Sharia based on Maliki school (in teal) is the predominant Sunni school in North and West Africa.[4]
Although Malik ibn Anas was himself a native of Medina, his school faced fierce competition for followers in the Muslim east, with theShafi'i,Hanbali, andZahiri schools all enjoying more success than Malik's school.[10] It was eventually theHanafi school, however, that earned official government favor from theAbbasids.
The Malikis enjoyed considerably more success in Africa, and for a while in Spain and Sicily. Under theUmayyads and their remnants, the Maliki school was promoted as the official state code of law, and Maliki judges had free rein over religious practices; in return, the Malikis were expected to support and legitimize the government's right to power.[14] This dominance in SpanishAndalus from the Umayyads up to theAlmoravids continued, with Islamic law in the region dominated by the opinions of Malik and his students. TheHadith, or prophetic tradition in Islam, played a lesser role as Malikis—like Hanafi jurists—viewed it with suspicion, and weren't very well versed in its study.[15] The Almoravids eventually gave way to the predominantly-ZahiriAlmohads, at which point Malikis were tolerated at times but lost official favor. With theReconquista, the Iberian Peninsula was lost to the Muslims in totality.[citation needed]
Illustration of a 1585-1590 Ottoman manuscript depicting Mālik ibn Anas
AlthoughAl-Andalus was eventually lost, the Maliki has been able to retain its dominance throughout North and West Africa to this day. Additionally, the school has traditionally gained a reputation for being the preferred school in the smallArab States of the Persian Gulf (Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Qatar).[16] While the majority of Saudi Arabia follows Hanbali laws, the country'sEastern Province has been known as a Maliki stronghold for centuries.[4]
Although initially hostile to some mystical practices, Malikis eventually learned from Sufi practice, as the latter became widespread throughout North and West Africa, as well as Al-Andalus. Many Muslims now adhere to Maliki Sufi orders.[17]
Earliest manuscript of Malik'sMuwatta, dated to his lifetime
The Maliki school's sources forSharia are hierarchically prioritized as follows:Quran, thenTawatur (mass-transmitted sayings, customs and actions of Muhammad);`Amal (customs and practices of the people of Medina and the Muslim world), followed by Ahad Hadith, and then followed by consensus of theSahabah (the companions of Muhammad), then individual opinion from theSahabah,Qiyas (analogy),Istislah (benefit of Islam and Muslims), and finallyUrf (public opinion of people throughout the Muslim world).[1]
The Mālikī school primarily derives from the work ofMalik ibn Anas, particularly theMuwatta Imam Malik, also known asAl-Muwatta. The Muwaṭṭa contains SahihHadiths and includes Malik ibn Anas' commentary, but it is so complete that it is considered sahih by Malikis in itself.[2] Mālik included the practices of the people of Medina and where the practices are in compliance with or in variance with the hadiths reported. This is because Mālik regarded the practices of Medina (the first three generations) to be a superior proof of the "living"sunnah than isolated, although sound, hadiths. Mālik was particularly scrupulous about authenticating his sources when he did appeal to them, as well as his comparatively small collection of aḥādith, known asal-Muwaṭṭah (or, The Straight Path).[2] An example of the Maliki approach in using the opinion of Sahabah was recorded inMuwatta Imam Malik per ruling of cases regarding the law of consumingGazelle meat.[18] This tradition was used in the opinions ofZubayr ibn al-Awwam.[18] Malik also included the daily practice of az-Zubayr as his source of "living sunnah" (living tradition) for his guideline to pass verdicts for various matters, in accordance with his school of thought method.[19]
The second source, the Al-Mudawwana, is the collaborator work of Mālik's longtime student,Ibn Qāsim and hismujtahid student,Sahnun. The Mudawwanah consists of the notes of Ibn Qāsim from his sessions of learning with Mālik and answers to legal questions raised by Saḥnūn in which Ibn Qāsim quotes from Mālik, and where no notes existed, his own legal reasoning based upon the principles he learned from Mālik. These two books, i.e. the Muwaṭṭah and Mudawwanah, along with other primary books taken from other prominent students of Mālik, would find their way into theMukhtaṣar Khalīl, which would form the basis for the later Mālikī madhhab.
The Maliki school is most closely related to theHanafi school, differing in degree, not in kind.[21] However, unlike the Hanafi school, the Maliki school does not assign as much weight toqiyas (analogy), but derives its rulings from pragmatism using the principles ofistislah (public benefit) andurf (common opinion) wherever the Quran and Mutawatir Hadiths do not provide explicit guidance.[21]
The Maliki school differs from the other Sunni schools of law most notably in the sources it uses for derivation of rulings. Like all Sunni schools of Sharia, the Maliki school uses theQur'an as primary source, followed by the sayings, customs/traditions and practices ofMuhammad, mass-transmitted via mutawatir hadiths. In the Mālikī school, said tradition includes not only what was recorded in hadiths, but also the legal rulings of the fourrightly guidedcaliphs – especiallyUmar.
Malik bin Anas himself also acceptedbinding consensus andanalogical reasoning along with the majority of Sunni jurists, though with conditions. Consensus was only accepted as a valid source of law if it was drawn from thefirst generation of Muslims in general, or the first,second or third generations from Medina, while analogy was only accepted as valid as a last resort when an answer was not found in other sources.[22][23]
Al-Bannani (d. 1780), Moroccan scholar. Author ofAl-Fath ar-Rabbani (The Endowment of Divine Grace). The text is a sub-commentary on the classicalMukhtasar ofKhalil
Ahmad al-Dardir (d. 1786), EgyptianSufischolar, poet and theologian. Author of bothSharh as-Saghir andSharh al-Kabir two of the most important books offatwa (Islamic legal rulings) in the Maliki school
Abu Layth (born 1978), British scholar and teacher
Ahmed Saad Al-Azhari (born 1978), Egyptian–British Islamic scholar and a graduate of Al-Azhar university. Saad was formerly a Shafi’i before adopting the Maliki school
^Maribel Fierro, Proto-Malikis, Malikis and Reformed Malikis in al-Andalus, pg. 61. Taken fromThe Islamic School of Law: Evolution, Devolution and Progress. Eds.Peri Bearman, Rudolph Peters and Frank E. Vogel.Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2005.
^Fierro, "The Introduction ofHadith in al-Andalus (2nd/8th - 3rd/9th centuries)," pg. 68–93.Der Islam, vol. 66, 1989.
Cilardo, Agostino (2014),Maliki Fiqh, inMuhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God (2 vols.), Edited by C. Fitzpatrick and A. Walker, Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO
Chouki El Hamel (2012), "Slavery in Maliki School in the Maghreb", inBlack Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam, Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-1107025776
