Malik ibn Anas

Malik ibn Anas ibn Malik ibn Abi Amir al-Asbahi al-Madani, imam of the abode of emigration and author of the Muwatta'. He was born in Medina, took knowledge from its scholars, and sat there to give legal opinions and to teach. He died in 179 AH. ¹

His lineage is given as al-Asbahi of Himyar, that is Dhu Asbah. Al-Dhahabi says that there is much difference about his lineage, but that all agree he was an Arab of the Asbah, and that their origin is from Qahtan. ²

It is related from Ibn Ishaq that he claimed Malik and his family were clients of the Banu Taym; he was mistaken, and this was among the strongest reasons for Malik's denunciation of him and his criticism of him. ²

He was born, according to the more correct view, in the year 93 AH; it is also said 94 AH. He grew up in care and comfort. He sought knowledge as a youth after the death of al-Qasim and Salim, and took from Nafi', Sa'id al-Maqburi, Amir ibn Abdallah ibn al-Zubayr, Ibn al-Munkadir, al-Zuhri, Abdallah ibn Dinar and others. ^{1 2}

Al-Dhahabi says that the Muwatta' contains, from the teachers it names, about six hundred and thirty-six hadiths, six hadiths from unnamed sources, and that opinions differ on seventy-one hadiths. ³ He also says that al-Daraqutni had a part on the parts of the Muwatta', and that the names of those who transmitted from it come to about fourteen hundred. ³

He qualified to give legal opinions and sat to instruct at the age of twenty-one. Some transmitted from him while he was young. Students of knowledge came to him from all regions at the end of al-Mansur's reign and after, and they crowded around him in the caliphate of al-Rashid until he died. ⁴

His assembly was one of dignity and majesty, with no dispute, no clamour and no raised voice. He would answer strangers one hadith after another, and sometimes let some of them read to him. He had a scribe who copied his books and read them to the group. ⁵

It is reported that he did not attend the congregational prayer for twenty-five years. When he was asked what prevented him, he said: "The fear that I see something wrong and have to change it." He used to say that not everyone can speak his excuse. ^{6 5}

Malik said that he had heard many hadiths from Ibn Shihab which he never related. ⁵ Ibn Uyayna relates that Malik would only take a hadith that was sound, and would only transmit from a trustworthy source, and he said: "I do not see Medina but that it will be ruined of knowledge after his death." ²

It is related from him that he said: "Knowledge is not to be taken from four: a fool who openly displays folly, however much he transmits; a man of innovation who calls to his own desires; one who lies in the hadith of people; and..." ⁶ It is also related that he would not give a legal opinion until he had asked someone more learned than himself. ⁵

He is attributed with the saying "I do not know". It is said that someone asked him forty-eight questions, and he answered thirty-two of them with "I do not know". ⁷

Among his peers whom al-Dhahabi names are Ma'mar, Ibn Jurayj, Abu Hanifa, Amr ibn al-Harith, al-Awza'i, Shu'ba, al-Thawri, al-Layth and Hammad ibn Zayd. ³

Among those who transmitted from him, as al-Dhahabi counts them, are Abdallah ibn al-Mubarak, Abdallah ibn Wahb, Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi, Sufyan ibn Uyayna, Waki', Yahya al-Qattan, al-Shafi'i, Abd al-Razzaq, Abu Nu'aym al-Fadl ibn Dukayn, Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Qasim, and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan the jurist. ^{3 4}

Ibn Uyayna said that Malik was the scholar of the people of the Hijaz and the proof of his age, and al-Shafi'i said that when the scholars are mentioned, Malik is the star. ⁴ Al-Shafi'i also said: "Malik is my teacher, and from him I took knowledge." ⁷

Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi said: "The leaders of the people in their time are four: al-Thawri, Malik, al-Awza'i and Hammad ibn Zayd." ⁷

Al-Dhahabi says that al-Shafi'i debated Muhammad ibn al-Hasan about Malik and Abu Hanifa, and said that Malik was more learned in the Book of God and its abrogating and abrogated verses, in the Sunna of the Prophet ﷺ and in the disagreements of the Companions, as is related from him. ⁷

Al-Dhahabi says that al-Mahdi sent Malik two or three thousand dinars, and then al-Rabi' asked him to return to Baghdad. Malik said that the Prophet said "Medina is better for them, if they only knew", and the money remained with him as it was. ⁵

It is related that al-Mahdi sent his two sons Harun and Musa to him to listen to him, and he did not respond to them. When al-Mahdi spoke to him, Malik said: "Knowledge is brought to its people", so they went to him and read to him. ⁵

When Harun al-Rashid came to Medina intending to perform the pilgrimage, Malik drew near to him and honoured him. Then Ya'qub Abu Yusuf told him that he had asked a question and had not been answered. Malik said that if he saw him sitting with the people of falsehood, he should come to answer him with them. ⁵ Al-Rashid asked him to read to him and to his sons, and he refused until the common people were sent out, so al-Rashid ordered Ma'n ibn Isa to read to him. ⁵

It is mentioned that al-Mansur wanted him to sit, and that the Hashemites used to kiss his hand and foot, and Malik said: "God protected me from that." ⁶

Al-Dhahabi relays from Isa ibn Umar that he had never seen a whiteness or redness more beautiful than the face of Malik; and from others that he was tall and large, with a great head, fair, with white hair and beard, and he did not shave his moustache, considering shaving it a mutilation. ^{6 2} It is related from al-Waqidi that he was of medium height, did not dye his hair, and did not enter the bath. ²

• The entry is based on al-Dhahabi's Siyar A'lam al-Nubala' (Bayt al-Afkar al-Dawliyya edition, 2004), pages 3145–3152, and on a local photographed copy. We have not yet read the following pages (from 3153), which contain the details of his ordeal and his death, and nothing from them is stated here; the death date of 179 AH is taken from the head of the entry.
• Al-Dhahabi gives several views on his birth (93 or 94 AH). We have not chosen between them. The Gregorian date of birth is derived.
• The details of the Muwatta' in respect of the number of hadiths and the names of its transmitters are taken from al-Dhahabi. We have not yet checked them against the standard Muwatta' edition (Ma'ruf, 1997).
• The attribution of "I do not know" to Malik, al-Shafi'i and Ibn Uyayna are sayings al-Dhahabi relays from others, and have not been checked against originals.
• The accounts of assemblies and caliphs are relayed by al-Dhahabi with chains, and the chains need review before they are relied on for anything beyond a reference.

Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy recounts that al-Shafi'i, then about nine years old by his account, attended Malik's assembly in the Prophet's mosque. He recounts that a man swore divorce on his wife and then asked Malik; the young al-Shafi'i answered first, and Malik ruled that the wife was not divorced (needs_source: the answer and the ruling are unclear in the automatic transcript) ^{8 9 10 11}.