set Sunnahs. Taking them is following the Book of Allah, completing obedience to Allah, and strength upon Allah’s religion.

No one after them has the right to change them, nor to look into something that opposes them. Whoever is guided by them is aided. Whoever takes victory through them is given victory. Whoever leaves them follows a path other than the path of the believers. Allah will hand him to what he chose, and will enter him into Hell, and it is an evil destination.”

Malik used to show joy when speaking these words.

Imam Ahmad used to say: “If a man is seen hating Malik, then know that he is a person of innovation,” meaning if he hates him because Malik was the head of the Sunnah in his time.

Ibn Mahdi said: “If a Hijazi is seen loving Malik ibn Anas, then know he is a person of Sunnah. If someone is seen attacking him, then know he is upon other than that.” (Sources of this discussion: al Tartib 1/170–177; al Hilyah 6/324–327 and 6/325; Manaqib al Zawawi 32, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41; Nafh al Tib 301; al Intiqaʾ 6, 7, 27, 33, 34, 35; Duha al Islam 3/14–15; al ʿIqd 2/226 and 2/235; “Malik” by Abu Zahrah 70–71; Sharh al Suyuti for al Muwattaʾ 14; Miftah al Saʿadah 2/86.)

Miscellaneous Matters

Malik’s Writings

Imam Malik was not known for any writing that became more famous than his book “al Muwatta”, and many people do not know of any other work by him. The reality is that he wrote works besides al Muwatta. Qadi Iyad mentioned some of them in Tartib, al Suyuti mentioned some of them in Tazyin, and al Dibaj mentioned some of them.

Among what appears in al Dibaj al Madhhab about his writings are the following. Among the most well known, besides al Muwatta, is his letter on al Qadar, and his refutation of the Qadariyyah, sent to Ibn Wahb, as Qadi Iyad said. Among them is his book on the stars, calculating the course of time and the stations of the moon. It is a very good book, and people relied on it for this subject, and took it as a foundation.

The Qadi said that Abu Muhammad Abd Allah ibn Masrur, the jurist al Furawi, relied on it in his writing on this subject. Sahnun said, “I heard it from Ibn Nafi, and he alone narrated it from Malik.”

Among them is his letter on judicial rulings, which he wrote to some judges in 10 parts. Among them is his letter on fatwa, well known, which he sent to Abu Ghassan Muhammad ibn Mutarrif. It was narrated by Khalid ibn Nizar and Muhammad ibn Mutarrif.

Among them is his well known letter to Harun al Rashid on manners and reminders. In al Andalus, Ibn Habib narrated it first, from his chain, from Malik. More than one person rejected it, including Asbagh ibn al Faraj and Khalaf, and they said, “It is not from Malik’s writing.”

Among them is his book explaining uncommon Qur’an words, narrated from him by Khalid ibn Abd al Rahman al Makhzumi. Among them is his letter to al Layth, which was already mentioned earlier.

Al Khatib Abu Bakr mentioned in his Tarikh al Kabir, from Abu al Abbas al Siraj al Naysaburi, that he said, “These are 70,000 issues of Malik,” and he pointed to arranged books that he had written.

A book called “al Siyar” has also been attributed to Malik, narrated by al Qasim from him. (al Dibaj 27, Tazyin al Mamalik 40–41, Tartib 204/1)

Malik’s Qur’an Recitation

Malik took the recitation by reading to Nafi ibn Abi Nuaym. Al Awzai and Yahya ibn Said al Qattan also took it from him.

Nafi also took hadith from Malik.

Here is part of his biography.

He is Nafi ibn Abd al Rahman ibn Abi Nuaym, Abu Ruwaym, and it is also said, Abu Nuaym al Laythi, their freedman. He is one of the 7 famous reciters, trustworthy and righteous. His origin is from Isfahan. He was very dark skinned, of good character, and had a sense of humour.

He took the recitation by reading to many, including Abd al Rahman ibn Hurmuz from Ibn Abbas and Abu Hurayrah, Abd al Rahman ibn al Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, Abu Jafar the reciter, and many others from the people of Madinah. Nafi said, “I read to 70 of the Tabiun.” Al Layth ibn Sad and others from Egypt took from him.

He also took from Utbah ibn Hammad al Shami, Abu Mas har al Dimashqi, al Walid ibn Muslim, Khuwaylid ibn Ma dan, and others from al Sham.

Malik’s recitation spread throughout the Maghrib and in al Andalus. The first to bring this recitation into al Andalus was al Ghazi ibn Qays from Qurtubah.

Ibn Mujahid said, “After the Tabiun in the City of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, the imam who led the recitation was Nafi.” He said, “He was knowledgeable in the ways of recitation, and he followed the traces of the imams who passed before him in his city.” Malik ibn Anas used to say, “The recitation of the people of Madinah is a Sunnah.” He was asked, “The recitation of Nafi?” He said, “Yes.”

Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal said, “I asked my father, ‘Which recitation is most beloved to you?’ He said, ‘The recitation of the people of Madinah.’ I said, ‘If not?’ He said, ‘The recitation of Asim.’” Nafi died in 169 AH.

Malik’s View of Some Who Claimed Tasawwuf

Al Musayb said, “We were with Malik and his companions around him. A man from Nasibin said, ‘O Abu Abd Allah, we have people who are called the Sufiyyah. They eat a lot, then they begin poems, then they stand and dance.’ Malik said, ‘Are they children?’ He said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Are they insane?’

He said, ‘No, they are shaykhs.’ Malik said, ‘I have not heard that anyone from the people of Islam does this.’ The man said, ‘Rather, they eat, then they stand and dance in turns, and some of them slap his head, and some of them slap his face.’ Malik laughed, then he stood and went into his house.”

Malik’s companions said to the man, “By Allah, you have caused hardship for our companion. We have sat with him for more than 30 years, and we did not see him laugh except today.” (Tartib al Madarik 180/1, Manaqib Malik by al Zawawi 47)

Malik’s View of Standing Up for People

Two matters were narrated from Malik: not standing for every person, and that he stood for some of his companions. Perhaps when he did not stand it was to avoid over honouring, and when he stood it was to show kindness. Some narrated that Malik was asked, “What do you say about a man standing up for a man of virtue and knowledge, and seating him in his place?” He said, “It is disliked, but there is no harm in making room for him.”

He was asked, “A woman meets her husband, and she goes far in honouring him, and removes his clothes and his sandals, until he sits.” He said, “That is good, except her standing until he sits. This is the action of tyrants.”

It was also narrated that he used to stand to receive his companions when they returned from travel. Ibn Rushd, as he narrated from al Juhani, said, “We were with Malik when a man came and told him that al Qanabi had arrived. He said, ‘When?’ When his arrival was near, he said, ‘Stand with us to go to the best of the people of the earth to greet him.’” Al Qanabi was one of the worshippers of Basrah in his time. He died in Makkah in 220 AH.

In Tarikh Qudat al Andalus, the matter of standing was discussed and divided into 4 types. Its summary is that standing for men has 4 types. One type is prohibited, one is disliked, one is permissible, and one is good. As for the first, which is prohibited, it is to stand out of respect and magnifying someone who loves people to stand for him, out of arrogance and tyranny over those standing.

As for the second, which is disliked, it is to stand out of respect, magnifying, and honouring someone who does not love people to stand for him, and he does not reject it from those standing. It is disliked because it resembles the action of tyrants, and because it is feared it may change the heart of the one stood for.

As for the third, which is permissible, it is to stand to honour and magnify someone who does not want that, and his state does not resemble tyrants, and it is safe that his heart will not change because of it. He said, “This description is not found except in one who was protected by prophethood.”

As for the fourth, which is good, it is for a man to stand for someone arriving from travel, happy at his arrival, to greet him, or to stand for someone arriving happy with a blessing Allah has given him to congratulate him, or to stand for someone struck by a hardship to comfort him, and what is like that.

Upon this, what is narrated in this subject from reports is understood. (Tarikh Qudat al Andalus 27–28)

His Discipline of Those Who Claimed Lineage to the Prophet ﷺ

Those who claimed lineage to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ became many in every time and place, because people, by habit, greatly honour the one who claims lineage to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Likewise, in later times in the era of the Turks, they used to exempt from military service the one who carried a document proving this lineage. Because of this, forgers became many, and they presented large family trees, and were exempted from military service through them.

No one can be saved before Allah by his lineage. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever is held back by his deeds, his lineage will not bring him forward.”

Malik used to say, “Whoever claims lineage to the Prophet ﷺ, and says he is from the descendants of Ali, or Jafar, or Aqil, or al Abbas, or one of Banu Hashim, he is to be beaten with a painful beating, and paraded until he is made known among people, then imprisoned for a long imprisonment until repentance appears from him. If this is not done to him, then it is treating the lineage of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with disrespect.”

It is clear from Malik’s words that he did not see any claim of lineage, even to Jafar or Aqil or al Abbas or one of Banu Hashim, the clan of the grandfather of the Prophet ﷺ. Lineage to the Prophet ﷺ is through his daughter, Lady Fatimah, may Allah be pleased with her, the wife of Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him. (Manaqib al Zawawi 37)

His View of Those Who Explain the Qur’an

Malik did not think it right for anyone to rush into explaining the Book of Allah unless the tools of explanation were gathered for him, and the tools are many. At the head of them is mastery of the Arabic language, its style, grammar, and morphology.

Among them is that he be a narrator of hadith, especially what has been narrated authentically in explanation. Among them is that he be a jurist in usul. Among them is that he be knowledgeable in the recitations, and other than that.

Yahya ibn Sulayman ibn Nudlah al Yamani said, “I heard Malik say, ‘If a man who explains the Book of Allah is brought to me, and he is not knowledgeable in the languages of the Arabs, I will make him an example.’”

Malik said, “If I had authority over the one who explains the Qur’an, I would strike his neck,” meaning the one who does not have the fitness for explanation.

Malik disliked that one of the exegetes should take from Qatadah. Qatadah is from the major Tabiun and among the major ulama of language and explanation, and he has narrations from the Sahabah in explanation. Perhaps Malik disliked that people take from him because he held the view of al Qadar.

Malik used to say, “What a man is Mamar,” praising him and going far, “if he were safe from one trait.” They said, “What is it, O Abu Abd Allah?” He said, “He explains the Qur’an from Qatadah.” (Manaqib al Zawawi 33–35, Hilyat al Awliya 322/6)

Malik on Singing

Ibrahim ibn Sad al Zuhri said, “Al Rashid said to me, ‘Who in Madinah forbids singing?’ I said, ‘The one whose guidance Allah increased.’ He said, ‘It reached me that Malik ibn Anas forbids it.’ I said, ‘O Commander of the Believers, does Malik have the right to forbid or make permissible?

By Allah, that was not for your cousin Muhammad ﷺ except by the revelation of his Lord. Who made this for Malik?’ My testimony against my father is that he heard Malik at the wedding of Ibn Hanzalah al Ghasil singing:

سليمی از معت بَيْناً فأين تظنها أينا

Ibn al Arabi said in Ahkam al Qur’an, “As for singing, it is amusement that stirs hearts for most ulama, among them Malik ibn Anas. There is no proof in the Qur’an or the Sunnah for its prohibition.” Then he said, “Every hadith narrated about prohibition, or a verse recited about it, then it is false in chain, false in belief, in report and in interpretation. It is established that the Prophet ﷺ gave permission for singing in the 2 Eids.” (Manaqib Malik by al Zawawi 33–35, Hilyat al Awliya 322/6) (al Iqd al Farid 11/6–12) (Ahkam al Qur’an 1041/3–1042)

Malik’s Intellect

Many who knew Malik agreed in describing him as intelligent. Whoever reached what Malik reached, as a mujtahid, precise in consideration, with his principles and his fiqh, accepting from reports what he accepts and rejecting from them what he rejects according to what he set as principles and understood, must be intelligent.

He is intelligent within the limits that Allah commanded and forbade, and intelligent when he finds the Sharia ruling, by ijtihad, for every problem, despite the different forms and environments. Because of this, the ulama of his era agreed in describing him as intelligent.

Rabiah used to say, when Malik came, “The intelligent one has come.” They agreed that he was the most intelligent of the people of his time.

Ibn Mahdi said, “I met 4: Malik, Sufyan, Shubah, and Ibn al Mubarak. Malik was the strongest of them in intellect.”

He also said, “My eyes did not see anyone more awe inspiring than Malik in awe, nor more complete in intellect, nor more intense in taqwa, nor greater in mind than Malik.”

Harun al Rashid said about him, “I have not seen anyone more intelligent than him.”

Ibn Uyaynah said, “In Madinah there is one whose intellect has been blessed,” meaning Malik.

Abu Fahr al Misri narrated and said, “Abu Bakr ibn Ishaq, when he mentioned the intellect of Abu Ali al Thaqafi, used to say, ‘That is an intellect taken from the Sahabah and the Tabiun. Abu Ali stayed in Samarqand for 4 years, taking those manners from Muhammad ibn Nasr al Marwazi. Ibn Nasr took them from Yahya ibn Yahya.

There was no one in Khurasan more intelligent than him. Yahya took them from Malik. He stayed with him for one year after finishing his hearing, to take them.’ He was asked about that, and he said, ‘I only stayed to benefit from his manners, because they are the manners of the Sahabah and the Tabiun.’”

Because of this, Malik was called “the intelligent one.”

Ahmad ibn Hanbal said, “Malik was a master among the masters in his intellect and his manners. May Allah have mercy on Malik.”

Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash said, “Whoever does not seek knowledge will not be granted intellect.” (Manaqib al Zawawi 14 and 12, al Dibaj 19–20, Tartib 117/1–118, al Intiqa 29, Sifat al Safwah 98/3)

Malik’s Humility and Sincerity

The humility of the ulama is honour for them. It is proof of elevation, great rank, and wide knowledge. Long ago, Ibn al Sammak said, “Your humility within your honour is greater than your honour.” If a person is seen boasting of his knowledge and acting proud over people, then he is half a scholar. Knowledge bends the self, as a branch bends with its fruit. Humility does not mean lowering the head and wearing rough clothes. Humility is humility of the self without forcing it.

Imam Malik was the muhaddith of his era and its jurist, and with that he was humble. He said, “Humility is leaving showing off and seeking reputation.” He said, “Humility is in the religion, not in clothing.”

Bishr ibn Umar said, “I came with Malik from his house until he entered the masjid. He reached a group, and they made room for him at the front, but he refused and sat where the gathering ended for him. I said within myself, ‘This is a fair man.’ We would not make room for anyone in his gathering, and he would not sit at the front of people.” There is no doubt that fairness with oneself and with others is part of humility.

Ibn Abi Uways said, “Malik used to practise fairness, and he used to say, ‘There is no one among people less than him.’” This is not fairness, if it was said in these words, because the speaker did not mean that.

Ibn Mahdi said, “I heard Malik say, ‘If I knew that my heart would be right upon a rubbish heap, I would sit upon it.’”

Ibn Wahb said, “In Malik’s sleeve there was a folded cloth in 4 folds. When he prostrated, he prostrated on it.” He was asked about that, and he said, “I do this so that the ground does not leave a mark on my forehead, and people then think I stand in prayer at night,” even though he only saw prostration on what is from the kind of the earth. (Tartib 79/1, 117, 180)

Malik’s Manners

Knowledge should not come before good manners. They should be like 2 race horses. The more knowledge increases, the more manners and character should increase with it. There is no good in the knowledge of a person if it does not give him manners. The scholar is an example. He can become an excuse for the one who has no excuse. If people see the scholar mixing with the crowd in their habits, their amusement, and what they are used to in life, they take him as an example and an excuse.

Malik said to a young man from Quraysh, “My nephew, learn manners before learning knowledge.”

If people see him rising above the low, not entering what does not concern him, avoiding that people see what does not suit his knowledge and rank, and striving against himself so that, in private and in public, he applies the Sharia of Allah and takes the manners of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, then his state is a reminder for people before his speech. This is the description of the scholar who inherits prophethood.

Malik was a great scholar who held himself to the highest manners and best character. Ibn Wahb said, “What we learned from Malik’s manners was more than what we learned from his knowledge,” even though they learned much knowledge from him.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal said, “Malik said, ‘I never sat with a foolish person.’” Ahmad said, “There is nothing in the virtues of the ulama greater than this.”

Ziyad ibn Yunus said, “By Allah, Malik was the greatest of creation in dignity, and the most silent of them.”

Yahya ibn Yahya al Tamimi said, “I stayed with Malik ibn Anas, after completing my hearing from him, for one year, learning his appearance and his manner, because they are the manner of the Sahabah and the Tabiun.”

When he sat, he sat in a way he did not move from until he stood. I saw him very silent, little in speech, guarding his tongue.

Ibn al Mubarak said, “Malik was the most gentle with people, and the most leaving of what did not concern him.”

Zuhayr ibn Ubbad said, “I would not say to Malik, ‘May Allah have mercy on you,’ except that he said, ‘And may Allah have mercy on you.’ If I said to him, ‘May Allah grant you well being,’ he said, ‘And may Allah grant you well being.’ Good manners.”

Al Zuhrani said, “When Malik woke, he wore his clothes and put on his turban. None of his family or friends would see him except with his turban and clothes. No one ever saw him eat or drink where people could see him. He did not laugh, and he did not speak in what did not concern him.”

He was among the best of people in character with his family and his children. He used to say, “In that is pleasure for your Lord, growth in your wealth, and delay in your term.”

It reached me from some of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ, and from Malik, that he was told that Luqman the wise was asked, “What made you reach what you have reached?”

He said, “Truthful speech, fulfilling the trust, and leaving what does not concern me.”

Malik narrated from Hisham ibn Urwah, from his father, that Umar ibn al Khattab said, “Know, people, that despair is richness, and whoever despairs of something becomes rich without it.”

Malik narrated that Umar ibn al Khattab advised a man and said, “Do not interfere in what does not concern you. Keep away from your enemy. Beware of your close friend. No one is safe from people except the one who feared Allah.

The trustworthy one among people cannot be matched by anything. Do not keep company with an immoral person so that you do not learn from his immorality. Do not reveal your secret to him. Consult in your affair those who fear Allah.”

His Worship and His Caution

The state of the scholar is that his knowledge pours out in obedience, worship, and taqwa, as the flower gives its scent by its nature. The imams were the most worshipping of people, the most cautious, and the most obedient. This was the state of Malik.

Mutarrif said, “Malik would practise for himself what people did not hold themselves to, and he would say, ‘A scholar is not a scholar until he is like that, and until he takes precautions for himself in what, if he left it, there would be no sin upon him.’”

Ibn Mahdi said, “I did not see anyone with Allah more awe inspiring in his heart than Malik.” Abu Musab said, “Malik used to lengthen bowing and prostration in his regular worship. When he stood in prayer, he was like a dry piece of wood, nothing moved from him. When he was beaten, it was said to him, ‘If only you made this lighter.’ He said, ‘It is not right that anyone does an action for Allah except that he makes it good.’” Then he mentioned Allah Most High saying:

لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا

“He is testing you to see which of you is best in deeds.” (al Mulk 2)

Muhammad ibn Khalid ibn Utmah said, “When I would see Malik’s face, I would see the signs of the Hereafter on his face. When he spoke, I knew that truth came out of his mouth.”

Most of his worship was hidden. Ibn Wahb said, “Most of Malik’s worship was in secret, at night and day, where no one saw him.”

Ibn al Mubarak said, “I saw Malik, and I saw him among the humble. Allah only raised him by an inner secret between him and Him.”

He said, “I often used to hear him say, ‘Whoever loves that an opening be opened in his heart, and that he be saved from the depths of death and the terrors of the Day of Resurrection, then let his deeds in private be more than his deeds in public.’”

Ibn al Qasim mentioned that Malik’s servant said to him, “Malik is now in his forties. It is rare that he prays Fajr except with the ablution of Isha.”

This was said about many of the imams, and there is clearly exaggeration in it. It is not from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that anyone should stand in worship all night. The one who narrates this about Malik and others does not know what he is saying, except if he held the view that deep sleep does not break ablution.

Fatimah bint Malik said, “Malik used to pray his portion every night. When it was the night of Jumuah, he would spend it all in worship.” This is closer to what the mind accepts.

Al Mughirah said, “I went out one night after people had slept. I passed by Malik ibn Anas, and he was standing praying until he reached:

ثُمَّ لَتُسْأَلُنَّ يَوْمَئِذٍ عَنِ النَّعِيمِ

“Then on that Day you will surely be asked about the blessings.” (al Takathur 8)

He cried a long cry, and he kept repeating it and crying until dawn rose. When it became clear to him, he bowed. I returned home, made ablution, then I came to the masjid, and he was in his gathering, and people were around him. When morning came, I looked and his face had a beautiful light.

Mutarrif said, “I saw Malik sitting in the gathering after Fajr, making supplication, and his face would turn yellow and then green, and he prolonged his supplication.

A man came to ask him about an issue and interrupted him. Malik turned angry and said, ‘One of you comes to a man while he is in his supplication, and Allah has opened for him from it what He willed, what calls for an answer, and he cuts it off for him, and it never returns.’”

Al Zubayr ibn Habib said, “I used to see Malik, when the month entered, he would spend its first night in worship. I used to think he only did this so that the month would be opened with it.”

Ibn Wahb said, “It was said to Malik’s sister, ‘What did Malik occupy himself with in his house?’ She said, ‘The Mushaf is in his house.’”

Abu Bakr al Awsi said, “Malik kept looking in the Mushaf for years before his death. He was much in recitation, and long in crying.”

Said ibn al Jahm said, “When Malik prayed Fajr he sat in his gathering. He did not speak and no one spoke to him until the sun rose. When it rose he went to his circle and said, ‘Peace be upon you.’ Then he turned to Tulayb, meaning a companion of his, on his right, and he said, ‘How is Abu Khalid this morning?’ He would say, ‘Well, may Allah correct you.’ This was his way every day.”

As for his caution, Ibn Wahb said, “My eyes never saw anyone more cautious than Malik ibn Anas.”

Abd al Aziz ibn al Majishun said, “By Allah, we only knew him with righteousness and chastity.” (Manaqib al Zawawi 33, Tartib al Madarik 178/1, Muqaddimah Sharh al Suyuti li al Muwatta 1, Hilyat al Awliya 330/6)

Malik’s Insight

Firāsah is discernment and reading signs. It can be either getting the right feeling and expectation, as the poet said:

الألمعي الذي يظن بك الظن من كان قد رأى وقد سمعا

“The perceptive one is the one who forms an opinion about you as if he had seen and heard.”

Or it can be through signs, experiences, and character, by which the states of people are known. The Arabs cared about firāsah in their pre Islam and Islam times, in both forms. People have old and new writings about it, as al Zabidi said in al Taj.

Among the imams who cared about firāsah were Malik, al Shafii, and Muhammad ibn al Hasan, the companion of Abu Hanifah. It is said that al Shafii was spoken to about firāsah and he said, “I took it from Malik.” Then he went to Yemen and took much of it.

Imam Malik has stories about this, among them what Asad ibn al Furat said, “I and a companion stayed with Malik. When we wanted to leave to Iraq, we came to him to bid farewell, and we said, ‘Advise us.’ He turned to my companion and said, ‘I advise you with the Qur’an.’ He turned to me and said, ‘I advise you with this Ummah.’” Asad said, “My companion did not die until he turned fully to worship and the Qur’an, and Asad took the judgeship.”

Al Shafii said, “When I travelled to Madinah and met Malik, and he heard my speech, he looked at me for a while, and he had discernment, then he said, ‘What is your name?’ I said, ‘Muhammad.’ He said, ‘O Muhammad, fear Allah and avoid sins, for there will be for you a matter from the matters.’”

Others said, “Malik had discernment that did not miss. One day he looked at 3 of his companions from Ifriqiyah: Ibn Farukh, Ibn Ghanim, and al Bahlul ibn Rashid. He said about Ibn Ghanim, ‘This is the judge of his land.’ About al Bahlul, ‘This is the worshipper of his land.’ About Ibn Farukh, ‘This is the jurist of his land.’” (Tartib 232/1, al Shafii by the author 266)

His Wisdom, His Words, and His Advice

Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, had many wise sayings. They carry good for the life of this life and the Hereafter. They are many kinds, moving from one subject to another. We begin with his words about knowledge.

He said, “People in knowledge are 4.”

He said, “People in knowledge are 4. A man who knows and acts on it. His example in the Book of Allah is Allah Most High saying:

إِنَّمَا يَخْشَى اللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ الْعُلَمَاءُ

“Only those of His servants who have knowledge truly fear Allah.” (Fatir 28)

A man who knows it and does not teach it. His example in the Book of Allah is Allah Most High saying:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَكْتُمُونَ مَا أَنْزَلْنَا مِنَ الْبَيِّنَاتِ وَالْهُدَى

“Those who conceal what We have sent down of clear proofs and guidance.” (al Baqarah 159)

A man who knows knowledge and teaches it, but does not act on it. His example in the Book of Allah is Allah Most High saying:

إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا كَالْأَنْعَامِ

“They are nothing but like livestock.” (al Furqan 44)

Malik ibn Anas was asked, “What do you say about seeking knowledge?” He said, “It is good and beautiful, but look at what is required of you from the time you wake until the time you reach evening, and stick to it.”

He said about dignity and calmness for seeking knowledge, “It is a duty upon the one who seeks knowledge to have dignity, calmness, and fear of Allah. Knowledge is good for the one who is granted its good. It is a share from Allah. Do not make people able to use you.

From the happiness of a person is that he is guided to good, and from the misery of a person is that he keeps making mistakes and slipping. It is humiliation of knowledge that a man speaks with knowledge among those who do not obey him.”

He was asked about the low people, and he said, “If he is not a seeker of knowledge, then he is low,” because it was narrated from the Prophet ﷺ that he said, “If Allah makes a servant low, He blocks him from knowledge.”

He said about continuing knowledge even for the scholar, “A judge should not leave sitting with the people of knowledge. Every time a matter happens to him he returns it to them.” He was asked, “Even if he is a scholar?”

He said, “Do you think he is more knowledgeable than Umar ibn al Khattab? Matters used to happen to him, so he would gather the companions of the Prophet ﷺ, then he would decide the case between people. The companions of the Prophet ﷺ stayed on this, asking one another about what happened to them. This is the work that is acted upon, and no one has room to leave it. The people of knowledge and virtue in our city have always been on this.”

He was asked, “What is wisdom?”

He said, “Wisdom is a touch of an angel upon the heart of a servant.”

He was asked, “What is wisdom?”

He said, “Knowledge of the religion, understanding it, and following it.”

He said, “Wisdom is a light Allah casts into the heart of a servant.”

He said, “Wisdom is thinking about the command of Allah Most High, and following it.”

He said, “If reports become few among a people, desires appear among them. If scholars become few, harshness appears among people.”

He said, “The worst knowledge is the strange knowledge, and the best knowledge is the clear knowledge that people have narrated.”

He said, “Knowledge is not by the amount of narration. Knowledge is a light Allah places in the hearts.”

He said, “Do not ask about what you do not want, then forget what you do want. Whoever buys what he does not need sells what he does need.”

He said, “It is humiliation of knowledge that you answer everyone who asks you. No one becomes an imam if he narrates everything he heard. It is humiliation of knowledge that he speaks it before being asked about it.”

He said, “Seeking knowledge does not suit the bankrupt, nor the rich who is proud.” He was asked, “What is the best thing a servant can do?” He said, “Seeking knowledge.” He said, “Learn forbearance before knowledge.”

He said to the 2 sons of his sister, “If you love that Allah benefits you with this matter, then take little of it, and understand it.” He said, “No one ever increased a lot except that he failed.”

He said to one of his nephews, “When you learn knowledge of obedience to Allah, let its effect be seen on you.”

He said, “The people of knowledge should empty themselves of joking, especially when Allah is mentioned.”

He narrated from a man, “If you were someone who plays, then do not play with your religion.” He said, “Allah taught manners by the Qur’an, and His Messenger taught manners by the Sunnah, and the righteous taught manners by fiqh.”

He used to say, “Learn from knowledge even how to wear sandals.”

Sufyan said, “I entered upon Malik and I said, ‘Knowledge is many in Iraq, and its fruit is in Khurasan.’” Malik said, “Knowledge is a tree. Its root is in Makkah, its branches are in Madinah, and its leaves are in…” Sufyan said, “Write, boy, because these are from the rare sayings of Malik.”

Ashhab said, “I heard Malik say, ‘There is no good in raising the voice in the masjid except in knowledge, not in anything else. I met people who used to criticise that.’”

Ibn al Qasim said, “When we would bid farewell to Malik he would say, ‘Fear Allah, and spread this knowledge, teach it, and do not conceal it.’” He would say to the one who said farewell, “Fear Allah regarding this knowledge. Do not place it in a house of loss. Build with it, and do not conceal it.”

Khalid ibn Faras said, “I said to Malik, ‘Advise me.’ He said, ‘Hold to taqwa of Allah, and seek knowledge from its people.’”

He said, “Whoever speaks a lot and argues with people, his beauty becomes little.” He said, “Everything benefits in its extra except speech.” He used to say, “Whoever knows that his speech is part of his deeds, he speaks little.” He said, “Much speech smears knowledge, humiliates it, and reduces it.”

He disliked much speech and criticised it. He said, “It is only found in women and weak people.” It used to be said, “So and so is a good man, except that he speaks a month’s speech in one day.” He used to say when he was asked and given fatwa requests, “Speaking falsehood blocks from truth.” He said, “A man’s faith is not complete until he guards his tongue.”

He said, “Luqman said to his son, ‘My son, what people were promised has grown long over them, and they are quickly going to the Hereafter. You have been turning away from this life since you existed, and turning to the Hereafter. A home you are travelling to is closer to you than a home you are leaving.’”

He was asked, “How are you this morning?” He said, “In a life that decreases, and sins that increase.”

From his words are, “Nearness to falsehood is destruction. Speaking falsehood is far from truth. There is no good in anything of this life, even if it becomes much, if the religion and dignity of a person become corrupt. If falsehood appears over truth, corruption is in the earth. Little falsehood and much falsehood are destruction, and holding to truth is salvation.”

He said, “Whoever has no good for himself has no good for others, because his self is the most deserving of all selves. If he wastes it, he wastes what is beyond it more. Whoever loves his self protects it and keeps it.”

He spoke about zuhd and he said, “Zuhd in the religion is good earning and short hope.” He said, “No one ever left this life except that Allah made him speak wisdom.” He said, “Your share from it is what is enough for you. The least of its living is enough. What is little and enough is better than what is much and distracts.”

He said about truthfulness, “Whoever is truthful in his speech is made to enjoy his intellect, and what strikes people from weakness and confusion does not strike him.”

He said about sitting with people, “Keep company with the one whose speech increases your knowledge, and whose actions call to the state of the Hereafter. Beware of keeping company with the one whose speech teaches you, but his religion shames you, and whose actions call you to this life.”

Malik said to al Qanabi, “Whatever you play with, do not play with your religion.”

He said, “No servant hides a good inner state except that Allah clothes him with its covering, and no servant hides an evil inner state except that Allah clothes him with its covering.”

A man said, “Advise me.” Malik said, “If you intend an act of obedience to Allah, do not hold it back. If you can, do not delay it even for a breath, until you do it. You do not feel safe from events. If you intend other than that, and you can, do not carry it out even for a breath. Perhaps Allah will make its leaving happen.” He said, “Do not feel shy, if called to something that is not right, to say, Allah Most High said in His Book:

وَاللَّهُ لَا يَسْتَحْيِي مِنَ الْحَقِّ

“Allah does not feel shy of the truth.” (al Ahzab 53)

He said, “Clean your clothes, and keep them clean from disobedience to Allah. Hold to the higher matters and their best, and fear their low and base matters.

Allah loves the high manners and dislikes the low ones. Recite the Qur’an much. Strive that no hour passes in day or night except that your tongue is moist with the remembrance of Allah. Do not make people able to use you. Go wherever you wish.”

Ibn Abd al Hakam and Ibn Wahb said, “We heard Malik say, ‘The first sins are arrogance, envy, and greed. Iblis envied and was arrogant, so he said:

خَلَقْتَنِي مِنْ نَارٍ وَخَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِينٍ

“You created me from fire, and You created him from clay.” (Sad 76)

Allah Most High said:

وَكُلَا مِنْهَا رَغَدًا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا وَلَا تَقْرَبَا هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ

“Eat from it freely wherever you both wish, but do not go near this tree.” (al Baqarah 35)

Adam was greedy, so he ate from it.’”

A man said to Malik, “Advise me.” He said, “I advise you to do righteous deeds and to eat what is wholesome.”

He was asked about the severe disease, and he said, “New matters in the religion.”

He said, “From the happiness of a person is that he is guided to good, and from the misery of a person is that he keeps making mistakes.”

He said about intellect with worship, “Everything has a pillar, and the pillar of the believer is his intellect. According to how much he understands, he worships his Lord.”

He used to say, “The believer is helpful, and easy in his burden, and the immoral person is the opposite.”

He used to say, “If a man praises himself, his beauty goes.”

From Ibn Wahb, “Malik ibn Anas was asked about a man who calls and says, ‘O my master.’ Malik said, ‘I like that he calls with the call of the prophets: “Our Lord, our Lord.”’”

Said ibn Jubayr said, “If a person did not command good and forbid evil until he had nothing in him,” meaning until he had no flaw, “no one would command good or forbid evil.” Malik said, “And who is the one who has nothing in him?”

Mutarrif said, “Malik said to me, ‘What do people say about me?’ I said, ‘The friend praises, and the enemy attacks.’ He said, ‘People have always been like that. They have an enemy and a friend, but we seek refuge in Allah from all tongues following together.’”

Malik said, “Clean clothing, good determination, and showing dignity are part of forty something parts of prophethood.”

He used to say, “Seeking provision with a doubt is better than needing people.”

Malik said, “Harshness is disliked,” because Allah Most High said:

لَوْ كُنْتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ الْقَلْبِ لَانْفَضُّوا مِنْ حَوْلِكَ

“If you had been harsh and hard hearted, they would have dispersed from around you.” (Al Imran 159)

He said:

فَقُولَا لَهُ قَوْلًا لَيِّنًا

“Speak to him with gentle speech.” (Ta Ha 44)

He used to say, “The terrors of this life are 3: riding the sea, riding an Arab horse, and marrying a free woman.” He used to say, “The pleasures of this life are a healthy body and a good soul.”

Desire was mentioned to Malik, and he said, “It is the light of your face and the marrow of your leg, so reduce or increase.”

Musab said, “When someone died, Malik used to say, ‘All praise is for Allah, Lord of the universes, who kept us after him. O Allah, do not make him a trial for us.’” (Tartib 184/1–191, Hilyat al Awliya 319/6–331, Manaqib al Zawawi 23–46, Tazyin al Mamalik 12–15, al Dibaj 24–25, al Fajr 144, al Iqd al Farid 211/3, 268, 139/6, 293/6, Tadhkirat al Huffaz 211, al Zaraqani 301)

His Humour and Anecdotes

Malik (d. 179 AH) took every matter with full seriousness, whether in his lessons, his fatwas, his conversations with men, or his private and public affairs.

Even so, he did not leave some of his time without light remarks that others would bring out, from people and poets. Among that is what al Zubayr ibn Bakkar (d. 256 AH) said. Muhammad ibn Abd Allah asked Malik about a woman he wanted to marry, and he mentioned a story. Malik said to him, “Wait, she is not permissible for you now.” So he said:

ساخطبها جهدي وإني مخالف
لما قال لي حبر المدينة مالك
يقول وقد حلت تربص فإنما
تربص مثلي لو علمت المهالك
أحرمت تزويج المحبين بينهم
وأنت أمرؤ فيما يرى الناس ناسك

“I will seek her in marriage with all my effort, even though I go against what the scholar of Madinah, Malik, said to me.

He says, when she has become permissible, ‘Wait, for waiting is only for someone like me, if you knew the dangers.’

Have you made marriage between those who love one another forbidden, while you are a man whom people see as devoted and abstinent?”

Muhammad ibn al Fadl al Makki said: Malik passed by a singing slave girl who was singing and saying:

أنت أختي وأنت حرمة جاري
وحقيق على حفظ الجوار
أنا للجار ما تغيب عني
حافظ للمغيب في الإسرار
ما أبالي أكان بالباب ستر
مُسْبَل أم بقي بغير ستار

“You are like my sister, and you are the honour of my neighbour, and it is binding to preserve the rights of neighbourship.

As for me, regarding the neighbour, even when absent from me, I guard what is hidden in secrecy.

I do not care whether there is a curtain hanging at the door, or whether it remains without any covering.”

Malik said, “If this were sung around the Ka bah, it would be permissible.” In another narration: “People of the house, teach your girls this.” Malik said: Abu Hazim Salamah ibn Dinar (d. 140 AH) said, “The people of the pre Islam times were better neighbours than you.” Otherwise, between us and you is the poet’s saying:

ناري ونار الــجــار واحــدة
وإليـه قـبـلي تـنـزل الــقــدر
ما ضر جاراً لي أجاوره
أن لا يكون لبابه ستر
أعمى إذا ما جارتي برزت
حتى يواري جارتي الخدر

“My fire and my neighbour’s fire are one, and before me the cooking pot is set down for him.

No harm comes to a neighbour whom I live beside if there is no covering at his door.

I am blind when my neighbour’s wife appears, until the curtain conceals her.”

Malik said, “There is no harm in singing like this.”

Ibn Abi Uways Ismail (d. 226 AH) said: I used to walk with Malik when a female servant of ours would carry a clay jar of water and say:

ليتني أرض لسلمى فتطاني قدماها
ليتني درع لسلمى ترتديني من وراها
قاعد حيث أراها
ليتني خادم سلمى

“I wish I were the ground for Salma, so her feet would step upon me.

I wish I were a shield for Salma, so she would wear me behind her.

Sitting where I can see her.

I wish I were a servant of Salma.”

He said to me, “O Ismail, a man or a woman?” I said, “She is Ghazal, a servant of Banu Umarah.” He said, “She is sharp and quick, and has good delivery.” This shows that Malik had precise knowledge of good poetry and weak poetry.

Among his gentle anecdotes is that it was said to him: “The people of al Sham recite ‘Ibraham’.” He said, “They should eat watermelon.”

Ibn Abi Maryam (d. 224 AH) said: Malik said to me, “O Egyptian, does your masjid have a doorkeeper?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “This is a prison, not a masjid.”

Ibn Abi Uways Ismail (d. 226 AH) said: Ibn Shihab al Zuhri (d. 124 AH) came to Madinah, so I sat with him. I found him on the way to the masjid, and with him was his servant Anas. He had married him to a slave woman of his.

He said to him, “How did you find your wife?” He said, “I found her, my master, a garden.” Ibn Shihab said, “All praise is for Allah.”

Malik said: I understood it and laughed. He asked me, and I said, “He means she did not suit him, because in the garden there is space and coolness.”

Ibn Shihab said, “Is it like that, O Anas?” He said, “Yes, by Allah, my master.” He kept laughing and repeating it until he missed the congregational prayer, so he prayed in his house.

Ibn Abi Uways Ismail (d. 226 AH) said: A man and his wife came to Malik, and each of them complained about the other. Malik said to the man, “What do you dislike in her?” He said, “She laughs when wind comes out of me.” Malik said, “So keep away from her when that happens.”

The woman said, “It is worse than that. It is thunder like the thunder of autumn.” Malik said, “Put cotton in your ears.” She said, “By Allah, if I put a blacksmith’s anvil in my ears it would pierce through.”

Malik said, “Go and laugh wherever you want.” He said to the man, “Use thyme, keep using it,” and it stopped. I say: I find this story unlikely, because the great men would not dare to ask him, and because he was among the people furthest from joking and amusement.

Umar ibn Sulaym said: Malik saw a young man walking in a disliked way, so Malik stood and began walking beside him, copying him. The young man stopped. Malik said to him, “Is my walk good?” He said, “No.” He said, “Then why do you walk like it?” He said, “I will not return to it.”

From Bakr al Muzani (d. 108 AH) it is said: The one most deserving of a slap is the one who eats food he was not invited to. The one most deserving of 2 slaps is the one who is told by the owner of the house, “Sit here,” and he does not sit. The one most deserving of 3 slaps is the one who says to the owner of the house, “Call the lady of the house to eat with us.”

Ubayd Allah ibn Muhammad, the judge of Tarsus, said: I have something more strange and more rare than this. Malik was sitting one day when a friend of his asked permission to enter, and he allowed him.

Malik had a watermelon in a corner, so he threw a cloth over it. The man entered and Malik said to him, “Here.” He refused to sit except on the cloth, and the watermelon burst under him. Malik said to him, “May Allah have mercy on you, we were more aware of your faults, so we lowered ourselves for you,” and so on.

All of what we have mentioned here as anecdotes is from Tartib by Qadi Iyad (d. 544 AH). (Tartib 1/233)

Malik’s Awe and His Entry upon Rulers

His Awe and His Standing

No imam, and no great scholar from the imams of the Sunnah and their ulama in his era, and perhaps after his era, was known to have the awe, influence, and standing that Malik had.

No one should think Malik made this for himself out of pride and self importance. Rather, it is because he carried the knowledge of the Book of Allah, and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

It suits the one who carries this knowledge to honour it, magnify it, and give it standing, because there is no authority on earth except the authority of Allah, and no creation of Allah has a greater rank than the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Ibn al Harith said: Malik used to honour the knowledge he had with great honour. What we mention here about Malik’s awe is of this kind.

Much of Malik’s awe and influence in his gatherings has already been mentioned, because it is clearer and more obvious there. Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH) said: Malik was awe inspiring, and people did not answer back to him, out of respect.

Al Thawri Sufyan (d. 161 AH) was in his gathering, and when he saw how people honoured him, and how Malik honoured knowledge, he recited:

يأبى الجواب فما يُكَلَّم هيبة
والسائلون نواكس الأبصار
أدب الوقار وعز سلطان التقى
فهو المطاع، وليس ذا سلطان

“He refuses to answer, so he is not spoken to out of awe, and those who ask lower their gaze.

The discipline of dignity and the strength of piety’s authority, so he is obeyed, yet he has no worldly power.”

Ziyad ibn Yunus said: I have never seen a scholar, nor a worshipper, nor a clever man, nor a governor, more awe inspiring than Malik.

Bishr ibn Umar said: Malik did not laugh. It was said to him about that, and he said: “Laughing leads to foolishness, and it reached me that the laughter of the Prophet ﷺ was a smile.”

Said ibn Abi Hind al Andalusi said: I did not fear anyone with the fear I feared Abd al Rahman ibn Muawiyah, meaning al Dakhil. Then I entered upon Malik and I feared him with a strong fear, and beside it the fear of Ibn Muawiyah became small.

Ibn al Majishun Abd al Malik (d. 212 AH) said: I entered upon the Commander of the Believers al Mahdi (d. 169 AH), and between me and him there was only his servant, yet I did not fear him as I feared Malik. Al Darawardi Abd al Aziz ibn Muhammad (d. 187 AH) said the same.

Said ibn Abi Maryam (d. 224 AH) said: I have not seen anyone with stronger awe than Malik. His awe was stronger than the awe of the ruler.

Musab ibn Abd Allah al Zubayri (d. 236 AH) said: I have never seen anyone more awe inspiring than Malik except the caliph.

Hisham ibn Ammar (d. 245 AH) said: I entered Madinah and came to Malik ibn Anas. When my eyes fell on him I feared him, until I struck my side.

Al Shafii (d. 204 AH) said: I did not fear anyone as I feared Malik ibn Anas when I looked at him.

Dawud ibn Mihran said: I came to Madinah and attended a funeral. No one from Banu Hashim and Quraysh remained except that he attended it. When the funeral came out Malik stood, and people stood because he stood. He walked in front of it, and I did not see anyone behind the funeral.

Yunus ibn Tamim said: I came to Madinah in 160 AH and came to Malik. When I looked at him I feared him and I did not step forward to him. I saw people fear him. I stayed going back and forth for 10 days. I complained about that to some of the people of Madinah, and it was said to me: “Give something to his scribe so he asks for you what you want, but as for you, I do not think you will be able to ask him, because he is more feared than that in the hearts of people.”

In al Nujum al Zahira it is said: Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, had great rank, great calm dignity, abundant knowledge, and strictness in his religion. He had a special authority and influence, until a man would be made to stand in front of him like he would be made to stand in front of rulers.

He was greatly feared. If he answered in an issue, it was not possible for someone to say to him, “From where?”

He had a prison, and he had strong men who would grab a man’s upper arm and take him out, or drag him to prison.

Bukayr ibn al Sharud and others said: We came to Malik ibn Anas and he began telling us about Rabiah, and we kept asking him for more of his report. One day he said to us, “What are you doing with Rabiah, while he is standing in that arch?” We went to Rabiah and woke him, and we said, “Are you Rabiah that Malik narrates about?” He said, “Yes.” We said, “How did Malik get honour through you while you did not get honour through yourself?” He said, “Did you not know that a small weight of authority is better than carrying knowledge?”

In al Awa il it is mentioned that Malik’s rank among people reached the point that the people of Madinah used to seek rain by his cap, and this has already been mentioned.

From his standing and awe is that he would not pass by anyone except that he would stand. Habib said: I saw Malik leaving from al Mahdi (d. 169 AH). He did not pass by anyone except that he stood for him and mentioned Allah.

Sufyan (d. 161 AH) said: Malik was a lamp. Al Thawri performed hajj and I circumambulated with him, and not many people were with him. Malik came and circumambulated, and the place of circumambulation became tight with people.

Abd Allah al Abbasi said: The people of Madinah, when they had a death, used to say: “Go with us to Malik so he comforts us.”

The truth is that Allah raised the rank of Malik by Malik raising the rank of the Book of Allah, and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and by his blessed inner state. Al Qanabi said: I do not think Malik reached what he reached except by an inner secret that was between him and Allah Most High.

Malik used to say: Every time I find hardness in my heart, I come to Muhammad ibn al Munkadir (d. 130 AH), I look at him, and I become reminded for days. (Tartib 1/140–179, al Awa il 2/133, Manaqib al Zawawi 9 and 30, al Nujum al Zahira 2/960, al Hilya 6/318–319, Malik by Abu Zahra 100, al Dibaj 24, Tazyin al Mamalik 30, al Zaraqani 38)

Malik’s Entry upon Rulers

The cautious scholar is the one who rises in his religion above everything in this life. He does not come to the door of a ruler or governor unless he is like the Rightly Guided Caliphs, or like Umar ibn Abd al Aziz (d. 101 AH) and those like him. Because of that, great imams refused them, refused praying behind them, and refused entering upon them.

They feared that they would burn their spirits with the fire of their life, their power, and their standing, that their foreheads would be marked by the darkness of their injustice, and that their heads would bow to other than the One of might and greatness. Long ago it was said: The worst of ulama are at the doors of rulers, and the best of rulers are at the doors of ulama.

In a report attributed to Umar ibn al Khattab, it says: “Allah loves rulers when they mix with ulama, and He hates ulama when they mix with rulers.” Al Thawri Sufyan (d. 161 AH) said: “If you see the reciter, meaning the jurist, clinging to the ruler, then know he is a thief.

If you see him clinging to the rich, then know he is showing off. Beware of being fooled when it is said to you: ‘You return a wrong and defend an oppressed person,’ because this is a trick of Iblis. The weak have taken it as a ladder.”

Bishr ibn al Harith al Hafi (d. 227 AH) said: It is ugly that the scholar is sought and it is said: “He is at the door of the ruler.”

There are scholars who see entering upon rulers and governors as necessary, because if they kept away, others would come to them and decorate for them their injustice, their tyranny, and their desires.

Malik was among these. If the scholar reaches the level of Malik, he has a reason to enter upon them, because he controls himself.

It was not known of him that he kept silent over an evil, or left commanding good, or bargained over his religion, or advised with what displeases Allah. Rather, he guarded the rank of knowledge, and he was honoured by the honour of what he carried. If rulers have the authority of time, then the imam scholar has the authority of knowledge, and every authority takes from it.

When it was said to Malik: “You enter upon rulers while they oppress and act unjustly,” he said, may Allah have mercy on him: “Then where is the one who speaks the truth?” Malik held that the scholar who speaks truth should enter upon rulers and governors, and there is no harm in that.

It was also said to him: “People say you leave going out to the masjid,” and he had left the masjid for its Jumuah and its congregational prayer for many years, as will come, “and you come to rulers.”

He said: “As for my leaving going out to the masjid, I am weak for that. As for my coming to rulers, it is me forcing myself, because they might consult someone who should not be consulted.” He meant: he did not come to their doors except for a religious benefit. He feared that rulers would consult someone unfit, because of weak religion or ignorance, so he went to block this opening.

Isa ibn Umar al Madani said: Did Malik used to frequently enter upon rulers? He said: No, except that they would send for him and he would come to them.

He said: “It is a duty upon every Muslim, or every man in whose chest Allah placed some knowledge and understanding, that he enters upon every person of authority, commands him with good, forbids him from evil, and advises him, until it becomes clear. The scholar entering is unlike others, because the scholar only enters upon the ruler for that. If he does that, then it is a virtue that has no virtue beyond it.”

Malik used to say: If I did not come to them, I would not see a Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ being practised in this city.

If Malik said this, he applied it well. One day he entered upon Harun al Rashid (d. 193 AH) and spoke to him about the welfare of Muslims. He said to him: It reached me that Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, despite his virtue and rank, used to blow under the pots in the Year of Famine until smoke came out of his beard, and people are satisfied with less than this from you.

He said once to one of the governors: Look after the affairs of the subjects, because you will be asked about them. Umar ibn al Khattab said: “By the One in whose hand is my soul, if a camel died at the bank of the Euphrates, lost, I would think Allah would ask me about it on the Day of Resurrection.”

Malik entered upon al Mahdi (d. 169 AH) and he said to him, “Advise me.”

Malik said: “I advise you with the taqwa of Allah alone, and with kindness toward the people of the city of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his neighbours, because it reached us that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘Madinah is my place of migration, in it is my grave, in it is my resurrection, and its people are my neighbours. It is a duty upon my ummah to preserve my right regarding my neighbours. Whoever preserves them, I will be a witness and an intercessor for him on the Day of Resurrection.’”

After this advice, al Mahdi gave much, and he himself went around the homes of Madinah. When he wanted to leave, Malik entered upon him, and al Mahdi said to him: “I am keeping your advice that you narrated to me, and if I am safe, I will not be absent from them.”

Because Malik was known for courage, strength, and firmness in commanding and forbidding, the caliphs and governors used to seek his help in that. Abu Jafar al Mansur (d. 158 AH) used to ask him to give his view about his governors over al Hijaz, and he said: “If any suspicion appears to you about the governor of Madinah, or the governor of Makkah, or any of the governors of al Hijaz, concerning yourself, or someone else, or any harm, or evil toward the subjects, then write to me about that, and I will bring down upon them what they deserve.”

Malik advised a governor of Madinah and said to him: “If a matter comes to you, then pause, and compare your view with the view of others, because comparison removes the flaw of an opinion, as fire shows the flaw of gold.”

When al Mahdi came to Madinah, people came to greet him. When they sat, Malik asked permission.

People said: Today Malik will sit at the end of people. When Malik came near and saw the crowd, he said: “O Commander of the Believers, where does your shaykh Malik sit?” He said: “With me, O Abu Abd Allah.” Malik stepped over people until he reached him. Al Mahdi raised his right knee and seated Malik beside him.

Malik was like this with the caliphs. He did not sit except beside them. Yet in the masjid at prayer he prayed where the gathering ended, and when listening to knowledge he also sat where the gathering ended.

He did not limit himself to spoken advice. He used to write to them. Among that is his letter to one of the caliphs. It included:

“Know that Allah Most High has made you have a share of my advice, by what I advised you with before, and what I brought to you in it, hoping that Allah Most High made it happiness for you, and a matter that makes your way to Paradise. So let it be, may Allah have mercy on us and you, that what I wrote to you is with standing by the command of Allah, and what Allah entrusted you with of His subjects.

You will be asked about them, their young and their old. The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘All of you are shepherds, and all of you will be asked about your flock.’ It is narrated in some hadith that the governor will be brought and his hand will be chained to his neck, and nothing will free him except justice.

Umar ibn al Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, used to say: ‘By Allah, if a young goat died at the bank of the Euphrates, lost, I would see Allah Most High asking Umar about it.’ Umar performed hajj 10 years, and it reached me that he only spent 12 dinars in his hajj.

He used to stay in the shade of a tree, carry the whip on his neck, and walk in the markets asking about those present and those absent. It reached me that when he was struck, the companions of the Prophet ﷺ came to him, and he said: ‘The deceived one is the one you have deceived.

If what is on the face of the earth were gold, I would ransom myself with it from the terrors of the first standing.’

Umar, may Allah have mercy on him, was directed and given success, and the Prophet ﷺ gave him glad tidings of Paradise, yet with that he feared what he carried from the affairs of Muslims. So how about the one you have been told about. So hold to what brings you near to Allah and saves you tomorrow.

Beware a day when nothing will save you except your deeds. Make for yourself an example from those who passed from your predecessors. Hold to taqwa of Allah. Put it first whenever you intend something.

Look into what I wrote to you in all your times. Take your soul to account, hold to that, and discipline it upon it. I ask Allah Most High for success and right direction, if Allah wills.”

He also wrote to one of the caliphs a letter in which he advised him. It included:

“As for what follows, I wrote to you a letter in which I did not fail in right guidance, and I did not leave any advice, with praise of Allah and the manners of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. So think about that with your intellect, return your sight to it, gather it with your hearing, understand it with your intellect, bring it with your understanding, and do not let your mind be absent from it.

In it is virtue in this life and the good reward of Allah Most High in the Hereafter. Remember the depths of death and what will come down upon you in it, and what you will be made to stand for after death, the presentation before Allah Most High, then the reckoning, then the lasting after the reckoning, either to Paradise or to the Fire.

Prepare for it what makes the terrors of those scenes and their hardship easy for you.

If you saw the people of Allah’s anger and what they became of the kinds of punishment, and the severity of Allah’s vengeance, and you heard their breathing in the Fire, and their cries from the distortion of their faces, and the length of their grief, and their turning in its depths on their faces, not hearing and not seeing, calling for destruction, and greater than that is the regret of Allah Most High turning away from them, and their hope being cut from His mercy, and His answering them after long grief:

اخْسَئُوا فِيهَا وَلَا تُكَلِّمُونِ

‘Remain despised in it, and do not speak to Me.’ (al Muminun 108)

Nothing of this life would seem big to you if you wanted salvation from that, and you would not feel safe from its terror. If you offered, seeking salvation, everything the people of this life have, it would be small.

If you saw the people of obedience to Allah and what they became of Allah’s honour, their rank, their nearness to Allah Most High, the brightness of their faces, the light of their colours, and their joy at looking toward Him, and their rank with Him, and their standing with Him, with His nearness to them, then you would make small in your eyes the great thing you sought of this life. So be very cautious for yourself. Hurry to yourself before you are overtaken.

Beware what you fear regret over when death comes down. Argue with your own self for Allah Most High with calmness, while you are able, by Allah’s permission, to bring benefit and turn proof away from it, before Allah makes you face its reckoning, then you will not be able to turn harm away from it, nor bring benefit to it. Give Allah His share from yourself by night and by day.

Your life decreases with the hours of the night while you are standing on the earth, being carried forward. Every time an hour passes of your term, the recorders do not neglect the small and the great of your deeds until your page that Allah wrote upon you is filled. So work for saving yourself if you love it. Beware what Allah Most High warned you from, for He says:

وَيُحَذِّرُكُمُ اللَّهُ نَفْسَهُ

‘Allah warns you of Himself.’ (Al Imran 28)

Do not consider the small sin small, with what you know from the saying of Allah Most High:

فَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ ۝ وَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ

‘So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.’ (al Zalzalah 7–8)

And He says:

مَا يَلْفِظُ مِنْ قَوْلٍ إِلَّا لَدَيْهِ رَقِيبٌ عَتِيدٌ

‘He does not utter any word except that with him is a watcher ready.’ (Qaf 18)

Preserve Allah’s obligations and avoid Allah’s anger. Beware the supplication of the oppressed. Fear a day when you will return to Allah. Peace.”

This was Malik, may Allah Most High have mercy on him. He was a great teacher for caliphs and governors. He was not from those who stir tribulations against them, nor from those who seek to remove them, because they are Muslims but they fall short.

So he would keep advising them, and they would accept his clear firmness in forbidding what Allah forbade, and his strong calling to what Allah commanded. No one could buy his silence from speaking truth, no matter how great the price.

He used to become angry with those who sell their religion and honour for a small share of this life, so they flatter with lies and go far in praising one who does not deserve praise, or in praising one Allah is angry with.

Because of his great standing with governors, they would not carry out a legal punishment on someone who deserved it except after consulting him and taking his view. Sometimes the people of prison would be brought to him and their sins would be mentioned. Whoever deserved a punishment, he ordered it.

Hafs ibn Ghiyath said: Malik used to sit with the governor, and the prisoners would be shown to him, and he would say: “Cut this one, strike this one 100, this one 200, and crucify this one,” as though the Book was revealed to him.

Al Bahlul ibn Ubaydah said: I was with Malik when a man was brought, and they said: The governor sends you greetings and says: This man strangled a man and killed him. Malik said: “Strangle him until he dies, as he did.” Malik’s face turned yellow, and he became fearful, until he stretched his gaze. They informed him that they had strangled him, and the blood returned to his face.

Ibn Kinanah spoke about that, and Malik said: “Do you think I regretted? Rather, I feared that a ruling from the rulings of Allah Most High might be cancelled.”

Abd al Jabbar ibn Umar said: I attended Malik, and the governor brought him with a group of the people of knowledge. He asked them about a man who attacked his brother, and when he caught him he pushed him into a well, and the parents of the 2 boys were present. A group of the people of knowledge said: The choice is for the parents, either pardon or retaliation.

Malik said: “I think his neck should be struck now.” The parents said: Our son was killed yesterday, and we are struck with the other today. We are the heirs of the blood, and we have pardoned. The governor said: O Abu Abd Allah, there is no claimant except them, and they have pardoned.

Malik said: “By Allah, there is no god worthy of worship except Him, I will never speak in knowledge again unless his neck is struck.” He kept silent. He was spoken to but he did not speak. The city shook and people cried: If Malik is silent, who will be asked and who will answer. People spoke much, and they said: There is no one in any land like him, and no one can stand in his place in knowledge and virtue.

When the governor saw his firmness on silence, he brought the young man and his neck was struck. When his head fell, Malik turned to those present and said: “I only killed him for highway robbery, when he took his brother’s clothing.

I did not kill him as retaliation, because his parents pardoned.” People left, and their hearts became calm when they saw he fulfilled his oath. I say: Highway robbery is taking wealth with open force, and its punishment is killing and crucifixion, or killing alone.

Accepting Gifts from Rulers

After that, did Malik accept the gifts of rulers and governors.

The reality is that he accepted their allowances and gifts. From his view is his saying: Wealth with suspicion is better than asking people. Malik did not have even a small amount of wealth to live on.

He spent all his wealth seeking knowledge, until he removed the roof of his house.

How could he live when he had devoted himself to teaching people and giving them fatwas. Some imams did not accept the wealth of the ruler, because Allah made some of them independent from rulers by trade, like Abu Hanifah.

Ahmad used to weave and take wages for it. Even though it did not meet his basic needs, he was patient with himself, and no caliph or anyone else could tempt him with much or little.

With his imamah, he preferred work over needing the ruler and people. Not everyone can have his patience and his restraint. Every person has ijtihad, and every person has a direction he turns toward.

Abu Imran al Sadafi said: I entered upon Malik, and he wore wool clothing. He said, “Take him out.” I said, “Do not do that, O Abu Abd Allah. I only came because you are from the inheritors of the prophets.” I asked him about the gifts of the ruler and he disliked them. I said to him: Yet you accept.

He said: “Do you want to carry my sin and your sin?” Malik was not alone in eating the ruler’s wealth and accepting his gifts.

In Nafh al Tayyib it is mentioned that al Qurtubi, the author of al Tadhkirah (d. 671 AH), mentioned in his book “Qam al Hirs bil Zuhd wal Qanaah” what its meaning is: We narrated that Abu Umar ibn Abd al Barr (d. 463 AH) heard, while he was in Shatibah, that people criticised him for eating the ruler’s food and accepting his gifts, so he said:

قُل لمن ينكر أكلي لطعام الأمراء
أنت من جهلك هذا في محل السفهاء

Say to the one who denies my eating from the food of the rulers:

“You, through your ignorance in this matter, are among the foolish.”

He meant that following the righteous among the Sahabah and the Tabiun, and the imams of taqwa from the early Muslims, is the foundation of religion. Zayd ibn Thabit, and he was among the firmly grounded in knowledge, used to accept the gifts of Muawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him, and his son Yazid (d. 64 AH).

Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, despite his caution and virtue, used to accept the gifts of his in law al Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubayd (d. 67 AH), eat his food, and accept his gifts.

Abd Allah ibn Masud, may Allah be pleased with him, and he was filled with knowledge, said to a man who asked him: I have a neighbour who deals in usury and does not avoid unlawful earning, and he invites me to his food. Should I answer him. He said: Yes. The enjoyment is yours and the sin is upon him, as long as you do not know the exact thing itself is unlawful.

Uthman ibn Affan, may Allah be pleased with him, said, when he was asked about the gifts of rulers: “Meat of a lawful gazelle.”

Al Shabi Amir ibn Sharahil (d. 103 AH), and he is from the major Tabiun, used to teach the children of Abd al Malik ibn Marwan, accepted his gifts, and ate his food. Ibrahim al Nakhai (d. 96 AH), and the ulama of Kufah, and al Hasan al Basri (d. 110 AH), despite his zuhd and caution, and the ulama of Basrah, and Abu Salamah ibn Abd al Rahman (d. 94 AH), and Aban ibn Uthman (d. 105 AH), and the 7 jurists of Madinah, except Said ibn al Musayyab (d. 94 AH), used to accept the gifts of the ruler. Ibn Shihab, meaning al Zuhri (d. 124 AH), used to accept them, and most of his earnings were from them.

Malik, Abu Yusuf (d. 182 AH), al Shafii (d. 204 AH), and others from the jurists of al Hijaz and Iraq used to accept the gifts of rulers and governors.

Sufyan al Thawri (d. 161 AH), despite his caution and virtue, used to say: “The gifts of the ruler are more beloved to me than the gifts of brothers, because brothers remind you of their gift, and the ruler does not remind you.” (Tartib 1/180 and 1/208, Nafh al Tayyib 3/235–236)

Praise for Malik

Praise for Malik became very widespread in every matter he deserved, in a way that surpassed even his shaykhs and peers. That is because, in his knowledge, his ijtihad, his hadith, and many of his traits, he was the unique one of his time in the city of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Al Dhahabi (d. 748 AH) said: “Malik had virtues that I do not know gathered together in anyone else.

The first is long life and the high level of his narrations. The second is sharp intelligence, understanding, and wide knowledge. The third is the agreement of the imams that he is a proof and reliable in narration. The fourth is their agreement on his religion, his uprightness, and his following of the Sunnah. The fifth is his leading place in fiqh and fatwa, and the soundness of his foundations.”

Malik (d. 179 AH) narrated in al Muwatta, Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH) in al Musnad, al Tirmidhi (d. 279 AH) and al Nasa i (d. 303 AH) in their Sunan, and al Hakim (d. 405 AH) in al Mustadrak, a hadith from the Prophet ﷺ: “People are close to travelling fast, striking the sides of riding beasts, and the bellies of camels, seeking knowledge, and they will not find a scholar more knowledgeable than the scholar of Madinah.” This hadith was narrated by Sufyan ibn Uyaynah (d. 198 AH), with his chain, from Abu Hurayrah رضي الله عنه.

Al Tirmidhi (d. 279 AH) said: “This hadith is hasan.” People differed over who is meant by it. Al Tirmidhi (d. 279 AH) said, from Ibn Uyaynah (d. 198 AH), that when he was asked about the scholar of Madinah, he said: Malik ibn Anas. Ishaq ibn Musa said: I heard Ibn Uyaynah (d. 198 AH) say: It is al Umari al Zahid, whose name is Abd al Aziz ibn Abd Allah, from the descendants of Umar ibn al Khattab رضي الله عنه.

I heard Yahya ibn Musa say: Abd al Razzaq ibn Hammam (d. 211 AH) said: It is Malik ibn Anas. I say: It is as though every imam who becomes well known must have a hadith that points to him. Abu Hanifah has a hadith, al Shafii has a hadith, and Malik has a hadith. I do not know whether Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH) has a hadith. I believe that the imam who truly deserves imamate does not need a hadith brought to raise his rank. Allah knows best.

Many of his shaykhs, his peers, and his companions praised him.

Among his shaykhs who praised him was Ibn Shihab al Zuhri (d. 124 AH), one of the great ones. He said to Malik (d. 179 AH): “You are one of the vessels of knowledge, and you are an excellent keeper of knowledge.” Among his shaykhs was Ibn Hurmuz (d. 117 AH), his first shaykh, and his biography has already passed. One day he said to his female servant: “Who is at the door?” She saw only Malik. She told him, and he said: “Call him in, for he is the scholar of the people,” while Malik had not yet passed 25 years of age.

Among his shaykhs was Jafar al Sadiq (d. 148 AH). When people from Kufah asked him, during the illness in which he died, to appoint a man for them to return to after him in their religion, he said: “Hold to the view of the people of Madinah, for it removes its hidden harm as the bellows remove the impurity of iron.”

Then Jafar, meaning Malik, said: “Hold to the one who is blessed, helped, and blessed in Islam, the one who follows the traces of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

I tested him and found him to be a jurist, virtuous, and uniquely following, not moved by desire, not looked down on because of need, and he does not narrate except from the people of virtue from the companions of the Messenger of Allah.

If you follow him, you take your share of Islam. If you oppose him, you go astray and perish. Do you not say that I was given knowledge and do not need anyone from creation, and he has taken from me all he needs, so do not let desire pull you so you perish. I warn you of Allah’s punishment on the Day of Resurrection:

يَوْمَ لَا يَنْفَعُ مَالٌ وَلَا بَنُونَ ۝ إِلَّا مَنْ أَتَى اللهَ بِقَلْبٍ سَلِيمٍ

“On a day when wealth and children will not benefit, except the one who comes to Allah with a sound heart.” (al Shu ara 88–89)

“I warn you, and I have guided you to a man I have set up for you. He is trustworthy and loved in his time.” They said: “Who is he? Make him clear to us.” He said: “That is Malik ibn Anas. Hold to the view of Malik.”

Then he raised his hands to the sky and said: “O Allah, I am free from their guesses and their false claims, and from the evil narrators among them. O Allah, You know that things were said about Isa ibn Maryam عليه السلام that he did not say, and things were narrated about Malik that were not, and things were said about Uzayr that he did not say, and things were said about Ali ibn Abi Talib that he did not say, and things were narrated from him that were not.”

Many of his equals also praised him. Among them is al Awza i (d. 157 AH). When Malik (d. 179 AH) was mentioned, he would say: “The scholar of the scholars, and the scholar of the people of Madinah.” It was said to al Awza i (d. 157 AH): How did you find Malik? He said: “I found a learned man.”

Among them is Sufyan ibn Uyaynah (d. 198 AH). He said, comparing himself to Malik: “What are we compared to Malik. We only used to follow the traces of Malik. If he took from a shaykh, we took from him.” There is no doubt this is from his humility. Otherwise, he was his peer in hadith and in many shaykhs, but he did not reach Malik’s level in fiqh and ijtihad.

Ibn Uyaynah (d. 198 AH) said to someone: “Do you compare me to Malik. I and he are only as Jarir (d. 110 AH) said:

وابن اللبون إذا ما لُ في قَرَن
لم يستطع صولة البزل القناعيس

“And the young camel, when it is not yet grown in strength, cannot withstand the charge of the fully mature, strong camels.”

Al qana is is the plural of qan as, which is from camels, meaning the very large one.”

He also said: “Who is like Malik, following the traces of those who passed, with intellect and adab.” He said: “May Allah have mercy on Malik. How strict he was in choosing men.” He said: “Malik is the leader of the people of Madinah.” He said: “Malik is the leader of the Muslims.” When he heard of Malik’s death, he said: “He left no one like him.”

Among them is al Layth ibn Sa d (d. 175 AH). He said:

“Malik’s knowledge is the knowledge of a person of taqwa, Malik is a safety for the people if they take from him.”

He said: “I make dua for Malik in my prayer,” and he mentioned people’s need for fatwa.

Among them is Abd al Aziz ibn al Majishun (d. 166 AH). Ibn Wahb Abd Allah (d. 197 AH) said: I asked Abd al Aziz ibn al Majishun (d. 166 AH) about an issue. He said: “No answer comes to me, but ask Malik and tell me what he says.”

I asked him and told him. He said: “Malik is our leader and our scholar.” Abd al Aziz ibn al Majishun (d. 166 AH) mentioned an issue where his father’s view differed from Malik’s view. He said: “I follow Malik’s view, and I lean with Malik wherever he leans, for he was granted success.”

Among them is Abu Yusuf Ya qub ibn Ibrahim (d. 182 AH), the judge, the companion of Abu Hanifah. He said about Malik: “I have not seen anyone more knowledgeable than 3: Malik, Ibn Abi Layla, and Abu Hanifah.”

Ibn Abi Hazim said: Abd al Aziz ibn al Majishun (d. 166 AH) said to me: “Make good use of Malik, for no one remains from those who reached the people except him and me.”

Many of his students praised him, and they are many. We mention some of them.

Among them is al Shafii (d. 204 AH). Among what he said about Malik: “When the report comes, Malik is the star.” He said: “When the ulama are mentioned, Malik is the star.” Al Shafii meant by the star, as al Zawawi related, the saying of Allah Most High:

وَبِالنَّجْمِ هُمْ يَهْتَدُونَ

“And by the star they are guided.” (al Nahl 16)

Al Shafii (d. 204 AH) said: “Malik is Allah’s proof over His creation after the Tabiun.”

Al Shafii (d. 204 AH) said: “Malik was advanced among the people of knowledge in Madinah, al Hijaz, and Iraq, with early virtue, known among them for precision in hadith and for sitting with ulama.”

He said: “If not for Malik and Sufyan ibn Uyaynah, the knowledge of al Hijaz would have gone.” He said: “If the report comes to you from Malik, hold it firmly.” He said: “Whoever wants hadith, he is dependent on Malik.”

He said: “Malik ibn Anas is my teacher, and no one was safer for me than Malik. From him we took knowledge, and I am only a young man among Malik’s young men.”

It was said to al Shafii (d. 204 AH): O Abu Abd Allah, did you see anyone you reached like Malik ibn Anas? He said: “I heard those older than us in age and knowledge say: ‘We did not see anyone like Malik,’ so how could we see someone like him.”

I said: “With fairness?” He said: “Yes.” I said: “I ask you by Allah, who is more knowledgeable of the Qur an, our man or your man?” He said: “By Allah, your man.”

Al Shafii (d. 204 AH) said: Muhammad ibn al Hasan asked me: “Which is more knowledgeable, our man or your man,” meaning Abu Hanifah and Malik.

I said to him: “I ask you by Allah, who is more knowledgeable of the sayings of the earlier companions of the Messenger of Allah, our man or your man?” He said: “By Allah, your man.” Al Shafii said: “So nothing remains except analogy, and analogy is only on these matters. So on what do you make analogy.”

Al Shafii (d. 204 AH) used to say: “Whoever wants sound hadith must hold to Malik. Whoever wants argument must hold to Abu Hanifah. Whoever wants tafsir must hold to Muqatil ibn Sulayman.”

He said: “Knowledge turns around 3: Malik ibn Anas, Sufyan ibn Uyaynah, and al Layth ibn Sa d.”

Among those who praised him is Yahya ibn Sa id al Qattan (d. 198 AH), one of Malik’s early students. He said: “No one was put ahead of Malik in his time.” He said: “Sufyan and Shu bah have no third but Malik,” and sometimes he put Sufyan al Thawri ahead of everything.

Among them is Abd al Rahman ibn Mahdi (d. 198 AH). He was asked: Who is more knowledgeable, Malik or Abu Hanifah? He said: “Malik is more knowledgeable than the teacher of Abu Hanifah,” meaning Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman. I say: no doubt he means hadith and the fatwas of the Sahabah. As for Abu Hanifah in fiqh, then people are dependent on him, as al Shafii said.

Among them is Wuhayb ibn Khalid (d. 165 AH), and he was among the sharpest people in hadith. He said: “I came to Madinah and I did not find anyone except that he is taken and rejected, except Malik and Yahya ibn Sa id.” He did not compare anyone to Malik.

Ibn Mahdi (d. 198 AH) said: “The imams of the people in his time were 4: Sufyan al Thawri in Kufah, Malik in al Hijaz, al Awza i in al Sham, and Hammad ibn Zayd in Basrah.” Ibn Mahdi (d. 198 AH) used to say: “I have not seen anyone with a firmer intellect than Malik.”

Among them is Abd Allah ibn al Mubarak (d. 181 AH). He said: “If I were told to choose an imam for the ummah, I would choose Malik.”

Among them is Ibn Wahb Abd Allah (d. 197 AH). He said: “If Allah had not saved us by Malik and al Layth, we would have gone astray.” He said: “I have not seen anyone I wrote from, from the knowledge of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, more feared in my heart than Malik, nor someone who magnified the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ more than Malik, nor someone more protective over his religion than Malik. If I were told to choose for the ummah, I would choose Malik.”

Among those who praised him, from those not mentioned above, and who did not take from him and did not see him, is Yahya ibn Ma in (d. 233 AH). He said: “Malik was one of Allah’s proofs over His creation, an imam among the imams of the Muslims, agreed upon in his virtue.” He said: “Malik had noble judgement, noble knowledge. The earlier people took from Malik and trusted him. He was sound in hadith. He used to put forward the companions of al Zuhri.”

It was said to him: Is al Layth higher or Malik? He said: “Malik.” He said: “He is the most knowledgeable of al Zuhri’s companions, the most trustworthy of them, and the firmest of people in everything.”

He said about Malik: “An imam among the imams of the Muslims, agreed upon in his virtue, and firm in hadith.”

Among them is Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH). He said: “May Allah have mercy on Malik. The heart settles to his hadith and to his fatwa, and it deserves to settle to it. Malik is a proof with us because he strongly followed the reports that were sound with him.”

Among them is al Nasa i Ahmad ibn Shu ayb (d. 303 AH). He said: “With me, after the Tabiun, there is no one more noble and no greater than Malik, no more trustworthy than him, no safer for hadith than him, and no one with fewer narrations from weak narrators. We did not know him to narrate from one left aside except Abd al Karim,” meaning Abu Umayyah.

Among them is Muhammad ibn Sa d (d. 230 AH), the scribe of al Waqidi. He said: “Malik was trustworthy, reliable, firm, a jurist, a person of caution, a proof, and learned.”

Among them is al Harith ibn Miskin (d. 250 AH). He said: “May Allah have mercy on Malik. How protective he was over knowledge, how patient he was with poverty, and how he stayed in Madinah. He was ordered a gift of 3000 dinars, yet he did not change his house from the house he lived in, and he did not gain an estate, nor trade, nor income.”

Many leading people testified that he was an imam. He is an imam whether others testify or not. We only mention those who testified to show that the great ones recognised his imamate.

Among those who testified to his imamate is Abu Dawud Sufyan ibn al Ash ath (d. 275 AH). He said: “May Allah have mercy on Malik, he was an imam. May Allah have mercy on an imam. May Allah have mercy on Abu Hanifah, he was an imam. May Allah have mercy on al Shafii, he was an imam.”

Al Bukhari (d. 256 AH), Abu Zur ah al Razi (d. 264 AH), Muhammad ibn al Hakam, Abu Abd Allah ibn al Sayyid, and more than one said: “Malik ibn Anas is an imam.”

In al Zaraqani’s commentary, it says: If the ulama say without further detail, “the scholar of Madinah” and “the imam of the city of migration,” then they mean Malik and not anyone else.

I end the praise from the great ones with the saying of al Nasa i (d. 303 AH), when he was asked about Mu awiyah رضي الله عنه. He said: “Islam is a house, and the Sahabah are its door. Whoever speaks badly about any of them has entered the house.”

Abu Ali ibn Abi Hilal said: “I say: Malik is the ring of the door for whoever wants the house.”

Many praised Malik in poetry. We select some passages.

Abu Abd Allah al Humaydi (d. 488 AH) said: My father Abu Tahir Ibrahim recited to me:

إذا قيل من نجم الحديث وأهله
أشار أولو الألباب يعنون مالكاً
إليه تناهى علم دین محمد
فوطًا فيه للرواة المسالكاً
ونظم بالتصنيف أشتات نشره
وأوضح ما قد كان لولاه حالكا
وأحيا دروس العلم شرقاً ومغرباً
تقدم في تلك المسالك سالكا
وقد جاء في الآثار من ذاك شاهد
على أنه في العلم خُص بذالكا
فمن كان ذا طعن على علم مالك
ولم يقتبس من نوره كان هالكا

“If it is said, ‘Who is the star of hadith and its people?’
Those of understanding point, meaning Malik.

To him the knowledge of the religion of Muhammad ﷺ reached its end,
and he made its paths easy for the narrators.

He gathered, through writing, what had been scattered,
and clarified what would have remained dark without him.

He revived the lessons of knowledge in the East and the West,
advancing as one who walks those paths.

There has come in the reports a witness to that,
showing that he was singled out for this knowledge.

So whoever finds fault with the knowledge of Malik,
and does not take from his light, is ruined.”

Al Abyad said about the jurists who show off:

أهل الرياء لبستم ناموسكم
كالذئب يُدلج في الظلام العالم
فملكتم الدنيا بمذهب مالك
وقسمتم الأموال بابن القاسم
وركبتم شهب البغال بأشهب
وبا صبغ صبغت لكم في العالم

“O people of showing off, you have clothed yourselves in your appearance,
like a wolf that moves in the darkness.

You gained the universe through the madhhab of Malik,
and divided wealth through Ibn al Qasim.

You rode the finest white mules with Ashhab,
and with Ibn Sabgh you coloured your place in the universe.”

He also praised Malik:

قل للإمام سنا الأئمة مالك
نور العيون ونزهة الأسماع
الله درك من همام ماجد
قد كنت راعينا فنعم الراعي
فمضيت محمود النقيبة طاهراً
وتركتنا قلصاً بشر سباع
أكلوا بك الدنيا وأنت بمعزل
طاوي الحشا متكفت الأضلاع
تشكوك دنيا لم تزل بك برة
ماذا رفعت بها من الأوضاع

“Say to the Imam, the radiance of the imams, Malik,
the light of the eyes and the delight of the ears.

May Allah reward you, a noble and generous leader,
you were our shepherd, and what an excellent shepherd.

You passed on, praised, of pure character and clean,
and you left us as weak ones among people like wild beasts.

They consumed the universe through you while you were apart,
with an empty stomach and tightened ribs.

A universe that remained kind to you now complains of you,
what rank did you raise in it?”

This is enough of praise for him. The great one is not increased in greatness by praise, just as blame and criticism do not reduce it. There is much praise for him, and if we wanted to expand the speech about praising him, we could bring a great deal that this book cannot hold. (Tartib 1/130–164, Hilyat al Awliya 6/321–322, al Intiqa 19 and 32, Manaqib al Zawawi 15, Manaqib al Shafii by al Bayhaqi 1/517–524, al Risalah al Mustatrafah 41, al Dibaj 10–22, Sharh al Muwatta by al Suyuti 2/1–11, al Bidayah wal Nihayah 10/174, al Tadhkirah 112, al Zaraqani 3/1–4, al Shadharat 1/291, Nafh al Tayyib 3/448–449)

His Scholarly Rank and His Imamah

As part of praising him is mentioning his scholarly rank and his imamate, and that he alone in Madinah in his time was the example.

Humayd ibn al Aswad said: “No one from the people of Madinah was followed after Zayd ibn Thabit رضي الله عنه as they followed Malik’s view.”

Atiq said: “The people of Madinah did not agree upon anyone after the Prophet ﷺ except Abu Bakr and Umar رضي الله عنهما. Malik died, and we did not know anyone in Madinah before his death except that they agreed upon him.” I say: with Malik’s virtue and great knowledge, he is not equal to Abu Bakr and Umar, and they are the best of the Sahabah.

Even the great ulama whom Malik took from, who were his shaykhs, were compelled to ask their student Malik about a door of fiqh or an issue whose answer they did not know.

Malik said about that: “No one I carried knowledge from except that he was compelled to me until he asked me about his religion.” Ibn Abi Hazim said: I saw Zayd ibn Aslam, whose father Aslam was the freedman of Umar, standing and asking him for a fatwa.

The rulers would not carry out a matter tied to Sharia except that they asked Malik about it. Ibn Abi Uways Ismail (d. 226 AH) said: People all returned to the view of Malik ibn Anas. The governor, the judge, and the market inspector would ask him.

People followed Malik in everything, even in things they thought were from Sharia but were not. Ibn Abi Uways Ismail (d. 226 AH) said: I attended the rain prayer at the prayer ground. When the imam turned his garment, Malik stood and turned a silk cloth under him, so people stood and turned their cloaks.

When Malik left, it was said to him: Is it from the Sunnah of the rain prayer, if the imam turns his garment, that the people stand and turn their cloaks? He said: “They do not have to stand, and they can turn while sitting. I only stood because my silk cloth was under me, and I could not turn it unless I stood.”

Something similar was narrated by al Shafii (d. 204 AH). He said: “I broke my fast in Madinah with Malik. He went out to the Eid, prayed, and left. He looked at the people by the house of the Prophet ﷺ, while he was at the door of the masjid, and he said: ‘What is wrong with them?’

It was said: ‘They left to greet the Prophet ﷺ.’ He returned to the enclosure where the poor are fed in Ramadan, and he left entering the masjid. I saw the people leaving the masjid following Malik, asking: ‘Where is Malik?’” (Tartib 1/138–139)

His Honour with Allah

Malik is a great imam, and he was from the people of worship and taqwa. He lived his life spreading the religion of Allah, sitting for fatwa, and spreading the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

He is without doubt among those who made their religion sincerely for Allah. With all of this, he was among those who have honour with Allah.

Ibn Abi Hazim said: There was speech between a man from Quraysh and Malik. Malik said to him: “If you want to shame me, then upon you is someone who will remove you from his house in the worst way.” Allah then gave power over him.

Our imam led us in the Fajr prayer. When he finished, he sat in his prayer place and slept there. He saw Umar ibn al Khattab رضي الله عنه with guards with him, saying: “Take the stray donkey out of the masjid,” and he recited:

وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنْ مَنَعَ مَسَاجِدَ اللهِ أَنْ يُذْكَرَ فِيهَا اسْمُهُ

“And who is more unjust than the one who prevents the masjids of Allah from having His name mentioned in them.” (al Baqarah 114)

Rather, meaning its halal and its haram, and the Sunnah of His Prophet ﷺ, and what brings one near to Him. The imam woke up to alert the people about the man, and he had already been taken out of the masjid.

A rope was placed on his neck and he was brought to the ruler’s house. People informed the imam. He informed the man of the story. The man began pleading to Malik, saying: “Leave me, O best of those who say ‘He narrated to us.’” Malik asked Allah to forgive him. (Tartib 1/182)

Malik’s Trial

His Trial and Its Causes

Each of the 4 imams faced a trial. Abu Hanifah was called to the judiciary and refused, because if he accepted judiciary under the Abbasid caliphs, he would have recognised them, and that was not what he wanted. He was imprisoned and died in prison.

Al Shafii almost faced a severe matter, if not for Allah’s kindness to him, when he was in Yemen and ruled by Allah’s command against powerful men.

They agreed with the governor to send to al Rashid a claim that his leaning was with the Ahl al Bayt against them. He was called to the caliphate, and the execution mat was brought, but Allah saved him. Ahmad ibn Hanbal was imprisoned and beaten with a painful beating in the fitnah of the Qur an being created.

As for Malik, he faced a trial like his brothers. People differed over its cause. Most say the cause was his fatwa that the divorce of the one forced does not take effect. The early Abbasid caliphs wanted to tie people’s allegiance to them with oaths and with divorce and emancipation, and they forced people into that.

The Hanafis held that the divorce of the one forced takes effect. The three imams, Malik, al Shafii, and Ahmad, agreed that the divorce of the one forced does not take effect. Malik used to narrate the hadith: “There is no divorce on the one forced.”

What may have angered al Mansur is that Malik used to narrate this hadith at the time of the rising of Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn al Hasan, the one called al Nafs al Zakiyyah, in Madinah.

Al Tabari said: More than one person told us that Malik ibn Anas was asked for a fatwa about going out with Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn al Hasan, the one called al Nafs al Zakiyyah. It was said to him: “We have allegiance to Abu Jafar.”

He said: “You only gave allegiance while forced, and there is no oath on the one forced.” People quickly went to Muhammad. Malik stayed in his house. Abu Dawud said: Malik ibn Anas was beaten because of the divorce of the one forced.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal said, when he was asked about Malik being beaten: “He was beaten because of the divorce of the one forced. He did not permit it, so he was beaten.”

In al Dibaj it says that he gave a fatwa at the time of the Alawi called al Mahdi, that the allegiance to Abu Jafar does not bind because it was on coercion, meaning Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn al Hasan.

Some said otherwise. Al Shafii said: “I am the most knowledgeable of people about why Malik was beaten. There was a governor in Madinah from the Zubayris, I think he said: Bakkar al Zubayri.

It reached him that Malik was asked about Uthman and Ali رضي الله عنهما, and he said: ‘I do not make the one who entered into blood like the one who did not enter into blood.’ He used the oaths of allegiance against him and beat him. It reached al Rashid, and he rejected it and removed the governor.”

In al Dibaj there is what supports what al Shafii said. It says: Ibn Bukayr opposed all of that and said: “He was only beaten because he put Uthman ahead of Ali رضي الله عنهما. The Talibis spoke against him until he was beaten.” The more well known view is that it was in the days of Abu Jafar.

It was also said, as in al Shadharat, that he was carried to Baghdad and the governor said to him: “What do you say about temporary marriage?” He said: “It is haram.” It was said to him: “What do you say about the view of Abd Allah ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما in it?” He said: “The speech of others in it is more fitting to the Book of Allah,” and he insisted on saying it is haram.

Another view was narrated by Ibn Sa d from Muhammad ibn Umar. He said: When Malik ibn Anas was called, consulted, and his word accepted, people became attached to him, and envied him, and sought harm for him in every way. When Jafar ibn Sulayman became governor over Madinah, they spoke against Malik to him and increased against him.

They said: “He does not see these oaths of allegiance as anything, and he follows a hadith he narrated from Thabit ibn al Ahnaf about the divorce of the one forced, that it does not take effect.” Jafar ibn Sulayman became angry, called for Malik, and argued with him using what had been raised to him.

This view is acceptable. In every ummah and every age there are people who feel tight toward one who appears with knowledge, wealth, standing, or position. They envy him and invent words on him that he did not say.

If he said some of it, even as a Sharia ruling, they twist it as they wish to harm him in body, wealth, or position. Then their hearts feel at ease and their envy and evil are satisfied.

Malik was not someone who entered into politics, and he did not approve of trials and unrest. No one mentioned that he went out against obedience or called to revolt. He also did not put himself as a caller to the rulers and caliphs of his time, nor as their supporter.

Rather, he held to staying neutral. He did not call to anyone, did not rise with those who rose, and did not love trial and unrest. Even so, he did not lack a leaning toward the Umayyads without it pushing him to any statement or action. (al Tabari 7/539 and 7/560, Hilyat al Awliya 6/316, Manaqib al Shafii by al Bayhaqi 1/519–520, al Dibaj al Madhhab 28, al Shadharat 1/290, Mir at al Jinan 1/376, Muqaddimah Sharh al Muwatta by al Suyuti 3, Malik by Abu Zahra 72, Tartib 1/228, Jumharat Ibn Hazm 134)

His Beating

Should a man like Malik be beaten, after he filled the universe with knowledge, hadith, and fiqh. Should he be beaten after he laid foundations for rulings that people and rulers judge by. Should he be beaten while he is the great scholar with high rank. A man in the neighbourhood of the Prophet ﷺ, commanding his Sunnah, defending his companions, and spreading his hadith.

Should such a man be beaten and have his shoulder dislocated. How ugly your deed is. If only you knew your limits. Then you would not rule except with his approval. He carries the Sharia of Allah for whose sake and for whose protection and spreading you ruled. How can you harm him when he speaks the truth and speaks with Sharia.

Malik was spoken against to Jafar ibn Sulayman ibn Ali, the uncle of Abu Jafar al Mansur. It was said to him: “He does not see your caliphate.” He became angry and consulted the judge of Madinah, Muhammad ibn Abd al Aziz ibn Umar, and he advised him to beat Malik. He called him, stripped him, and beat him with whips. His hand was stretched until his shoulder dislocated.

That was in 146 AH. In al Intiqa it is 140 AH, but he stayed after that in rank and high place. It is as though those whips became jewellery for him, though he was harmed in his body, until he would hold his right hand with his left, or the reverse.

The early Abbasid caliphs feared that Malik’s fatwa would shake their rule, one fatwa: “There is no divorce on the one forced.” They stood and sat. Here the strength of Malik becomes clear. He disturbed the sleep of the early Abbasids and unsettled their rule with a word, with a fatwa.

They were among the strongest rulers of the earth in their time. Here the authority of knowledge and Sharia appears in Malik, that it is above the greatness of the caliphate and rule. If people did not fear the ruler’s force and power, the ruler would be removed and the scholar would remain.

In Hilyat al Awliya, from Ibn Wahb Abd Allah (d. 197 AH), that when Malik was beaten, his head was shaved and he was carried on a camel. It was said to him: “Call out about yourself.”

He said: “Whoever knows me has known me, and whoever does not know me, I am Malik ibn Anas ibn Abi Amir al Asbahi, and I say: the divorce of the one forced is nothing.”

It reached Jafar ibn Sulayman that he was calling out about himself with that, so he said: “Catch him, bring him down.”

Malik did not fear to say what he believed, even in this situation where Jafar wanted to disgrace him. He did not change what he believed in his fatwa no matter how far humiliation, disgrace, and torture went. This is how the one strong with Allah is. Nothing prevents him from the truth, or what he believes is the truth, even death.

It is said that Abu Jafar al Mansur did not order Malik to be beaten, and he swore about that, saying: “By Allah, there is no god except Him, I did not order what happened and I did not know of it.”

In al Dibaj it says: When al Mansur performed hajj, he gave Malik the right to take equal retaliation from Jafar ibn Sulayman, and he sent him to him to take retaliation.

Malik said: “I seek refuge with Allah. By Allah, no whip was raised upon my body except that I made him free of it in that moment because of his close relation to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”

Al Darawardi said: I heard Malik say, when he was beaten: “O Allah, forgive my people, for they do not know.”

His Staying in His House

When Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn al Hasan, the one called al Nafs al Zakiyyah, rose, Malik stayed in his house. He did not go out for Jumuah or congregational prayer, did not visit the sick, did not attend funerals, did not answer invitations.

Al Waqidi and Musab ibn Abd Allah said: Malik used to attend the masjid, attend Jumuah and funerals, visit the sick, answer invitations, and fulfil people’s rights for a time. Then he left sitting in the open area of the masjid. He used to pray and leave. Then he left visiting the sick and attending funerals.

He would come to their families and give them condolences. Then he left sitting with people, mixing with them, and praying in the masjid of the Prophet ﷺ, even Jumuah, and he did not give condolences to anyone and did not fulfil anyone’s right. People would say to him about that, and he would say: “Not everyone is able to mention what is in him.” People carried all of that from him until he died on that.

In Ibn Kathir’s history: From the time Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn al Hasan rose, Malik stayed in his house. He did not come to anyone, neither for condolence nor for celebration. He did not go out for Jumuah or congregational prayer. He would say: “Not everything known is said, and not everyone is able to apologise.”

In al Tadhkirah: Malik did not attend the congregational prayer for 25 years. I say: then his staying in his house was around the time of his beating.

Yahya ibn al Zubayr said: Malik said to me: “Did you and Abd Allah ibn Abd al Aziz withdraw?” I said: “Yes.” He said: “You hurried. This is not its time.” Then I met Malik after 20 years, and he said: “This is its time.” Then he withdrew and stayed in his house.

People differed about the reason he stayed in his house. Some said: his illness was urine leakage, because he said: “If not for being in the last day of this life and the first day of the next, I would not tell you.

I have urine leakage. I disliked to come to the masjid of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ without purity, as disrespect to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. I also disliked to mention my illness and complain about my Lord.”

If this is correct, then there is no need to strive to find a reason for this long withdrawal. If it is not established, then what is more likely is that he withdrew out of fear that he would be asked about the people who followed Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn al Hasan. In al Tabari it says: More than one told me that Malik was asked about going out with Muhammad. It was said to him: “We have allegiance to Abu Jafar.”

He said: “You only gave allegiance while forced, and there is no oath on the one forced.” People rushed to Muhammad. Malik stayed in his house. Something like this is also with Ibn Kathir and Ibn al Athir. (al Tabari 7/560, al Tadhkirah 212, Ibn Kathir 10/174, Tartib 1/180–181)

Was He Called to the Judiciary and Refused

In Tarikh Qudat al Andalus, page 24: When Banu al Abbas appeared, they became strict about judges and they chose for religious works the leading ulama. They called Malik ibn Anas, Ibn Abi Dhi b, and Abu Hanifah to the judiciary. Malik argued saying: “I am a man who was punished, and it is not fitting for a punished man to take the judiciary.”

Ibn Abi Dhi b argued saying: “I am Qurashi, and whoever shares in lineage should not share in judgement.” Abu Hanifah said: “I am a freedman, and it is not fitting for a freedman to take the judiciary.” Each of them argued with what Allah knows was truthful in his intention, so they were spared the trial of the judiciary.

The truth is that Malik used to dislike the judiciary and refuse it strongly, because it is danger and a trial. No one is safe from it except the one Allah has mercy on.

Malik said: Umar ibn al Husayn said: “I did not reach a judge appointed in Madinah except that I saw the sadness of the judiciary and dislike of it on his face.”

It was narrated from Malik that he used to say, about the traits without which the judiciary is not sound: “I do not think they gather today in anyone.” If 2 traits gather in a man, knowledge and caution, then he is put forward. This is in Tarikh Qudat al Andalus. (Tarikh Qudat al Andalus 2, 10, 14, 24)

His Dislike of Being Asked His Age

Malik disliked being asked about his age. If he was old, he would be accused of forgetfulness and weakness, and that he was at the worst part of life. If he was young, he would be accused of lack of experience, little knowledge, and lack of maturity. For this, Malik did not like mentioning age and used to say: It is not from honourable conduct to mention age.

Al Shafii said: I asked Malik ibn Anas about his age, and he said: “Turn to your own affairs. It is not from honourable conduct for a man to speak of his age.”

This question about age, and the answer “Turn to your own affairs,” continued from Abu Tahir al Salafi to Malik. Abu al Hasan ibn Mumin asked Abu Tahir al Salafi about his age, and he said: “Turn to your own affairs, for I asked Abu al Fath ibn Ziyan about his age, and he said: ‘Turn to your own affairs,’ for I asked Ali ibn Muhammad al Labban about his age, and he said: ‘Turn to your own affairs,’ for I asked Abu al Qasim Hamzah ibn Yusuf al Sahmi about his age, and he said:

‘Turn to your own affairs,’ for I asked Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Adi al Minqari about his age, and he said: ‘Turn to your own affairs,’ for I asked Abu Ismail al Tirmidhi about his age, and he said: ‘Turn to your own affairs,’ for I asked some of the companions of al Shafii about his age, and he said:

‘Turn to your own affairs,’ for I asked al Shafii about his age, and he said: ‘Turn to your own affairs,’ for I asked Malik ibn Anas about his age, and he said:

‘Turn to your own affairs. It is not from honourable conduct for a man to speak of his age.’”

Muhammad ibn Abd al Baqi al Bazzar recited:

احفظ لسانك لا تبح بثلاثة
سن ومال ما استطعت ومذهب
فعلى الثلاثة تبتلى بثلاثة
بمكفر، وبحاسد، ومكذب

“Guard your tongue, do not speak of three things:
your age, your wealth, and your madhhab, as much as you can.

For through these three, you will be tested with three:
one who declares you a disbeliever, one who envies you, and one who denies you.”

His Regret Over Issuing Fatwas Near His Death

When death comes near to a person of sincere iman, he tries to look back at the story of his life, at what he got right and what he got wrong, at what he fell short in, and at what he obeyed.

He feels happy about what he got right and what he obeyed, and he feels regret about what he neglected and what he disobeyed. This is how it was with Imam Malik (d. 179 AH).

He went back in his thoughts to his ijtihad and to the fatwas he gave. He saw a weakness, so he was affected by it and regretted it. That weakness was that he gave fatwas by opinion.

It is mentioned in al Wafayat and Tartib al Madarik that al Qaʿnabi (d. 221 AH) said: “I entered upon Malik ibn Anas during the illness in which he died. I gave salam to him, then I sat.

I saw him crying, so I said: ‘O Abu ʿAbd Allah, what is making you cry?’ He said: ‘O son of Qaʿnab, why should I not cry, and who has more right to cry than me? By Allah, I wish that for every issue I gave a fatwa in by my opinion, I had been struck with a whip, a whip. I had room to do otherwise, in what I reached before. I wish I had not given fatwas by opinion.’”

Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, feared in his final days that he may have given people fatwas by his opinion that was built on his ijtihad, even though he was very cautious about his religion.

He answered only a small number of questions, and he criticised giving too many answers. If he was not sure of an answer in a firm way, or close to it, he replied with the phrase “I do not know,” as mentioned earlier. (Mirʾat al Jinan 1/376, Wafayat 1/556, Tartib 1/152)

Malik’s Illness and Death

Imam Malik was ill for twenty two days. No one, as far as I have seen, mentioned what the illness was. They agreed that he remained ill for twenty two days, then his death came.

Bakr ibn Sulaym al Sarraf said: “We entered upon Malik in the late afternoon of the day he died. We said: ‘O Abu ʿAbd Allah, how do you feel?’ He said: ‘I do not know what to say to you. Truly you will see tomorrow, from Allah’s pardon, what you did not have in your reckoning.’”

He said: “We stayed until we closed his eyes.” He died, may Allah have mercy on him, on Sunday, with ten nights having passed of Rabiʿ al Awwal, in the year one hundred and seventy nine AH. This is the best known report, and the one most people give, for Malik’s death. Ibn Saʿd (d. 230 AH) said: on the fourteenth day of it. Musʿab ibn ʿAbd Allah (d. 236 AH) said: he died in Safar.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim, the amir of Madinah, led the prayer over him. He attended his جنازة on foot, and he was one of those who carried his bier.

His age at death was eighty seven years. Al Waqidi (d. 207 AH) said: he reached ninety years. From Ibn Nafiʿ it is reported: Malik died when he was eighty seven years old, and he remained a mufti in Madinah among them for sixty years.

His will was that he be shrouded in white clothes, and that the prayer over him be performed at the place of funerals. His will was carried out. He was buried in al Baqiʿ.

When he died, he testified, then he said:

لِلَّهِ الأَمْرُ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَمِنْ بَعْدُ

“The matter belongs to Allah, before and after.”

His Estate

As for Malik’s estate, it included 1000 dinars in cash, twenty nine dinars, and one thousand dirhams, so his estate came to three thousand and three hundred and some extra.

From his clothing and furnishings, he left one hundred turbans, besides other things.

Ibn al Qasim (d. 191 AH) said: Everything in Malik’s house on the day he died, may Allah have mercy on him, including cushions, saddles, rugs, pillows filled with feathers, and other things, came to more than five hundred dinars.

Muhammad ibn ʿIsa ibn Khalaf said: Malik left five hundred pairs of sandals. One day he desired a Qummusi cloak, and the night did not pass except that seven of them had been sent to him.

Yahya al Naysaburi gave him a gift. It was found in the handwriting of our trusted shaykhs that he sold the extra of it for eighty thousand.

His death struck the ulama of the universe in his time, and all people. He was at the peak of his knowledge and righteousness, and he taught generations of people.

He was a great example in his appearance and adab, especially with the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. His love for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was the greatest thing he stored. After his death, the great people spoke about him with grief and pain.

Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) said: “My aunt said to me, while we were in Makkah: ‘My son, I saw something amazing tonight.’ I said: ‘What was it?’ She said: ‘I saw as if someone was saying to me: The most knowledgeable person on earth died tonight.’” Al Shafiʿi said: “We counted it, and it was the day Malik ibn Anas died.”

ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿUmar al Qawariri (d. 235 AH) said: “We were with Hammad ibn Zayd (d. 179 AH), when the news of Malik ibn Anas came to him. His tears flowed, and he said: ‘May Allah have mercy on Abu ʿAbd Allah. He truly had a great place in religion.’” Then Hammad said: “I heard Ayyub (d. 131 AH) say: He had a circle of teaching during the life of Nafiʿ.” Hammad said: “O Allah, make the time after him good for us.”

Ibn ʿUyaynah (d. 198 AH), when the death of Malik reached him, said: “No one like him remains on earth.” Many praised him after his death. We mention some of them here.

Ibn al Mubarak (d. 181 AH) said:

“He stayed silent when silence made its people look good, and he opened the sealed virgins of speech. He held what the Qurʾan held of every wisdom, and adab was tied to him with flesh and blood.”

Abu al Muʿafi said, mourning Malik:

“Truly, the loss of knowledge is in the loss of Malik. May Malik remain among us with a sound state. If not for him, many rights would not have stood. If not for him, the ways would have been closed to us.

He set the path of truth, in private and in public, and he guided like the tightly bound stars guide. We went to him, seeking the light of his fire, while the stubborn argument was clinging to inability. He came with an opinion like him to be followed, like a string of pearls whose beauty is adorned with gold.”

Abu Muhammad al Darrab recited for some poet:

“If the ulama are counted one day, then Malik in the sciences is the light. People reach the peak of the ulama, they are like the earth, while he is for them the sky.”

Ibn al Zubayr recited for Abu al Muʿafi:

“May people be a ransom for Malik. They wished for his death, yet among them, if he died, there is no replacement and no successor. He carried the knowledge of religion as a refined light, with the chains of trusted people from the Salaf.

When he set straight what was crooked from their bow, and he became the furthest reach and the target, none of them could oppose his victory, even if their forearm was strong, with fingertips of a hand.”

Abu Muhammad Jaʿfar ibn Ahmad ibn al Husayn al Siraj recited, mourning him:

“May Allah water a grave in al Baqiʿ for Malik, with thunder of clouds and lightning. The imam of his Muwatta, through which regions and horizons spread in the universe. Through it he established the Sharia of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, with caution lest it be harmed, and with fear.

He had a high, sound support, and a great awe, so everyone lowers their gaze when he narrates. All his companions learned with truthfulness, and they are, if you ask the skilled, skilled. If there were only Ibn Idris (d. 204 AH) alone, it would be enough for him, as proof that happiness is distributed.” (al Dibaj 28, Manaqib al Shafiʿi by al Bayhaqi 1/495, Tartib 1/111 and 1/130 and 1/237 and 1/245–246, Sifat al Safwah 2/101, Tahdhib al Tahdhib 8/10, Tarikh Khalifah ibn Khayyat, al Zaraqani 4/1, al Intiqa 22 and 45, Sharh al Suyuti for al Muwatta 6, Tazyin al Mamalik 41–42, Manaqib al Zawawi 49, Mirʾat al Jinan 1/374, al Nujum al Zahirah 2/97, Wafayat al Aʿyan 1/556, Miftah al Saʿadah 2/084)

Conclusion

Imam Malik was the king of hadith in his time, and the crown of the jurists in his land. He inherited leadership in knowledge from generation to generation. He received virtue from great virtue, from the greatest. Between him, in the honour of narration and its height, and the greatest lawgiver, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, there were only two men, the Tabiʿi and the Sahabi.

He did not leave any great alim, whether a muhaddith or a faqih, except that he came to him and took from him. He had, from the imams among shaykhs, what no alim had. Then he began selecting, taking what he saw that the practice of the Sahabah and Tabiʿun was upon, and leaving what was other than that.

After he gathered a vast wealth from the inheritance of prophethood, from hadith, in speech, action, and approval, and he gathered a wealth that no one gathered like it from the ijtihad of the Sahabah and Tabiʿun and their fatwas, he sat for the people and gave them fatwas as a mujtahid, not as a mere transmitter.

People came to Madinah from the east and the west, carrying to him their problems and hard matters, to take the Sharia ruling from him. If he found the proof clear and believed it to be correct, he answered. If not, he said: “I do not know.”

This small phrase is easy for the great, and heavy for the small. Then he authored his book, al Muwatta. If al Muwatta was not the first book written in hadith, it was the first and greatest in gathering hadith with ijtihad. It is among the greatest books that were written and remained through time.

The great muhaddithun and fuqaha came from the lands of Islam, from Makkah and Madinah, from the Maghrib and al Andalus, from Egypt, al Sham, and Iraq, and from other lands. They came to take al Muwatta from Malik. Whoever among the ulama of his time did not take al Muwatta from Malik missed half of knowledge.

None of the four imams failed to narrate it from him by presentation. Al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH) memorised it all, then read it to him. Muhammad ibn al Hasan, the companion of Abu Hanifah (d. 189 AH), narrated it from him by hearing. Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH) did not meet Malik, but he narrated al Muwatta from al Shafiʿi and others. Many other imams narrated it, such as al Layth ibn Saʿd (d. 175 AH) in Egypt, and Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah (d. 198 AH), the shaykh of Makkah in hadith.

The hadith of Imam Malik, and his fiqh and ijtihad, spread. He had many companions who took from him, and people took from them. It became one of the major madhhahib, especially in North Africa from Egypt to the far Maghrib, and it first appeared in al Andalus. In those lands, no madhhab competed with it, except that in Egypt most people turned away from it to the madhhab of al Shafiʿi when al Shafiʿi came to Egypt.

May Allah have mercy on Malik. Malik used to say: “Everyone is taken from and replied to, except the one in this grave,” meaning the Prophet ﷺ.

The mujtahid is the one who uses his full effort so that his fiqh and ijtihad match what Allah and His Messenger legislated. If he is correct, he has two rewards. If he is wrong, he has one reward.

May Allah have mercy on Malik with a wide mercy. He is among those Allah is pleased with, and they are pleased with Him. With Allah, he has reward according to how much his knowledge and actions benefited, and according to how much he taught, benefited, and guided.

Author

ISHAQ. K