Maliki school

From Vero - Wikipedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Sunni Islam Template:Use dmy dates

The Maliki schoolTemplate:Efn or Malikism is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam.<ref name="hmr">Template:Cite book</ref> It was founded by Malik ibn Anas (Template:Circa) 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.<ref name="vjc"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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.<ref name=unc1/><ref>Abdullah Saeed (2008), The Qur'an: An Introduction, Routledge, Template:ISBN, pp. 16–18</ref> 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.<ref>Bernard Lewis (2001), The Muslim Discovery of Europe, WW Norton, Template:ISBN, p. 67</ref> A major historical center of Maliki teaching, from the 9th to 11th centuries, was in the Mosque of Uqba of Tunisia.<ref name="futureIslam">Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and Riad Nourallah, The future of Islam, Routledge, 2002, page 199</ref><ref>Ira Marvin Lapidus, A history of Islamic societies, Cambridge University Press, 2002, page 308</ref><ref name="unc1">Jurisprudence and Law – Islam Reorienting the Veil, University of North Carolina (2009)</ref>

One who ascribes to the Maliki school is called a Maliki, Malikite or Malikist (Template:Langx, Template:Plural form Template:Langx).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

History

File:Madhhab Map3.png
Sharia based on Maliki school (in teal) is the predominant Sunni school in North and West Africa.<ref name=unc1/>

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.<ref>Camilla Adang, This Day I have Perfected Your Religion For You: A Zahiri Conception of Religious Authority, pg. 17. Taken from Speaking for Islam: Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies. Ed. Gudrun Krämer and Sabine Schmidtke. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2006.</ref> 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,<ref name="Dutton">Template:Citation</ref><ref name="Haddad2007">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp 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.<ref name="HistoryOfIslam">Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Maribel Fierro, Proto-Malikis, Malikis and Reformed Malikis in al-Andalus, pg. 61. Taken from The Islamic School of Law: Evolution, Devolution and Progress. Eds. Peri Bearman, Rudolph Peters and Frank E. Vogel. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2005.</ref> 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 it with suspicion, and weren't very well versed in its study.<ref>Fierro, "The Introduction of Hadith in al-Andalus (2nd/8th - 3rd/9th centuries)," pg. 68–93. Der Islam, vol. 66, 1989.</ref> 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.Template:Citation needed

File:Chester Beatty T 414 fol 130r Mālik.jpg
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, United Arab Emirates and Qatar).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> While the majority of Saudi Arabia follows Hanbali laws, the country's Eastern Province has been known as a Maliki stronghold for centuries.<ref name=unc1/>

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Principles

File:PERF No. 732.jpg
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).<ref name=hmr/>

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.<ref name=vjc>Vincent J. Cornell (2006), Voices of Islam, Template:ISBN, pp 160</ref> 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).<ref name=vjc/> An example of the Maliki approach in using the opinion of Sahabah was recorded in Muwatta Imam Malik per ruling of cases regarding the law of consuming Gazelle meat.<ref name="Muwatta 1">Template:Harvtxt</ref> This tradition was used in the opinions of Zubayr ibn al-Awwam.<ref name="Muwatta 1" /> 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.<ref name="Brannon Wheeler canon Maliki">Template:Harvtxt</ref>

File:Mosque of Oqba Courtyard, Kairouan.jpg
The Great Mosque of Kairouan, known since the 9th century as one of the most important Maliki centers.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name=jamaln>Jamal Nasir (1990), The Islamic Law of Personal Status, Brill Academic, Template:ISBN, pp. 16–17</ref> 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.<ref name=jamaln/>

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.<ref name=mansoor>Mansoor Moaddel, Islamic Modernism, Nationalism, and Fundamentalism: Episode and Discourse, pg. 32. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.</ref><ref>Reuben Levy, Introduction to the Sociology of Islam, pg. 237, 239 and 245. London: Williams and Norgate, 1931–1933.</ref>

Notable Mālikīs

Contemporary Malikis

Notes

Template:Notelist

See also

Template:Portal

References

Template:Reflist

Citation

Further reading

Template:Maliki scholars Template:Maliki books Template:Islamic theology Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Maliki_school&oldid=168398"