Maliki School of thought/ Islamic jurisprudence
Introduction
Abu Abdullah Malik Ibn anas famously known as Imam Malik was
born at Medina in the year 93 hijri. He was not only a great traditionsist, but
a jurist who founded a school of Jurisprudence known as Maliki School or Medina
School. He gave discourses on Hadith in the Masjid Nabvi for near about 40
years of his life. He was considered to be the highest authority in Hadith of
his time. He devoted his life to the study of jurisprudence and hadith in
Madina. He learnt Hadith from Abdul Rehman, ibn hurmuz, Nafi Ibn Zakwan and Yahya
ibn Saeed. He studied fiqh from the celebrated jurist of Medina Rabis Ibn Farukh.
His chief book, the Muwataa, is the oldest corpus of Sunni law extent and is of
interest because it forms a link between the fiqh literature of earlier days.
The Imam said that he had presented his book in the 70 scholars of Medina who
agreed upon its contents. He, therefore, gave it the name of Al Muwataa, which
means ‘Agreed upon’ Or a ‘most frequent path’. He also became the victim of the
Abbasid rule as he never bowed before political authorities and gave decisions
without any bias. Imam Malik died in 179 hijri in Medina and was buried in Al
Baki. Imam Shaafi was his celebrated disciple.
Features of Maliki School:
- The Holy Quran as the first source for formulating the principles of law.
- Inclined more to the traditions of the Prophet [saw], He preferred the traditions which were collected and narrated by the traditionists of Medina. He would also accept traditions which were authentic, even if the traditions carried the authority of only one narrator.
- Ijma of the companions and Ijma of the people of Madinaas, the most preferable ijma.
- Customs and practices of the people of Medina.
- Less reliance on qiyas and more reliance on the customs of the people of Medina.
- Profound the doctrine of Istislah, Sources unique to this school.
Maliki School originated from Medina, and then separate to Cairo
and from there to North African coast, Egypt, sudan, Libya, Central Arabian
Gulf and western Africa.
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