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Maliki school

School of Islamic jurisprudence From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maliki school
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"Maliki" redirects here. For other uses, see Maliki (disambiguation).

The Maliki school[a] or Malikism is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam.[1] It was founded by Malik ibn Anas (c. 711–795 CE) in the 8th century. In contrast to the Ahl al-Hadith and Ahl al-Ra'y schools of thought, the Maliki school takes a unique position known as Ahl al-Amal, in which they consider the Sunnah to be primarily sourced from the practice of the people of Medina and living Islamic traditions for their rulings on Islamic law.[2][3]

The Maliki school is one of the largest groups of Sunni Muslims, comparable to the Shafi’i madhhab in adherents, but smaller than the Hanafi madhhab.[4][5] Sharia based on Maliki Fiqh is predominantly found in North Africa (excluding parts of Egypt), West Africa, Chad, Sudan and the Persian Gulf.

In the medieval era, the Maliki school was also found in parts of Europe under Islamic rule, particularly Islamic Spain and the Emirate of Sicily.[6] A major historical center of Maliki teaching, from the 9th to 11th centuries, was in the Mosque of Uqba of Tunisia.[7][8][4]

One who ascribes to the Maliki school is called a Maliki, Malikite or Malikist (Arabic: ٱلْمَالِكِيّ, romanized: al-mālikī, pl. ٱلْمَالِكِيَّة, al-mālikiyya).[9]

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History

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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 the Shafi'i, Hanbali, and Zahiri schools all enjoying more success than Malik's school.[10] It was eventually the Hanafi school, however, that earned official government favor from the Abbasids.

Imam Malik (who was a teacher of Imam Ash-Shafi‘i,[11][12]: 121  who in turn was a teacher of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal) was a student of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and 6th Shi'ite Imam), as with Imam Abu Hanifah. Thus all of the four great Imams of Sunni Fiqh are connected to Ja'far, whether directly or indirectly.[13]

The Malikis enjoyed considerably more success in Africa, and for a while in Spain and Sicily. Under the Umayyads 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 Spanish Andalus from the Umayyads up to the Almoravids continued, with Islamic law in the region dominated by the opinions of Malik and his students. The Hadith, or prophetic tradition in Islam, played a lesser role as Malikis – like Hanafi jurists, viewed both with suspicion, and weren't very well versed in their study.[15] The Almoravids eventually gave way to the predominantly-Zahiri Almohads, at which point Malikis were tolerated at times but lost official favor. With the Reconquista, the Iberian Peninsula was lost to the Muslims in totality.[citation needed]

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Illustration of a 1585-1590 Ottoman manuscript depicting Mālik ibn Anas

Although Al-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 small Arab States of the Persian Gulf (Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar).[16] While the majority of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia follows Hanbali laws, the country's Eastern 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]

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Principles

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Earliest manuscript of Malik's Muwatta, dated to his lifetime

The Maliki school's sources for Sharia are hierarchically prioritized as follows: Quran, then Tawatur (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 the Sahabah (the companions of Muhammad), then individual opinion from the Sahabah, Qiyas (analogy), Istislah (benefit of Islam and Muslims), and finally Urf (public opinion of people throughout the Muslim world).[1]

The Mālikī school primarily derives from the work of Malik ibn Anas, particularly the Muwatta Imam Malik, also known as Al-Muwatta. The Muwaṭṭa contains Sahih Hadiths 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 as al-Muwaṭṭah (or, The Straight Path).[2] An example of the Maliki approach in using the opinion of Sahabah were recorded in Muwatta Imam Malik per ruling of cases regarding the law of consuming Gazelle meat.[18] This tradition was used in the opinions of Zubayr 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 of his school of though method.[19]

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The Great Mosque of Kairouan, known since the 9th century as one of the most important Maliki centers.[20] The Great Mosque of Kairouan is situated in the city of Kairouan in Tunisia.

The second source, the Al-Mudawwana, is the collaborator work of Mālik's longtime student, Ibn Qāsim and his mujtahid 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 the Mukhtaṣar Khalīl, which would form the basis for the later Mālikī madhhab.

The Maliki school is most closely related to the Hanafi school, differing in degree, not in kind.[21] However, unlike the Hanafi school, the Maliki school does not assign as much weight to qiyas (analogy), but derives its rulings from pragmatism using the principles of istislah (public benefit) and urf (common opinion) wherever the Quran and Mutawatir Hadiths do not provide explicit guidance.[21]

Notable differences from other schools

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 the Qur'an as primary source, followed by the sayings, customs/traditions and practices of Muhammad, 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 four rightly guided caliphs – especially Umar.

Malik bin Anas himself also accepted binding consensus and analogical 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 the first 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]

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Notable Mālikīs

Contemporary Malikis

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Notes

  1. Arabic: ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْمَالِكِيّ, romanized: al-madhhab al-mālikī

See also

References

Further reading

External links

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