Ibn Abbas

Lore & Background

Malik was born as the son of Anas ibn Malik (not the Sahabi with the same name) and Aaliyah bint Shurayk al-Azdiyya in Medina, c. 711. His family was originally from the al-Asbahi tribe of Yemen, but his great grandfather Abu 'Amir relocated the family to Medina after converting to Islam in the second year of the Hijri calendar, or 623 CE. His grandfather Malik ibn Abi Amir was a student of the second Caliph of Islam Umar and was one of those involved in the collection of the parchments upon which Quranic texts were originally written when those were collected during the Caliph Uthman era. Living in Medina gave Malik access to some of the most learned minds of early Islam. He memorized the Quran in his youth, learning recitation from Abu Suhail Nafi' ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman, from whom he also received his Ijazah. He studied under various famed scholars including Hisham ibn Urwah and Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri as well as the famed Imam Jafar al-Sadiq. Both Malik and al Zuhri were student to Nafi Mawla Ibn Umar, prestigious Tabi'un Imam and freed slave of Abdullah ibn Umar. Malik's chain of narrators was considered the most authentic and called Silsilat al-Dhahab or 'The Golden Chain of Narrators' by notable hadith scholars including Muhammad al-Bukhari. The 'Golden Chain' consists of Malik, who narrated from Nafi‘ Mawla ibn ‘Umar, who narrated from Ibn Umar, who narrated from Muhammad. Perhaps Malik's most famous accomplishment is his compilation of al-Muwatta', one of the oldest and most revered Sunni hadith collections and one of 'the earliest surviving Muslim law-book[s].' Composed in the early days of the Abbasid caliphate, Malik's work aimed to trace out a 'smoothed path' through 'the farreaching differences of opinion even on the most elementary questions.' Hailed as 'the soundest book on earth after the Quran' by al-Shafi'i, the compilation of al-Muwatta' led to Malik being bestowed with such reverential epithets as Shaykh al-Islam, Proof of the Community, Imam of the Believers in Hadith, Imam of the Abode of Emigration, and Knowledgeable Scholar of Medina in later Sunni tradition. According to classical Sunni tradition, the Islamic prophet Muhammad foretold the birth of Malik, saying: 'Very soon will people beat the flanks of camels in search of knowledge and they shall find no one more expert than the knowledgeable scholar of Medina.' Malik's most notable student, ash-Shafi'i, later said of his teacher: 'No one constitutes as great a favor to me in the religion of God as Malik ... when the scholars of knowledge are mentioned, Malik is the star.'

Reader's Guide

Malik's significance lies in his foundational role in Islamic jurisprudence and hadith scholarship. He was a strict opponent of anthropomorphism, deeming it absurd to compare the attributes of God with those of man. When a man asked Malik about the meaning of Quran 20:5, 'The Merciful made istiwa over the Throne,' Malik fervently responded: 'The how of it is unknown; the istiwa part is acknowledged; belief in it is obligatory; asking about it is an innovation.' Malik was a supporter of the orthodox Sunni doctrine of the beatific vision, citing Quran 75:22-23 and 83:15 as proof. When asked about the nature of faith, Malik defined it as 'speech and works' (qawlun wa-'amal). Malik seems to have been a proponent of intercession in personal supplication. When the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur asked Malik about whether it was preferable to face the Prophet's tomb or the qibla whilst doing the personal prayer or dua, Malik responded: 'Why should you not face him when he is your means (wasīla) to God and that of your father Adam on the Day of Resurrection?' On the basis of several early traditions, it is evident that Malik held the early Sufis and their practices in high regard. The famous twelfth-century Maliki jurist and judge Qadi Iyad narrated a tradition in which a man asked Malik 'about something in the inward science,' to which Malik replied: 'Truly none knows the inward science except those who know the outward science! When he knows the outward science and puts it into practice, God shall open for him the inward science - and that will not take place except by the opening of his heart and its enlightenment.' Malik inherited his knowledge from the seven jurists of Madinah, known as Fuqahā’ al-Sab‘ah: Ubaydullah ibn 'Abdullah ibn 'Utbah ibn Mas'ud, 'Urwah ibn al-Zubayr, Al-Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abi Bakr al-Siddiq, Sa-id ibn al-Mussayib, Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām, Sulaymān ibn Yasār, and Khārijah ibn Zayd ibn Thābit.

Did You Know?

• Malik's chain of narrators was called Silsilat al-Dhahab or 'The Golden Chain of Narrators' by notable hadith scholars including Muhammad al-Bukhari.
• Al-Shafi'i hailed al-Muwatta' as 'the soundest book on earth after the Quran.'
• Malik studied under Imam Jafar al-Sadiq, a well-known scholar of his time.
• When asked about the meaning of Quran 20:5, Malik said: 'The how of it is unknown; the istiwa part is acknowledged; belief in it is obligatory; asking about it is an innovation.'
• Malik's grandfather Malik ibn Abi Amir was involved in the collection of the parchments upon which Quranic texts were originally written during the Caliph Uthman era.

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