ن

المذهب المالكي

The Maliki School

Imam Malik ibn Anas · 711 – 795 CE (93 – 179 AH)

Madinah, North and West Africa, al-Andalus

Legal method

Gives weight to 'amal ahl al-Madinah — the living practice of the people of Madinah — alongside the Quran, Sunnah, consensus and considerations of public interest (masalih mursala).

Introduction

The Maliki school preserves the legal practice of Madinah as Malik ibn Anas received it from the generation after the companions. Its distinguishing claim is that the inherited practice of the city of the Prophet is itself evidence, transmitted by an entire community rather than by single narrators.

Principles of the school

  • •Quran and Sunnah, with the practice of the people of Madinah ('amal ahl al-Madinah) as corroborating evidence.
  • •Consensus, the rulings of the companions, and analogy.
  • •Masalih mursala: unrestricted public interest where no text speaks.
  • •Sadd al-dhara'i': blocking lawful means that predictably lead to harm.

Distinctive positions

  • •The hands are commonly left at the sides in obligatory prayer.
  • •Qunut is recited in the dawn prayer before bowing.
  • •Basmala is not recited aloud at the opening of the Fatiha.
  • •Custom and public interest carry more explicit weight in transactions.

Chain of scholars

  1. Malik ibn Anas

    93–179 AH

    Founder, author of al-Muwatta'

  2. Ibn al-Qasim

    132–191 AH

    Foremost transmitter of Malik's rulings

  3. Sahnun ibn Sa'id

    160–240 AH

    Compiler of al-Mudawwana

  4. Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani

    310–386 AH

    Author of al-Risala

  5. Khalil ibn Ishaq al-Jundi

    d. 776 AH

    Author of the standard Mukhtasar

  6. Al-Dardir and al-Dasuqi

    12th century AH

    Commentators of the late school

Where it is followed

Madinah and the Hijaz, then Egypt, Qayrawan and the whole of North Africa, al-Andalus, and today West Africa from Senegal to Nigeria, Sudan and much of the Gulf coast.

Scholar Books Library · Maliki

الموطأ

Al-Muwatta'

Imam Malik ibn Anas · Hadith

The earliest surviving compendium of hadith and Madinan practice arranged by legal chapter.

المدونة الكبرى

Al-Mudawwana al-Kubra

Imam Sahnun · Fiqh

Malik's positions transmitted through Ibn al-Qasim; the backbone of Maliki legal training in North Africa.

مختصر خليل

Mukhtasar Khalil

Khalil ibn Ishaq al-Jundi · Fiqh

A famously concise summary of relied-upon Maliki positions, memorised across West Africa to this day.