Indexed OCR Text

THE FOUR
IMAMS
Their Lives, Works and their Schools of thought
Muhammad Abu Zahra

THE FOUR IMAMS
The Lives and Teaching of their Founders
Muhammad Abu Zahra
Dar Al-Taqwa
C Dar Al Taqwa Ltd. 1999
ISBN
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
permission of the publishers.
Translation: Aisha Bewley
Editors: Abdalhaqq Bewley and Muhammad Isa Waley
Production: Bookwork, Norwich
Published by:
Dar Al Taqwa Ltd. 7A Melcombe Street Baker Street
London NW1 6AE
Imams contents 3/12/07 14:35 Page i
Foreword
This is book is a compilation of four books which deal with the lives and
work of the Imams who founded the four great canonical Schools of Islamic
Figh written in Arabic by the great Egyptian scholar and theologian,
Muhammad Abu Zahra, and presented in translation to give English-speaking
readers for the first time an in-depth analysis of these pivotal figures of
Islamic history. Such a work is long overdue in the English language.

The first part is about Imam Malik, who lived his whole life in Madina where
much of the Qur'an was revealed and most of the legal practices of Islam
established, spent his life studying, recording and clarifying the legal
parameters and precedents which had been passed down to him by the two
generations who had lived in Madina since the Prophet's death, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, and were, therefore, the direct inheritors of
the perfected form of Islam he left there.
It deals with not only the biographical details of the Imam's life but also puts
it in its historical context and, most importantly, shows us the methods he
used in reaching his legal conclusions which played such a vital part in
preserving exactly that legacy of pure Divine Guidance left by the Prophet
and his Companions.
The second part explores both the fiqh and the life and times of Imam Abu
Hanifa, who died in 150/767. He met Companions of the Prophet and is
counted amongst the Tabi'un (Followers). He is renowned for his piercing
intellect as a faqih, his scrupulousness and integrity of character, and his
resoluteness in the face of oppression.
His school, through its historical association with the Abbasid and Ottoman
khalifates and Moghul rule in India, is the most widespread of all the schools
of fi q h. This makes this study particularly important for English-speaking
Muslims since it gives
i
Imams contents 3/12/07 14:35 Page ii
them an in-depth appreciation of the school followed by the great majority of
Muslims in the West.
The third Imam is Imam ash-Shafi'i. He is remarkable in that he resolved the
different strands of opinion which had emerged in the still evolving Muslim
community and brought them together in probably the most brilliant legal
synthesis in the whole history of mankind.
Abu Zahra looks at his life and traces the development of his thought. He
talks of his teachers and his followers and shows how the system he devised
grew out of the intellectual and political currents of his time. He also gives an
in depth historical analysis of the various movements and sects which formed

the background to the Islamic world in which he lived
Ahmad ibn Hanbal is chronologically the last of the four Imams and lived
just after the first three formative generations of the Islamic community, thus
confronting a slightly diff e r e n t situation from that faced by his three
illustrious forebears. This necessitated a fresh approach to the legal issues
arising out of the situation of rapidly expanding urban development and
imperial government which had become the day-to-day reality of so much of
the Muslim community.
Abu Zahra shows how Imam Ahmad, through his incredible personal
integrity and scrupulous adherence to sound tradition, was able to chart a
course through the stormy period in which he lived and how his example
provided his followers with the legal bases of what later became the Hanbali
madhhab.
The present publisher has decided to combine the four original books into
one volume so that for the first time in English there is a comprehensive, in
depth analysis of the four Sunni madhhabs and their founders. This is
particularly important and relevant in the world today when many thousands
of Muslims find themselves in a situation where there is no traditional
allegiance to a particular madhhab and where adherents of all four schools
frequently pray together in a single mosque.
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Table of Contents
Malik ibn Anas
The Life of Malik ibn Anas 1
His birth and lineage 1
Malik's youth and studies 3
Malik's sessions of teaching and giving
legal rulings 10
Malik's way of life and relationship with the rulers 14
Malik's teaching 17
Malik's relationship with khalifs and governors 21

Malik's ordeal at the hands of al-Mansur 25
Malik's admonition and counsel to the khalifs 27
Malik's great knowledge 31
Malik's character 32
Madina 36
The Seven Fugaha' of Madina 44
Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab 44
'Urwa ibn az-Zubayr 46
Abu Bakr ibn 'Abdu'r-Rahman 47
Al-Qasim ibn Muhammad 47
'Ubaydullah ibn 'Abdullah 48
Sulayman ibn Yasar 48
Kharija ibn Zayd 49
Opinion and Ra'y 51
A Word about Sects 54
The Createdness of the Qur'an 54
Political Groups: the Shi'a, Kharijites and others 54
Malik's opinions and figh 55
Malik's position on doctrines 56
iii What Malik said about faith 57
What Malik said about Destiny and man's actions 58
Malik's opinion about those who commit grave wrong actions 59
The nature of the Qur'an 60
The Vision of Allah 61
Malik's opinion about politics 61
On vilifying the Companions 62
The House of the Khalifate 63
The method of selecting the Khalif 63
Obeying the less excellent person 64
Malik's Figh 66
Malik's books 66

The Muwatta' 70
Examples of Malik's method in the Muwatta' 76
Some of Malik's Students 82
'Abdullah ibn Wahb 83
'Abdu'r-Rahman ibn al-Qasim 83
Ashhab ibn 'Abdu'l-'Aziz 84
Asad ibn al-Furat 85
The major works of the Maliki School 86
The position of Maliki figh in respect of ijtihad 87
The Fundamental Principles of Malik's Figh 88
The Qur'an 90
Explicit texts (nass) and apparent texts (dhahir) 91
The Sunna 91
Opinion and Hadith 93
Fatwas of the Companions 95
Fatwas of the Followers 100
Consensus (Ijma') 100
The Practice of the People of Madina 101
Analogy (Qiyas) 102
Istihsan (Discretion) 103
Masalih Mursala (Considerations of
Public Interest) 105
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The Principle of adh-Dhara'i' 108
The Principle of Common Usage ('Adat)
and Custom ('Urf) 109
Conclusion 110
Abu Hanifa 113
Preface 115
Foreword 118
Chapter One

The Life and Times of Abu Hanifa 123
His birth and lineage 123
His upbringing 126
His involvement in learning 128
His replacing Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman 133
His position in respect of the revoluntionary movements of his time 137
His relations with the Abbasids 138
Chapter Two
The Knowledge of Abu Hanifa and
its Sources 156
Abu Hanifa's Qualities 158
His shaykhs 164
His private studies and experiences 172
Chapter Three
The Age of Abu Hanifa 176
Sunna and Opinion 180
The fatwas of the Companions and Tabi'un and the practice of the people of
Madina 189
The Sects 190
The Shi'ites 191
The Saba'ites 193
The Kaysanites 193
The Zaydites 194
The Imamites 195
v
The Kharijites 196
The Murji'ites 199
The Jabarites 201
The Mu'tazilites 202
The doctrine of the Mu'tazilites 203
The Mu'tazilites' method of deriving
their doctrine 206
The Mu'tazilites' defence of Islam 207

The khalif's patronage of the Mu'tazilites 207
The position of the Mu'tazilites 208
The suspicions of the fuqaha'
and hadith scholars 209
Disputes of the Mu'tazilites and the science of kalam 209
Chapter Four
The Opinions of Abu Hanifa 211
Abu Hanifa's political views 211
His opinion on issues of kalam 214
Faith (Iman) 216
Qadar and a man's actions 221
The Createdness of the Qur'an 222
The opinions of Abu Hanifa on thought, ethics and society 223
Chapter Five
The Figh of Abu Hanifa 228
The transmission of Hanafi fiqh 228
The Musnad of Abu Hanifa 229
Abu Hanifa's knowledge transmitted by
his students 230
Abu Yusuf 232
Muhammad ash-Shaybani 235
Zafar ibn Hudhayl 236
The place of Abu Hanifa's figh 237
Abu Hanifa and hypothetical figh 240
The fundamental principles 241
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Abu Hanifa and legal evidence 242
The Book 243
The Sunna 245
Fatwas of the Companions 248
Consensus 249
Analogy 250
Istihsan (Discretion) 252
Custom ('urf) 253
A note about Abu Hanifa's figh 253

Concluding Note 254
Imam-Shafi'i 257
Preface 259
Chapter One
Birth, Lineage and Life History 261
His quest for knowledge 263
His appointment 264
His trial 265
Chapter Two
Ash-Shafi'i's Knowledge and its Sources 273
His gifts 275
His shaykhs 279
His private studies and experiences 283
Chapter Three
The Times of ash-Shafi'i 287
Sunna and Opinion 299
The fatwas of the Companions and Tabi'un and the practice of the people of
Madina 307
The debate about consensus 310
What is stated in texts 312
A brief survey of ash-Shafi'i's time 314
The Sects 317
The Shi'a 317
The Kharijites 319
Vii
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The Mu'tazilites 323
The doctrine of the Mu'tazilites 324
The Mu'tazilites' method of deriving
their doctrine 327
Their defence of Islam 328
The khalif's patronage of the Mu'tazilites 329
The position of the Mu'tazilites 330

The suspicions of the fugaha'
and hadith scholars 332
Disputes of the Mu'tazilites and the science of kalam 332
Chapter Four
The Opinions and Figh of ash-Shafi'i 334
Ash-Shafi'i's opinion about kalam 334
Ash-Shafi'i's opinion about the khalifate 337
The figh of ash-Shafi'i 339
The transmission of ash-Shafi'i's figh 342
ash-Shafi'i's students 342
His books 346
Kitab al-Umm 351
The Legal Collection published in Egypt 354
Our study of the figh of ash-Shafi'i 355
Chapter Five
The Principles of ash-Shafi'i 359
Knowledge of the Shari'a 360
The evidence for judgements according
to ash-Shafi'i 362
The Qur'an 363
'Amm and khass in the Qur'an 365
How the Qur'an sheds light on the Shari' a and the position of the Sunna in
respect of it 366
The Sunna 368
The position of the Sunna in relation to the Book 372
The Sunna elucidating the Qur'an 373
viii Consensus 373
Analogy 377
The invalidation of istihsan 378
Statements of the Companions 379
Ash-Shafi'i's reliance on outward rather
than inward meaning 379
The work of ash-Shafi'i on the fundamental principles 380
Ahmad ibn Hanbal 383

Preface 385
Chapter One
The Life of Ahmad ibn Hanbal 391
Birth and lineage 391
Upbringing and education 393
Imam Ahmad's sitting to teach hadiths
and give fatwa 401
The Inquisition (Mihna): its causes and stages 407
The first letter of al-Ma'mun 410
The second letter 412
The third letter 415
Imam Ahmad's livelihood and environment 417
Ahmad's refusal of appointments and stipends from the khalifs 420
Chapter Two
The Erudition of Ahmad ibn Hanbal 423
Qualities of character 424
Imam Ahmad's shaykhs 431
Ahmad's private studies 433
Chapter Three
Ahmad's Time and its Effect on Him 436
Islamic Sects 441
Shi'ites 442
Kharijites 443
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Murji'ites 444
Jabarites 444
Qadarites 444
Ibn Hanbal's Views 446
His opinions about some creeds 447
Faith 447
The judgement about someone who commits a major sin 449
Qadar and human actions 450
The Divine Attributes and the createdness of the Qur'an 451

Seeing Allah on the Day of Rising 453
His political views 455
Chapter Five
The Hadiths and Fiqh of Ahmad 458
The Musnad 460
The transmission of Ahmad's figh 462
The transmitters of Ahmad's figh 466
Some of the transmitters among Ahmad's
companions 466
Salih ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal 467
'Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal 467
Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hani' al-Athram 467
'Abdu'l-Malik ibn 'Abdi'l-Hamid al-Maymuni 468
Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Marwazi 468
Harb ibn Isma'il al-Kirmani 468
Ibrahim ibn Ishaq al-Harbi 469
Abu Bakr al-Khallal 469
Chapter Six
Description of Hanbali Fiqh 471
The foundations of deduction in Hanbali fiqh 471
The Book 476
The Sunna 479
Fatwas of the Companions 484
Fatwas of the Tabi'un 489
x
Consensus (Ijma') 490
Analogy 492
Istishab (Presumption of Continuity) 494
Masalih (Public Interest) 495
The principle of adh-Dhara'i' (Judgement of the means) 498
Conclusion 500
Glossary 502 Index 509
Malik ibn Anas

(93-179/712-795)
The Life of Malik ibn Anas (93-179/712-795)
Malik's birth and lineage
Scholars disagree about the year in which Malik was born. D i fferent
accounts mention 90, 93, 94, 95, 96 and 98 AH. The most widely accepted
date is 93. Indeed, it is reported that Malik himself said, "I was born in 93."
He was born and lived his whole life in Madina and saw the traces of the
Companions and Followers and the grave of the Prophet, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace, and all the great places there. He felt an enormous
esteem for Madina and all it contained which marked his life from his earliest
childhood. He knew it to be the cradle of knowledge, the fountain of light and
the spring of gnosis. He maintained this deep-rooted respect until his death
and it had a profound impact on his thought, his fiqh and his life in general.
He never rode in Madina and he gave great importance to the practice of its
people in his ijtihad. Indeed, the principle of the 'Practice of the People of
Madina' was one of the foundations of his legal method, as we will show.
Malik was descended from a Yemeni tribe, Dhu Asbah. His full name was
Malik ibn Anas ibn Malik ibn Abi 'Amir al-Asbahi alYamani. His mother
was al-'Aliyya bint Sharik al-Azdiyya. His father and mother were both
Yemeni Arabs. But there are two disputed matters in this regard which should
be cleared up at this juncture. The first is that there is one transmission which
states that his mother was a client and that her name was Tulayha and that she
was the client of 'Abdullah ibn Ma'mar. That is not the accepted position
since she was in fact a Yemeni Azdite, and so this unsubstantiated report is
generally ignored.
The second point is that some biographers claim that Malik and his whole
family were clients and therefore not pure members of an Arab tribe. They
state that his great-grandfather, Abu 'Amir, was a client of the Banu Taym,
the sub-tribe to which Abu Bakr belonged. According to this, he would be
Qurayshi by clientage. We find that al-Bukhari mentions that Abu Suhayl
was a client and Ibn Hajar states that this Abu Suhayl was the uncle of Malik.

It is said that Ibn Shihab az-Zuhri, the shaykh of Malik, considered Malik to
be one of the clients of the Banu Taym since his uncle was so considered.
Malik denied that and made it clear that his lineage was pure Arab. It appears
that the source of this report was Muhammad ibn Ishaq, the author of the
Sira. That is why its transmission is not accepted: because he is not
considered reliable, the statement is baseless. The erroneous impression arose
because of his alliance with Banu Taym.
Abu Suhayl, Malik's uncle, said, "We are people from Dhu As'hab. Our
grandfather came to Madina and married among the Taymis. He was with
them and was ascribed to them." This indicates that they formed an alliance
with Abu 'Amir. An alliance is a natural consequence of the relationship by
marriage between the parties, which results in mutual support.
There is some question about when Abu 'Amir settled in Madina and married
into the Banu Taym, which led to the mutual alliance. According to some
historians he settled in Madina after the Battle of Badr while the Prophet was
still alive, and was present with the Prophet in all the expeditions except that
of Badr. Qadi ibn al-'Ala' al-Qushayri mentioned that Abu 'Amir, the
grandfather of Malik's father, was one of the Companions of the Prophet. He
said, "We went on all the expeditions with the Prophet, except that of Badr."
His son Malik, whose k u n y a w a s Abu Anas, was Malik's grandfather. He
was one of the great Ta b i ' u n. More than one person mentioned that he
related from ' U m a r, Talha, 'A'isha, Abu Hurayra and Hassan ibn Thabit.
He was one of the four men who carried 'Uthman to his grave and shrouded
him.
1. The plural of mawla, a person with whom a tie of wala' has been established, originally by
having been a slave and then set free. It is also used for a type of political patronage extended
to non-Arab Muslims.
Some sources say something different: that Abu 'Amir settled in Madina after
the death of the Messenger of Allah, and so was alive while the Prophet was
alive but did not meet him. He met his Companions and studied with them
and so on that basis he is a Follower.
According to another source it was Malik, the grandfather of the Imam, who
came to Madina: "Malik ibn Abi 'Amir came to Madina complaining about
one of the governors in Yemen. He inclined to one of the Banu Taym ibn

Murra and made an alliance with them and joined them." From this it is
understood that the family of Abu 'Amir was from Yemen and that the first
of them to come to Madina was the grandfather of Malik, not Abu 'Amir.
It is clear to us, then, that there are three transmissions: one is that Abu 'Amir
was alive in the time of the Prophet and was present at all the expeditions
except Badr; another, that he came to Madina after the death of the Prophet
and married into the Banu Taym; and the third is that the first of this family
to come to Madina was Malik ibn Abi 'Amir, not Abu 'Amir. We prefer the
second of these because it agrees with what is related about Abu Suhayl.
Malik's youth and studies
Malik grew up in a household which was engaged in the science of Traditions
and ha dith. His family was interested in the knowledge of the reports and
traditions of the Companions and their fatwas. His grandfather, Malik ibn Abi
'Amir, was one of the great men of knowledge of the Ta b i ' u n. He related
from many Companions. It is clear, however, that Anas ibn Malik,1 M a lik
's father, was not greatly concerned with hadith since it is not known that
Malik related anything from him, although Malik's grandfather and uncles
were. His family was well-known for their devotion to knowledge. Malik was
originally known as 'the brother of an-Nadr', a brother of his who was
esteemed for his knowledge.
1. He should not be confused with the famous Companion, Anas ibn Malik al-Ansari al-
Khazraji.
Then his own desire to seek knowledge grew to such an extent that people
began to say, 'an-Nadr, the brother of Malik.'
The general ambience of the place where he lived was one of knowledge and
learning. It was the city of the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, and the place to which he emigrated, the land of the Shar i' a, the
fount of the Light of the Deen and the stronghold of Islamic governance and
the capital of Islam as a whole during the time of Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and
'Uthman. The period of 'Umar was crucial for the implementation of the
guidance of the Qur'an and the Messenger and the many legal judgements
which that entailed.

Madina in the time of the Umayyads remained a pivotal source of the S h a r i
'a and point of reference for scholars, even for the Companions themselves
who were living in other places. It is related that 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud
would be asked about something in Iraq and give a fatwa about it. If he came
to Madina and found that the ruling on the matter was different there, he
would return to Iraq and not dismount until he had gone to the one to whom
he had given the fatwa and informed him of the difference. 'Abdullah ibn
'Umar was consulted by 'Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr and 'Abdu'l-Malik ibn
Marwan who were contending over the leadership. He wrote to them, "If you
both desire advice then you must come to the land of the Hijra, the cradle of
the Sunna."
Malik grew up while Madina still held this position, so that when 'Umar ibn
'Abdu'l-'Aziz wrote to the cities to instruct them in the Sunna and fiqh he
wrote to Madina to ask them about their practices. He wrote to Abu Bakr ibn
Hazm in Madina asking him to compile the practices of the Sunna for him
and to record them for him, but then 'Umar ibn 'Abdu'l-'Aziz died. Ibn
Hazm had written some letters to him but he died before he could publish
them.
Such was Madina in the time when Malik was growing up: it was the cradle
of the Sunna and the home of fatwa. The first masters of the people of
knowledge among the Companions gathered there, as did their students after
them, until Malik came and inherited that noble legacy of knowledge, hadith
and fatwas which they had kept alive. His natural gifts flourished under its
aegis. He grew up there, memorising the Noble Qur'an in his early youth as
many young Muslims do. After memorising the Qur'an he devoted himself to
memorising h a di th , which was much encouraged in the environment of
Madina. Malik went to the assemblies of scholars to write down what they
taught and study it. He told his mother that he wanted to go and study, and
she dressed him in his best clothes and turban and then said, "Go and write
now." She said, "Go to Rabi'a and learn his knowledge before learning his
adab."
It is clear that this encouragement from his mother led him to sit with Rabi'a
first, and he studied with him and learned fiqh. He started studying while he
was still very young. One of his contemporaries said about him, "I saw Malik
in the circle of Rabi'a when there was an earring in his ear." That indicates

how young he was. He was eager from his earliest youth to memorise
everything he learned. When he was studying, he would move round to stay
within the shade of a tree so that he could finish what he wanted to finish. His
sister said to her father, "This brother of mine does not go to visit people." He
said, "My daughter, he is memorising the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah."
Malik sought knowledge in various gatherings and constantly kept the
company of fuqaha' and men of knowledge. He said, "I had a brother the
same age as Ibn Shihab. My father put a question to us one day and my
brother was right and I was wrong. My father said to me, 'Have the pigeons
distracted you from the quest for knowledge?' So I became angry and
devoted myself to Ibn Hurmuz for seven years (one version has eight years)
and I did not go to anyone else. I used to put some dates in my sleeve and I
gave them to his children, telling them, 'If anyone asks about the shaykh, say
that he is busy." One day Ibn Hurmuz said to his slavegirl, "Who is at the
door?" She could only see Malik. She came back and told him, "It is only that
ruddy-skinned one." He said, "Let him be. That is the man of knowledge of
this people." Malik used to put on short padded trousers to sit at the door of
Ibn Hurmuz to protect himself from the cold of the stones there.
This report indicates how Malik devoted himself to knowledge from an early
age and sought it out from the people of knowledge in Madina. He confined
himself to two areas of knowledge: hadith and fiqh. He did not like to argue
about the reports of the various sects regarding matters about which people
become confused and disagree. That was not due to any ignorance of their
positions but was based on knowledge and clear evidence because he saw
that delving into such things had no benefit.
According to Ta rtib al-Madarik, a Mu'tazilite critic said, "I came to Malik
ibn Anas, and I asked him in the presence of the people about a question
dealing with predestination. He indicated that I should be silent. When the
assembly was over, he said to me, 'Ask now.' He did not want to answer me
in the presence of other people." The Mu'tazilite stated that he asked him
about every one of their positions and Malik refuted them all and established
the falseness of their school. It can be seen from this that Malik did not teach
all that he knew, but taught the best of what he knew.
He had various teachers among the Tabi'un in Madina. It was Ibn Hurmuz

who taught him about the disagreements between people and how to refute
the adherents of the various sects. He also went to Nafi', the client of Ibn
'Umar, and sat with him. Malik said, "I used to come to Nafi' for half of the
day. As long as the tree shaded me from the sun, I would wait for him to
come out. When he came out, I left him alone for a time as if I had not
noticed him. Then I would turn to him and greet him and then leave him
again until he entered the courtyard. Then I would say to him, 'What did Ibn
'Umar say about such-and-such?' and he would answer me. Then I would
withdraw from him. He was prone to be a little irritable."
Malik also studied with Ibn Shihab az-Zuhri. It is related that he said, "Az-
Zuhri visited us so we went to see him. Rabi'a was with us. He gave us about
forty hadiths, and then we went to him again the following day. He said,
'Look for a book so I may give you hadiths from that. Do you think that you
have retained any of the h a d i t h s I gave you yesterday?' Rabi'a said to
him, 'Here is someone who will repeat to you all the hadiths you gave him
yesterday.' He said, 'Who is it?' He replied, 'Ibn Abi 'Amir.' He said, 'Go
on.' Then I repeated the forty h a d i t h s he had given us. AzZuhri then said,
'I did not think that there was anyone capable of memorising in this way
except for me."
Malik was as eager to benefit from the transmission of az-Zuhri as he had
been to benefit previously from the knowledge of Ibn Hurmuz and the
knowledge of Nafi'. He went to his house to wait for him to come out, as he
had gone to Nafi"'s house in al-Baqi' at midday, to wait for him to come out.
He went to him when he had finished his public teaching in order to learn in a
calm atmosphere without the distraction of the group.
Malik said, "I was at the 'Id prayer and I said, 'This is the day on which Ibn
Shihab retires,' so I left the place of the prayer and went and sat at his door. I
heard him say to his slavegirl, 'Look and see who is at the door.' She looked
and I heard her say, 'It is your ruddy-skinned friend, Malik.' He said, 'Bring
him in,' so I went in. He remarked, 'I do not see you going to your home
after the prayer.' I said, 'No.' 'Have you eaten anything?' he asked. 'No,' I
replied. He said, 'Eat!' I replied, 'I have no need of it.' He asked, 'What do
you want then?' I said, 'I want you to give me hadith.' He told me, 'Come on
then!' So I brought out my slates and he gave me forty hadiths. I said to him,
'More!' He told me, 'That is enough for you. If you can relate these hadiths,

you are one of the huffaz.' I said, 'I have memorised them.' He pulled the
slates from my hand and then he said, 'Speak then!' so I related them and he
repeated them to me. He said, 'Get up. You are one of the vessels of
knowledge.""
He mentioned that because of his desire for the hadiths of Ibn Shihab when
he sat with him, he kept a thread with him. Whenever Ibn Shihab gave a h a d
i t h, Malik tied a knot in the thread to keep track of the number of hadiths he
had learned.
From the time of his youth Malik showed great respect for the hadiths of the
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and would
only teach them in a state of calm and gravity out of respect for them and the
desire to be precise in them. He would not teach them while standing or while
he was anxious or agitated. We are told in al-Madarik, "Malik was asked
whether he had listened to 'Amr ibn Dinar. He said, "I saw him giving hadith
and the people were writing standing up. I did not like to write down a hadith
of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, while
standing." Another time Malik passed by Abu'z-Zinad while he was relating
hadith and he did not sit with him. He met him after that and asked, 'What
kept you from sitting with me?' He said, 'The place was crowded and I did
not want to take a hadith of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, while standing.""
We mentioned these anecdotes about Malik's quest for hadiths and what has
been said about his shaykhs in order to bring out three points. Firstly, at that
time knowledge was taken by learning directly from the mouths of men and
not from books in which knowledge was recorded. This is why the memory
of students was so sharp: they were entirely dependent on it and were eager
not to lose anything they heard. Malik kept track of the number of hadiths he
learned by tying knots in a length of thread. If he forgot a hadith, he would
return to hear it again. No reproach or rebuke would stop him, but even so he
would only miss the odd one.
The second thing we learn is that scholars had begun to record their
knowledge in writing, even if they did not rely on what was written. Ibn
Shihab encouraged his students to write down what they heard, out of fear
that they might forget it. Malik went to him with slates in hand on which he

wrote down what he heard. That did not prevent him from memorising what
he wrote. So when Ibn Shihab took away the slates he could repeat what was
on them.
Thirdly, we gather from these extracts that Malik was tirelessly devoted to
seeking knowledge and applied himself to it with an earnestness, energy and
patience rarely emulated in the history of Islam. Undeterred by intense heat,
he would leave his home and wait for the time when scholars left their houses
for the mosque, and not even the irascibility of some of them prevented him
from learning from them. He endured criticism for that at times but he kept at
it until he managed to achieve his aim.
We should at this point elaborate on the different branches of knowledge that
Malik studied in his pursuit of learning. He sought knowledge in four areas
which are part and parcel of the formation of the complete scholar and faqih
who knows the sources properly, who is able to derive rulings from them
correctly, who is in touch with the spirit of his time and has true
understanding of what is happening around him, and has the ability to
disseminate among people the knowledges which he thinks are beneficial for
them.
Firstly he learned how to refute adherents of deviant sects and how to resolve
people's disagreements and clarify their disputes in respect of fiqh and other
matters. He studied that with Ibn Hurmuz, as he himself said. He took from
him much knowledge which he did not spread publicly. But when there was
an occasion where it was necessary to impart it, he did so.
It seems that Malik divided knowledge into two kinds: knowledge to be
taught to people in general, which was not to be confined to anyone since
there was no harm in it for anyone and all intellects could accept it and listen
to it and benefit from it; and another kind of knowledge which should be
reserved for the elite. He did not teach that kind to ordinary people because it
would harm some people more than help them. This was the case with the
refutation of the adherents of sects, which can be difficult for people and
even cause some people to deviate themselves.
Secondly he learned the f a t w a s of the Companions from the Ta bi ' un
and the Ta bi ' i't - Tabi 'in1. He learned 'Umar's fat was and those of