Indexed OCR Text

official position under three of the Abbasid khalifs: al-Ma'mun, al-Mu'tasim
and al-Wathiq.
Political Groups: the Shi'a, Kharijites and others
The Shi'a are considered to be the oldest Islamic sect. They believe that 'Ali
was the Muslim most entitled to be khalif after the Messenger of Allah, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace. They form various groups, some of
them going to extremes in their sanctification of 'Ali.
The Kharijites appeared in the army of 'Ali after he agreed to arbitration at
the Battle of Siffin.1 They then rebelled against him and declared that anyone
who agreed to arbitration was an unbeliever. They also had several sub-
groups.
There were also the Murji'ites who mixed politics with the fundamentals of
the deen. There were the Jabariyya or Jahmiyya, who believed in total
predestination, and the Qadariyya, who believed in unlimited free will.
Malik's opinions and fiqh
Malik was a muhaddith and faqih and did not apply any other term to himself
because he did not seek anything but knowledge of the Book and Sunna and
the Path that the righteous early Muslims had followed. Thus he derived his
opinions first from the Book of Allah, then from the S u n n a, and then from
the statements and judgements of the Companions and those who followed
them. He studied events in the light of what he knew with an ample intellect.
He avoided the people of opinions and did not mention them.
In fact, the only science in Madina was that which Malik loved: the science
of hadiths and the science of figh based on that transmitted legacy left by the
Companions of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and
their Followers. It was free of the extrapolations from outside which
proliferated in places like Basra and Kufa, and elsewhere. Nonetheless, in
view of the fact that the hajjis came to the Hijaz every year, news of these
ideas did reach Madina, and indeed Madina was at one point subject to the
depredations of the Kharijites and experienced the Shi'ite rebellion of

Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah, the Pure Soul, in 145/762. Hence Malik did
mention some of those topics.
1. The battle between Mu'awiya and 'Ali in 38/657.
Malik's position on doctrines
Malik reported: "'Umar ibn 'Abdu'l-'Aziz said, 'The Mesenger of Allah
made a sunna and those with authority after him made sunan. To accept that
is to follow the Book of Allah and the perfection of obedience to Allah and
strength in the Deen of Allah. No one after these may change the sunan or
look into anything which opposes them. Whoever is guided by the sunan will
be guided. Whoever seeks help by them will be helped. Whoever leaves them
will not be following the Path of the believers. Allah will assign him what he
has taken and he will roast in Hell. What an evil return!"" When Malik
uttered this, he shook with joy.
A man asked Malik, "Who are the people of the S u n n a, Abu 'Abdullah?"
He replied, "Those who do not have any name by which they are known -
who are not Jahmis, Rafidites (Shi'ites) or Qadaris."
When he was asked about certain questions into which sects were delving, he
would say very little so that that would not lead to argumentation and the
very delving he was trying to avoid. His answer directed people to rely on
what is transmitted and to distance themselves from that for which there is no
precedent in the Book or Sunna.
Sufyan ibn 'Uyayna said, "A man questioned Malik as follows, ""The
Merciful settles on the Thro n e. " How can He settle anywhere, Abu
'Abdullah?' Malik was silent for a long time until he began to sweat
profusely. I had never seen Malik grieve at anything the way that he did at
these words. People began to look to see what position he would take. Then
he regained his composure and said, 'His settling is well-known. The "how"
of it is beyond our comprehension. Asking about it is innovation. Belief in it
is obligatory. I think you are misguided. Get him out!' The man called
out to him, 'Abu 'Abdullah! By Allah, and there is no god but He! I asked the
people of Basra, Kufa and Iraq about this question, and I did not find anyone
who dealt with it as successfully as you have.""

Malik's teaching, then, stopped at what the text indicated and he did not
exceed the evident meaning in any text in the Book or Sunna, especially
where doctrines were concerned.
In Malik's day there was much discussion about the nature of faith and
whether it increases or decreases and whether its reality was word or action
or simply faith itself. There was also discussion about the actions of the
human being, about whether committing major wrong actions makes people
unbelievers and whether or not Allah will actually be seen on the Day of
Rising. He was asked about these matters in his lessons and his method was
to stop where the Salaf stopped: with the explicit text. He did not get
involved in theoretical debates.
What Malik said about Faith
Malik thought that faith was not only a matter of belief but also involved
action. He used to say, "Belief is both word and deed." He considered that
acts of obedience were part of faith, so that performing the prayer was an
integral part of faith. His evidence for this was that when the qibla was
changed from Jerusalem to the House of Allah, some of the believers were
afraid that their previous prayers would be lost; but Allah revealed, "Allah
would not let your faith go to waste." (2:143) This indicates that the prayer
and faith are inseparable and since prayer is action, faith must involve both
word and deed.
Since faith is both word and deed, it increases through action. That is why it
is reported that Malik said that faith is subject to increase. His view is based
on clear ayats which indicate that and is a logical corollary of considering
action to be part of faith. But Malik forbade people to call those who did not
agree with this unbelievers.
Zuhayr ibn 'Abbad told Malik that there were two groups in Syria who
disagreed concerning faith. One said that it was subject to increase and
decrease; the other said that it always remains constant. Zuhayr asked him,
"What should the two groups say?" He replied, "They should say, 'We are
believers' and then refrain from going beyond those words. The Prophet, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'I am commanded to fight the

people until they say, "There is no god but Allah." Once they say it, their
blood and property are protected except when there is a legal right.' The
Almighty says, "Do not say 'You are not a believer' to someone who gives
you the Muslim greeting." (4:94) Zuhayr told him that the two groups
attacked one another.' He said, 'We belong to Allah and to Him we return!""
Malik believed that faith is subject to increase and decrease because anything
which can increase can also decrease. But because he found that the ayats of
the Qur'an only mention increase, he refrained from speaking about its
decrease. We find in Ta rtib al-Madarik that more than one person heard
Malik say, "Faith consists in words and action, and it increases and
decreases." Ibn al-Qasim said, "Malik used to say 'Faith increases' and
refrained from mentioning decrease. He said, 'Allah mentioned its increase in
more than one place. He did not speak of its decrease.' He refrained from
doing so."
What Malik said about Destiny (Q a d a r) and man's
actions
The subject of Destiny is connected to man's will. Do we have freedom of
choice in what we do so that we are responsible for our good and bad actions
or do we have no freedom? Discussion of this matter began at the end of the
Rashid un period and was widespread in the Umayyad period and led
eventually to two opposing groups: the Jabriyya, led by Jahm ibn Safwan
who believed that man had no will in what he did and no choice in the actions
ascribed to him, and the Qadariyya, led by Ghaylan adDimishqi and others
who believed that man had complete freedom of will in respect of his actions
and that furthermore man created his own actions by his free will. A group of
Muslims took a position in between and held that man's actions are created
by Allah Almighty and not by man, but that man acquires them and advances
to them, which is how he becomes responsible for them.
Malik detested the Qadariyya who claimed that we create our own actions.
He refrained from speaking to them and forbade them to sit with him. He
stated, "All the believers in complete free will I have seen embody
imbecility, levity and contrivance." He said, "'Umar ibn 'Abdu'l-Aziz used
to say, 'If Allah had willed that He should not be disobeyed, he would not

have created Iblis, who is the head of wrong actions.' What could be clearer
and stronger than this a y a t as evidence against the Qadariyya? 'Had We so
willed We could have given guidance to every b o d y, but now My p
ronouncement has been carried out: that I shall fill up Hell entirely with jinn
and human beings.' (32:13)" Malik's dislike of them and the damage they
might do to the deen was so great that he forbade his students to marry them,
attend their funeral processions, or pray over them.
Malik was asked about the people of Qadar, "Should one keep out of their
discussions?" He said, "Yes, when one recognises their position. We
command them to what is correct and forbid them what is incorrect. We
inform them of their opposition to the truth and we do not continue to speak
with them or pray over them or attend their funerals. And I do not think that
others should marry them. Allah says, 'A believing slave is better than an
idolater. ' One must not pray behind them nor transmit hadith from them. If
you come across them in a place, dislodge them from it."
Malik's opinion about those who commit grave
wrong actions
The position of those who commit wrong actions was also one with which the
Muslims were concerned in the time of Malik. It was the basis for the
Kharijites attacking 'Ali previously. The Kharijites said that anyone who
committed a major wrong action was a unbeliever. This opinion of theirs was
their hallmark by which they differed from the rest of the Muslims and it
occupied the minds of many in the Umayyad period. The 'Ibadites among
them thought that such people were merely ungrateful for Allah's blessings,
not unbelievers in a legal sense. The Mu'tazilites, led by Wasil ibn 'Ata', a
contemporary of Malik, held that they occupied a position in between
believers and unbelievers and would be forever in the Fire unless they
repented. They did not forbid calling them Muslims. The Murji'ites claimed
that they were believers in every sense, but were divided into two groups.
One held that they were rebellious believers who could hope for Allah's
forgiveness and Allah's all-embracing mercy; the other, that rebellion did not
impair belief in any way, just as acts of obedience bring no benefit to anyone
who does not believe.

Most Muslims held that those who commit a major wrong action are
degenerate believers. If Allah wishes, He will forg i v e them. If He punishes
them, it is for their wrong action, not for disbelief. That was the opinion of
Abu Hanifa and others, which is why he was accused of being a Murji'ite. It
is clear that that was also the opinion of Malik. It is reported in the Madarik
that alFarawi said, "I heard the son of Abu Hanifa tell Malik, 'We have an
opinion which we will put to you. If you think it is good, we will continue in
it. If you think that it is bad, we will turn from it. We do not call anyone an
unbeliever because of a wrong action. Wrongdoers are still Muslims.' He
replied, 'I see no harm in that.""
The nature of the Qur'an
In the time of Malik many Muslims, influenced by rationalism, began to say
that the Qur'an was created. This doctrine was embraced by the Qadariyya
and the Mu'tazilites, who began to spread it among the generality of
Muslims. It was a question which had not been discussed by the early
Muslims. Malik avoided discussing it but said, "The Qur'an is the Word of
Allah. Anyone who says that the Qur'an is created should be beaten and
imprisoned until he repents."
The Vision of Allah
The Mu'tazilites stirred up the issue of the Vision of Allah, saying that it is
impossible because it demands that Allah Almighty be in a place but Allah
has no place since only bodies can occupy space. Allah Almighty is free of
corporeality and from any of the attributes of temporal things since He is the
Necessarily Existent. He can only described by what is appropriate to the
Necessarily Existent. The Almighty said, "There is nothing like Him and He
is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing." If He could be seen, He must have a body
and all other bodies would be like Him in respect of their corporeality. It is
also because Allah Almighty said to Musa when he asked for the vision,
"You will not see me ... " This indicates that the prohibition is eternal and
vision is impossible.
The Mu'tazilites took this position, which Malik thought was contrary to the

Path of the early Muslims and was deducing from the Qur'an something
different from its clear text. He rejected it, affirming the vision of Allah
Almighty in the Next World, not in this world. Ashhab said, "Abu 'Abdullah!
'Faces on that day are radiant, looking at their Lord.' Do they look at Allah?"
He said, "Yes, with these eyes." Ashhab continued, "Some people say that
one does not look at Allah and that n a d h i r a (looking) means m u n t a d h
ir a (waiting) for the reward." He answered, "They have lied. One looks at
Allah. Have you not heard what Musa, peace be upon him, said: 'Lord, let me
look at You'? Do you think that Musa would ask his Lord for something
impossible? Allah Almighty says 'You will not see Me' in this world because
it is a transient realm. The eternal cannot seen by the temporal. When people
go to the Abode of Eternity, they will look and see the eternal by the eternal.
Allah Almighty said, 'No, on that Day they will be veiled from their Lord."
Malik's opinion about politics
In Malik's time there were Kharijites, Shi'ites, Umayyads and then Abbasids.
Some of them permitted vilification of the early Companions. The Shi'ites
attacked Abu Bakr, 'Umar and 'Uthman. The Kharijites attacked 'Uthman,
'Ali, 'Amr ibn al-'As and Mu'awiya and accused them of disbelief. The
Shi'ites claimed the khalifate for 'Ali and his sons by Fatima. Some of them,
the Kaysaniyya, included his other son Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya as a
possible candidate. The Kharijites claimed that the khalifate was the right of
whoever was entitled to it among the Muslims, not being limited to any tribe
or family. The Abbasids claimed that the khalifate was reserved for the clan
of al-'Abbas from the clan of Hashim. The Umayyads and others claimed that
any of Quraysh were entitled to it.
So what was Malik's opinion in the midst of the muddle of all these divergent
positions? What did he say about vilifying the Companions, about the people
from whom the khalif should be chosen, about who should pledge allegiance,
about obedience to rulers if they were unworthy, and about rebellion in
general? We will briefly mention his position on these matters.
On vilifying the Companions

Malik objected to vilifying the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace, and considered that to be a terrible sin.
He declared that anyone who cursed the Companions should be expelled
from Madina since they no longer had any right to live there. It is related that
he said that people who cursed the Companions of the Messenger of Allah,
may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had no right to any of the booty.
He used Sura al-Hashr (59):8-10 as evidence for that.
He also avoided any discussion about who was the best of them because of
the political repercussions inherent in that. He said, "They are all equal
except for three: Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and 'Uthman." An 'Alawi asked him,
"Who is the best of mankind after the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace?" He replied, "Abu Bakr." The 'Alawite said, "Then
who?" Malik said, "Then 'Umar." The 'Alawite said, "Then who?" Malik
said, "The wrongly-slain khalif, 'Uthman." The 'Alawite said, "By Allah, I
will never sit with you!" Malik said to him, "That is your choice."
Ibn Wahb said, "He said, 'The best of people were Abu Bakr and 'Umar.' I
said, 'Then who?' Malik hesitated. I said, 'I am someone who imitates you in
my deen.' He said, 'And 'Uthman." He based this on transmission: the
Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, appointed Abu Bakr to
lead the prayer, that being his personal preference, and Abu Bakr chose
'Umar. 'Umar chose six men and they chose 'Uthman. Malik considered that
the basis of that was the action by which Prophet selected Abu Bakr.
The House of the Khalifate
Malik said very little about anything which was not connected to fiqh and
hadith since his sole concern was the deen and he did not want it to be
become a matter of dispute. Thus we do not have any explicit statements
from him about the khalifate, and his viewpoint must be deduced from other
sources.
We know for certain that he did not think that the khalifate was confined to
the Hashimite house or the family of 'Ali, because of his view that the
position of Abu Bakr, 'Umar and 'Uthman was based on Prophetic choice.
None of them were Hashimites: they were from Quraysh. Malik did not

include 'Ali, and he was Hashimite. All he said about him was, "One who
seeks command is not like one who does not seek it."
Ibn Hazm mentioned that the position of all the people of the Sunna and the
Community is that the Imamate belongs to Quraysh, based on mutawatir
transmission, and it is evident that Malik, who followed the Path of the
people of the Sunna, would take that position.
The method of selecting the Khalif
The method of selecting the khalif was a topic of dispute among the Muslims.
The Shi'ites believed it was by stipulation from the Prophet to 'Ali and from
'Ali to his successor and so on, each Imam appointing his own successor. The
Umayyads said it was by virtue of power and the allegiance of people. Many
objected to Mu'awiya appointing his successor because it turned the khalifate
into hereditary kingship.
The majority of Muslims believe that the khalif should be chosen from those
entitled to the khalifate. There is nothing to stop the khalif designating his
successor as long as it is not by caprice, since Abu Bakr designated 'Umar
and 'Umar appointed the council.
Malik's opinion was between these opinions. It appears that he affirmed the
system of appointment when caprice was not the motive, based on what Abu
Bakr and 'Umar did. The khalifate is only binding by the free allegiance
between the khalif and the Muslims. But did that entail universal allegiance
from all areas?
Malik said that the allegiance of the people of Makka and Madina is
sufficient to constitute the allegiance which entitles the khalif to be Imam of
the Muslims, because they are the bearers of the Sunna of the Prophet and so
they are the people entitled to make the contract. Ibn Nafi' said, "Malik used
to relate that when the people of the two H a r a m s (Makka and Madina)
paid allegiance, that allegiance was binding on all the people of Islam."
Obeying the less excellent person

When someone overcomes the Muslims and so is not initially appointed by
acceptance, but is just and people are content with his rule, it is evident that
the position of Malik is that it is not valid to rebel against him and he must be
obeyed because only justice is demanded and it has been achieved in this
instance. Even if he were not just, Malik would not permit rebellion against
him. The Muslims must be steadfast and strive to correct him. They should
not help Kharijites against him. If he was unjust, it was for Allah to punish
him by means of another tyrant and then take revenge on both of them.
That is the position of Malik. The thing he feared most was civil war and the
corruption and disturbance which resulted from it, and he cited the fact that
'Umar ibn 'Abdu'l-'Aziz refused to appoint a righteous man after him for
fear that it would provoke Yazid ibn 'Abdu'l-Malik to insurrection. When
someone rebelled against al-Mansur and asked Malik to pray for him and said
to him, "The people of the Haramayn have given me homage; have you
decided for the injustice of Abu Ja'far?" Malik asked him, "Do you know
what kept 'Umar ibn Abdu'l-'Aziz from appointing a righteous man after
him?" "No.," said the man. Malik said, "The khalifate had been given to
Yazid and 'Umar feared that if he pledged allegiance to another man, Yazid
would start a civil war and people would fight and thus that action would sow
dissension."
Such was Malik's view of policy - a view which looked both to the highest
model of judgement and to the pragmatic solution which would serve the best
interests of the people. One must consider the state of the Community and the
events of history and avoid civil war. That is also the position of the Maliki
school, and they say that it is the opinion represented in the S u n n a. The
patience for which Malik calls is not that of someone who is humbled and
cannot object to injustice and is content with it. It is the steadfastness of
someone who seeks people's welfare, and who sees that there is corruption in
taking the way of insurrection and that the proper course lies in compelling
the tyrant to justice through admonition, good advice, guidance, and
reminding him of the commands of the Deen. If that is impossible, then one
has as little to do with him as possible.
This does not, however, remove the obligation to follow him if he orders a
jihad in the Way of Allah. Ibn al-Qasim said, "I do not see anything wrong in
fighting the Greeks under these rulers."

Malik's Fiqh
To find out about Malik's fiqh is one of the main objectives of our study of
Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, and in this section we will study
Malik the h a d i t h scholar and Malik the faqih. Knowledge of hadith and
figh were not distinct disciplines then but were closely interrelated.
A faqih relates the hadiths on which his deduction is based and he relates
what has been transmitted to him. Nevertheless, some fugaha' are more
distinguished for giving fatwa than for transmitting h a d i t h. Whoever
derives judgements from the Qur'an and from hadiths after knowing how to
verify their soundness is a f a q i h. Someone who simply knows sound from
unsound ha dith s and how to assess their transmitters is a m u h a d d i t h.
In Malik's time, the two were not completely distinct. Malik had command of
both disciplines.
When we direct our attention to the fi qh of Imam Malik we must first look
at certain things so that we can ascertain his methods of deriving rulings and
his basic principles and the branches of f i q h in which he gave judgements.
We find that Malik did not record his principles in detail, although he did
mention the general outline of his method many times in the Mu watta'
and in other statements related from him by his students and contemporaries.
So we must analyse them to discover his method.
Malik's books
Those who made rulings in the time of the Companions refused to record
their fatwas or ijtihad. They even refused to write down the Sunna. But then
it become necessary to record the Sunna, and many fatwas and decisions
were also recorded. The fuqaha' of the Hijaz collected the f a t w a s of
'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, 'A'isha, and Ibn 'Abbas, and of the Tabi'un after them
in Madina. The Iraqis collected the fatwas of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud and the
judgements and fatwas of 'Ali and the judgements of Shurayh and other qadis
of Kufa. There were collections made by Ibrahim an-Nakha'i and Hammad,
the shaykh of Abu Hanifa.
These were not actually distributed as books: they were more like personal

notes which the mujtahid would consult to refresh his m e m o r y.
Nonetheless there were instances of written records among the Companions.
For instance, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib is reported to have had a paper which
contained judicial judgements. However, the first actual book, or the earliest
one that is known, was the Muwatta' of Imam Malik, may Allah be pleased
with him.
The Mu watt a ' was not Malik's only book. There are other works
ascribed to him which are mentioned in books about him. Several books are
mentioned. For instance, as-Suyuti says in Tazyin al-Mamalik, "Reports
indicate that Malik wrote several books besides the Muwatta'. I saw a fine
tafsir by him. I saw that Ibn Wahb has the Book of Assemblies from Malik,
which contained what was heard from Malik in his assemblies. It contains
many hadiths, traditions, rules of proper behaviour (adab) and the like."
Qadi 'Iyad said in Tartib al-Madarik:
Know, may Allah give you success, that Malik had noble books related
from him. Most of them were with sound i s n a d s in other sciences of
knowledge. However, none of them are well known except the Muwatta' ...
All of his works were related from him by the one who wrote them for him or
asked him about them or by one of his companions, not all of whom related
them. One of the most famous is his letter to Ibn Wahb about Qadar and the
refutation of the Qadariyya. One of the best letters on this subject, it shows
the vastness of his knowledge of the subject ... There is also his book on the
stars, "The Reckoning of the Passage of Time and the Stages of the Moon",
which is a very good and useful treatise indeed. People rely on it in this
subject and use it as a basis ... There is also the Treatise of Malik in ten parts
on Judgements, which he addressed to a certain qadi .... There is also his
famous letter to Abu Ghassan Muhammad ibn Mutarrif on fatwa. ... There is
his treatise on the tafsir of the unusual words of the Qur'an which Khalid ibn
'Abdu'r- R a h m a n al-Makhzumi related .... A book is also ascribed to
Malik called Kitab as-Sirr as transmitted by Ibn al-Qasim.
It should be noted that they were not related from Malik with a well-known
transmission but go back to only one or two of his companions. These books
did not achieve any popularity among people. But there is one letter which is
in circulation and was published in Egypt, which is read by preachers and

guides. This is his letter to ar-Rshsid and so we should pay some attention to
it.
In Tartib al-Madarik, Qadi 'Iyad discussed the contents of this letter: "One
item is his famous letter to Harun ar-Rashid about a d a b and admonition. It
was first related in Andalusia by Ibn Habib from its transmitters from Malik.
Then later it was related by Abu Ja'far ibn 'Awnullah and the Qadi Abu
'Abdullah ibn Mufarrij from Ahmad ibn Zaydawayh ad-Dimishqi, although
the isnad is not continuous."
Some Malikis have stated that it was not Malik who wrote the letter. This is
because of its isnad and because it contains hadiths which Malik
disacknowledged and judgements which are contrary to the school of Malik.
After close examination, we are forced to conclude that not all of what the
published letter contains can be ascribed to Malik because Malik was an
intelligent man and he knew the proper usage of words. Nonetheless, it would
appear that the preface of this letter, which is found elsewhere, can actually
be ascribed to Malik.
The following is its text as found in Tartib al-Madarik:
According to Sa'id ibn Abi Zanbar, Malik wrote a letter to one of the khalifs
in which he admonished him:
"As for what follows, I am writing a letter to you in which I do not hold back
right guidance and I do not omit counsel. It contains the praise of Allah
Almighty and the a d a b of His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant
him peace. So consider that with your intellect, turn your eyes to it, and
devote your hearing to it. Understand it with your intellect and apply your
understanding. Do not allow your mind to let it slip away. It contains
excellence in this world and the good reward of Allah Almighty in the Next.
Remind yourself of the throes of death and its grief, and what will happen to
you when it comes, and what you know follows after death: being presented
before Allah Almighty, and then the Reckoning, and then remaining
forever either in the Garden or the Fire. Prepare for it something to make the
terrors of those sights and their distress easy for you.
If you were to see the people who incur wrath of Allah Almighty and the
myriad punishments they are heading to and the severity of the vengeance of
Allah, and if you were to hear their moaning in the Fire and their groaning

with their livid faces and the length of their grief and their being turned over
on their faces in its bottom levels where they cannot hear or see while calling
out for utter and final destruction - and the most terrible thing of all for them
is the pain when Allah Almighty turns away from them and their hope is cut
off from Him and His answer to them after the long drawn-out sorrow is
'Slink down in it and do not speak.' If you remind yourself of this, nothing of
this world will seem of any importance to you. You will want to be saved
from that. You have no security from its terror. Even if you were to offer all
that the people of this world have to seek deliverance, that would be little.
If you were to see the people who obey Allah and what they are destined to
receive by way of honour from Allah, their position of nearness to Allah
Almighty, the freshness of their faces and the light of their colours, their joy
in looking at Him, and having a place with Him and their rank in His sight
along with nearness to Him, those things of this world which you seek and
which appear immense in your eyes would then seem insignificant.
Be careful not to allow your lower self to beguile you. Deal with your lower
self before it gets the better of you and remember the distress it will feel
when death alights. Contend with your soul for Allah Almighty while you
still have time. If Allah permits, you will be able to bring benefit to yourself
and avert the punishment from yourself before Allah takes charge of your
Reckoning. Once it comes you will not be able to avert from your soul that
which it will hate nor bring any benefit to it. Give Allah Almighty a portion
of your time by night and day.
It also appears that the letter was not addressed to ar-Rashid. It was a text
which has had pieces added to it. In any case none of these letters are used as
a text for figh in the school of Malik. What reveals his method in figh is the
record of hadiths and tradition he considered to be definitive: the Muwatta'.
The Muwatta'
There is no doubt that al-Muwatta' is considered to be the first book of
reliable ascription which was circulated widely within the Islamic world and
it has been passed down to us generation after generation to the present day.
It is soundly and authentically ascribed to Imam Malik. It is considered to be
both the first book written on hadith and the first on fiqh. Previously people
had put more reliance on oral transmission than on written texts. In the

preface to Fath al-Bari, his commentary on the Sahih of Muslim, Ibn Hajar
says:
Know, may Allah teach us and you, that the traditions of the Prophet, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace, were not recorded in collections in the
time of the Companions and the great Tabi'un and they were not
systematised, for two reasons. The first reason was that, as is confirmed in
the Sahih of Muslim, there was a real fear that some hadiths might become
mixed up with the text of the Qur'an. The second reason was the
extraordinary capacity of those men's memory and the agility of their minds
which made writing unnecessary, together with the fact that many of them
did not know how to write in any case.
Then at the end of the time of the Tabi'un, traditions began to be
systematically recorded under various headings since the scholars had spread
throughout the cities of Islam. When innovations which emanated from the
Kharijites, extreme Shi'ites and those who denied the Divine Decree became
widespread, the first to deal with that were ar-Rabi' ibn Sabih, Sa'id ibn Abi
'Aruba, and others who wrote on each subject individually. Then the great
people of the third generation came and wrote down their judgements. Imam
Malik compiled the Muwatta', in which he used strong hadiths of the people
of the Hijaz, statements of the Companions and the fatwas of the Tabi'un and
those after them.
We have nothing older than Malik's Muwatta' in figh or hadith. It was in his
time that it became necessary to record things. The impetus to collect and
record the statements of the Companions and the Followers and the hadiths of
the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, began
before Malik. His contemporaries collected h a d i t h s on specific subjects
and recorded them. The first to make a Muwatta' - to collect together what
the people of Madina agreed upon - was 'Abdu'l-'Aziz ibn alMajishun.
Malik examined it and criticised the fact that he did not begin with hadiths.
Malik said, 'How excellent is his work! But if it had been me, I would have
begun with traditions. Then I would have supplemented them with further
sayings."
So there were various stimuli and also a model available for Malik when he
put together the Mu watta ' ; and the areas of fi q h agreed upon by the

people of Madina had already been delineated. It was clear that the time had
come for such a book, so he formulated his Muwatta'. Malik was told, "You
have occupied yourself with composing this book while people share with
you in this task and are making ones like it." Malik said, 'Bring them to me!'
He looked at them and said, 'You should know that I am doing this purely to
please Allah.""
The appearance of the Mu w att a ', then, was dictated by the necessities of
the time and by various factors, since the interest of men of knowledge before
Malik had already been turned towards collecting the knowledge of Madina.
It was necessary to remove any grounds for dispute, and the knowledge of the
Imam of the Hijaz was not disputed by anyone.
It is reported that the khalif, Abu Ja'far al-Mansur, said to Malik while he
was at Makka, "Make all knowledge into one knowledge, Abu 'Abdullah."
He said, "Amir al-Mu'minin, the Companions of the Messenger of Allah,
may Allah bless him and grant him peace, scattered throughout the lands and
each of them made fatwas in the city to which he went as he thought best. So
the people of the various regions each have a position, and the people of
Madina have a position. The people of Iraq have a position in which they
overstep their authority." Al-Mansur said, "As for the people of Iraq, I do not
take either my religious obligations or supererogatory actions from them.
True knowledge is the knowledge of the people of Madina, so write down
knowledge for people." Malik said, "The people of Iraq are not content with
our knowledge." Abu Ja'far said, "Their common folk will be driven to it
with the sword and their backs will be broken to it by whips."
Thus al-Mansur had the same idea that 'Umar ibn 'Abdu'l' Aziz had - to
compile the knowledge of Madina to be a definitive compilation of the
knowledge of Islam. 'Umar ibn 'Abdu'l-'Aziz had commanded Abu Bakr ibn
Hazm to do this and al-Mansur commanded Malik to do it. But the Muwatta'
was not completed during the lifetime of al-Mansur. It was completed around
159 AH after his death, or perhaps at the very end of his life, just as Abu
Bakr ibn Hazm did not complete his work until after the death of 'Umar ibn
'Abdu'l-'Aziz. It appears that Malik took a long time to write and edit the
Muwatta' before he was able to present it to people. The initial request had
been made in 148.

The khalifs after al-Mansur, however, had the same idea. According to al-
Madarik, "Al-Mahdi told Malik, 'Write a book that I will make the
community adopt.' Malik said to him, 'As for the region, i.e. Maghrib, I have
spared you from it. As for Syria, al-Awza'i is there. As for the people of Iraq,
they are the people of Iraq.""
As-Suyuti tells us in his book The Virtues of Malik:
Abu Nu'aym transmitted in a 1 - H il y a that 'Abdullah ibn 'Abdu'l-Hakam
said, "I heard Malik ibn Anas say, 'Harun ar-Rashid consulted me about three
things: whether the M u w a t t a ' should be hung in the Ka'ba and people
compelled to follow what it contains; whether the minbar of the Prophet, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace, should be dismantled and rebuilt with
jewels and gold and silver; and whether Nafi' ibn Abi Nu'aym should be
made Imam to lead the people in prayer in the mosque of the Messenger of
Allah. I replied, 'Amir al-Mu'minin, as for hanging the Muwatta' in the
Ka'ba, the Companions of the Messenger of Allah disagreed about the
branches of knowledge. They dispersed throughout the lands of Islam and
each one did what he thought correct. As for dismantling the minbar, I do not
think that you should deny people the relics of the Messenger of Allah. As for
promoting Nafi' to lead the people in the prayer, Nafi' is an Imam in
recitation and he is not safe from making a mistake in the mihrab, so protect
him.' Harun said, 'May Allah give you success, Abu 'Abdullah!"
It is clear that Malik was not unduly disturbed by the difference in
judgements and decisions in various places which so alarmed some Abbasid
officials. He saw that divergence was inevitable and that judgements should
be in harmony with the customs of every area so long as they did not
contravene any explicit text of the Book or the Sunna. People should not be
constricted. Malik once told Harun ar-Rashid, when he repeated his request
about the Muwatta', "O Amir al-Mu'minin, the differences of the people of
knowledge are a mercy from Allah to this community. Each follows what he
considers to be sound, each is rightly guided, and each desires to please
Allah."
Malik's method in his book is in harmony with the intention behind its
compilation. His goal was not to simply record some of the hadiths he
considered to be sound, as was the case in the Sahih collections of hadith

compiled after his time. The intention of his book was to collect Madinan
fiqh and the foundations on which it was based. So it is a book of hadith,
Sunna and fiqh. That is why we find that he mentioned under the heading of f
i qh the ha dith s and then the practice of the people of Madina which was
agreed upon, and then the opinion of the Tabi'un and people of fiqh, and
well-known current opinions in Madina. If the question in hand had not been
dealt with before then he exercised his own opinion in the light of the hadiths,
fatwas and decisions he knew, with the aim of reaching that decision which
best served the public interest.
Malik was well known for his critical approach to transmitters of hadith. He
measured the hadiths he heard against the Book of Allah and what was well
known in the Sunna and what he considered to be agreed upon by the people
of Madina. It may well be that Malik was the first scholar to be strongly
concerned with studying the men who transmitted hadith: this became a
separate branch of knowledge which was pursued by others after him. Even if
someone was righteous and godfearing, Malik might still not relate from him
because he was known not to memorise accurately. Malik said, "This
knowledge concerns the deen, so make sure about those from whom you take
it. I have met seventy people who said, 'The Messenger of Allah, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, said' within these pillars," and he pointed to
the mosque, "but from whom I did not accept anything. Had one of them
been entrusted with a treasure, he would have proved trustworthy, but they
were not reliable authorities for this business.""
As far as the fiqh in the Muwatta' is concerned, some of it is derived from
hadith, some is clarification of matters agreed upon in Madina, some is
clarification of the opinions of the Ta b i ' u n whom Malik met, some is
opinion that he selected from the sum of their opinions, and some is opinion
based on analogy, which was based on what Malik himself knew of the Book
and Sunna of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, and the consensus of the people of Madina and what was transmitted
from the people of knowledge among the Ta b i ' un a n d Companions.
Malik himself described the fiqh he utilises in the Muwatta':
Most of what is in the book is my opinion but, by my life, it is not mere
opinion since I heard it from more than one of the people of knowledge and

excellence and the Imams who are followed from whom I took knowledge.
They are the ones who showed great fear of Allah. It became too repetitive
for me (to mention all that), so I said, 'my opinion'. My opinion is the same
as their opinion, which was the same as the opinion of the Companions,
which they found with them and subsequently I found that with them. This is
an inheritance which was passed on from generation to generation down to
our time. So it is the opinion of the previous Imams.1
As for 'the agreed-upon business', it is what the people of f i q h and
knowledge agreed upon without dispute. When I say, 'the business with me',
that refers to what the people here among us do and concerning which
judgements have passed, and which both the common man and the man of
knowledge know. The same applies when I say 'in our land'; and when I say
'one of the people of knowledge,' it denotes something I liked in the words of
the men of knowledge.
For questions on which I have heard no judgements reported from them, I
have striven and investigated according to the method of those I have met
until I felt that I had reached the truth or something close to it, so that it
would not depart from the school of the people of Madina and their opinions,
even if I had not heard that itself. I have stated it as my opinion after
exercising i j ti h a d according to the S u n n a , the actions of the people of
1. In other words, what he is presenting is the prevailing consensus of his predecessors in
Madina.
knowledge who are followed, and the practice which has been acted upon
among us since the time of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace, and the rightly-guided Khalifs, and those I have met. That is
their opinion and I have not departed from it in favour of of anyone else's
opinion.
This is a clear summary of the method which Imam Malik, may Allah be
pleased with him, followed when making i j t i h a d w h e n there was no
text. He looked at what the people of knowledge of Madina were agreed upon
and then at what the people of Madina acted on and at matters on which
judgements had been given and which was known by the common and the
elite in Madina. If he did not find any position agreed upon by scholars, or on

which there were already judgements in place, he took what seemed good to
him from the words of the scholars. If none existed, then he practised i j ti h
a d in the light of what he knew, making analogies with similar cases which
did exist.
Examples of Malik's method in the Muwatta':
One example of Malik's transmission of hadiths and deducing judgement
from them is what we find in the Muwatta' about asking an apostate to repent
before he is killed: (see 36.18.15)
Malik related from Zayd ibn Aslam that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, said, 'If someone changes his religion, then
strike off his head.' The meaning of the statement of the Prophet, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, in our opinion - and Allah knows best - is
that the words 'If someone changes his religion, then strike off his head!'
refer to those who leave Islam for something else - heretics and such like
who are known to have abandoned Islam (but remain outwardly Muslims).
They are killed without being called to repent because their repentance is not
recognised. They were concealing their disbelief and making their Islam
public, so I do not think that one should call such people to repent and one
does not accept their word.
A person who abandons Islam for something else and divulges the fact is
called on to repent. If he does not turn in repentance, he is to be killed. If
there are people in that situation, I think that one should call them to Islam
and call on them to repent. If they repent, that is accepted from them. If they
do not repent, they are killed.
That does not refer, in our view, and Allah knows best, to those who convert
from Judaism to Christianity or from Christianity to Judaism, nor to someone
who changes his religion from any of the various forms of religion except for
Islam. It is the people who leave Islam for something else and make that fact
known who are being referred to, and Allah knows best.
Here we see an excellent example of deriving a ruling from a h a d i t h .
Malik limits the judgement by applying logic in order to arrive at an opinion;
consequently he explains "change of religion" as meaning leaving Islam for