Maliki school of thought was the second school of Islamic jurisprudence which was started from Medina the city of learning. Hence it is also called Madani school. It was founded by Imam Malik-Ibn Anas (A.H. 93 – 175) who was the Mufthi of Medina. His full name was Abu Abd Allah Malik ibn Anas. This school prevails in North and West Africa, Morocco and Spain. There are no followers of Maliki School in India.
After the death of the Prophet in 632, his followers subsequently built an empire that would stretch from Central Asia to Spain less than a century after his death. But a debate over succession split the community, with some arguing that leadership should be awarded to qualified individuals and others insisting that the only legitimate ruler must come through Mohammed’s bloodline. At the time of the death of the Prophet, there was a quarrel between the two groups for imamate (the temporal leadership of the religion). One group advocated the principle of the election in choosing the Imam. This group is known as “Sunni”. The adherents to the Sunni doctrine are called Sunni. While, the other group opposed the principle of the election in choosing the Imam and proclaimed that Ali is the successor of the ‘Prophet’. They firmly believe that imamat must be devolved upon the successors of the prophet, i.e. (i) Ali, the son in law; and (ii) Fatima, the daughter of Prophet. This group is known as “Shia”. Thus, there are two main schools of Muslim Law: a) Sunni school and b) Shia school. There are four sub-schools of Sunni school in Muslim Law. Viz: Hanafi school, Maliki school, Shafei school, and Hanbali school. In last article, we have got broad idea of different schools of Muslim Law. In this article, we are studying Maliki school of Muslim Law in detail.
Maliki School of Muslim Law
Medina is the sacred city of Islam, where the Prophet Muhammad spent later part of his life and established Islamic State. From this holy city the teaching of Islam spread throughout the world. Imam Malik was born in Medina, in the year 93 A.H. and died at the age of 85 in the year 179 A.H.
Imam Malik was not only a great traditionalist but also a jurist who founded a school of jurisprudence. He got education in Medina, gave discourses in law and religion in the Mosque Masjid-e-Nabavi. He learnt traditions from Abdur Rahman Ibn Hurmuz, Naafi Ib Zakwan and Yahya Ibn Sayeed. Imam studied Islamic jurisdiction with celebrated Jurist of Medina, Rabish Ibn Farrukh. Imam Malik dedicated his whole life for the studies of Islamic jurisprudence and Hadith. People from nooks and corners of this world used to come to learn from him. He never left Medina and spent his whole life for the cause of Islamic learning there.
Imam Malik collected about 8000 traditions of the Prophet. He testified and compiled only about 2000 out of these traditions. He codified it in subject wise in his Book Kitab-al-Muwatta which was the first and most authoritative book of Hadis. This book is connecting line between fiqh literature of earlier days and collection of Hadith in later times. Unlike Hanafis this school emphasises the importance of traditions as a ‘source of law’. It recognises the traditions of the Companions, and of successors of the Companions. According to Maliki School, as far as possible, the new rules should be obtained exclusively from the traditions. If it is not possible then only Qiyas and Ijma may be taken into consideration. The Hanafi School gave importance to Ijma’a of the people and lsthihsan (Juristic preference) while the Maliki School was giving importance to Sunnah and Hadis. Maliki law is based on Sunnah. They accept Ijma’a only in rare cases and they will accept Ijma’a of the scholars of Madeena alone. The scope of Ijma as a source of law is therefore limited under this school.
Main features of Maliki School:
Main features of this school are
- Acceptance of traditions, which in the opinion of Imam Malik, were authentic, even if tradition carried authority of only one narrator. Imam Malik gave more emphasis on tradition and usages of Medina. Imam Malik had a strong believe that the traditions of Medina have a prepondering weight since they must have been transmitted from the times of the Prophet.
- Acceptance of practices, usages customs of the people of Medina and of the saying of companions of the Prophet.
- Resource to Qiyas (Analogy), only in the absence of explicit of test.
- Recognition of Principle of public welfare (Al-masalih al- mursalah) as basis of deduction. Imam Malik gave more prominence to juristic equity. According to Maliki’s the deduction of laws should be based on the consideration of the public good. The doctrine of public good is also known as Istilah.
- Adding to the four main sources of Muslim Law, one more source viz., Istidial i.e., principle of logical deduction.
- A noticeable feature of this school is that it is the only school in which a married woman and her properties are always supposed to be under the control of her husband. A Maliki woman cannot deal with her own properties without the consent of her husband.
Conclusion:
Imam Malik was a pious man with an independent character and never bowed before political authorities and gave decisions before bias. He spent 50 years of his life in the study of Jurisprudence and Hadith. Imam Malik’s greatest contribution is his book “Kitab-al-Muwatta”. He was a great traditionist as well as a profound jurist. He gave new shape to the traditions, usages and practices of Medina with his pious and independent character. Imam Malik devoted his whole life for the progress and development of Islamic legal learning. As a great scholar of Islamic learning he got respect from public as well as from the rulers of the time. There are no followers of Maliki School in India, when Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939 was enacted, some provisions for it were taken from Maliki law because it was giving more rights and freedom for women in the law marriage and divorce. In Hanafi law, a woman has to wait seven years to dissolve her marriage if whereabouts of the husband is not known. But the period is only two years in Maliki law thus in Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, this Maliki Provision accepted as the law.