sunnah and the practice (amal) of the people of Madinah, he cared little about the wealth and luxuries of this world; indeed, he chose to live in virtual poverty, far removed from the wealth and pleasures of this life. As expected, his piety, simplicity and asceticism (zuhd) boosted his standing in Madinah and the locals became very fond him. After the death of his beloved teacher Rabi’ah in 755, he came to be regarded as one of Madinah’s most learned scholars. And since there was no better place to start teaching than in the Prophet’s own mosque, Malik began to deliver daily lectures on hadith and fiqh in the masjid al-nabi. Being a polite and friendly teacher, he always encouraged his students to ask questions and he, in turn, also provided simple and straightforward answers. And although he was an undisputed master of Prophetic traditions and the norms and ethos of the people of Madinah, people often tested his knowledge of Islam by posing difficult political and theological questions vis-à-vis the behaviour of the city’s ruling elites. But he always responded to such questions in a measured, relevant and succinct way. His honesty, sincerity and unusual grasp of Islamic teachings and practices, coupled with his photographic memory and intellectual brillance, made him a popular figure not only in Madinah but also across the Islamic dominion. So much so that, on one ocassion, al-Zuhri, who was also a great scholar of hadith and a contemporary of Malik, referred to him as a ‘great vessel of knowledge’.
Malik’s lectures at the masjid al-nabi became so popular that thousands of students came from all over Arabia and other parts of the Muslim world to hear him speak. Some of his famous students included al-Shafi’i, Abu Yusuf, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani and Abdullah ibn Mubarak. According to some scholars, Abu Hanifah, Abbasid Caliphs Abu Ja’far al-Mansur, al-Mahdi and Harun al-Rashid and his young sons (who later became Caliphs al-Amin and al-Ma’mun) had also attended Malik’s lectures. However, other scholars have questioned this claim; they argue that Abu Hanifah, Abu Yusuf, al-Amin and al-Ma’mun probably had not even heard of Malik, not to mention attending his lectures. Either way, as a gifted scholar, he developed his own style of textual exposition and delivery. He used to sit on the pulpit (minbar) in the Prophet’s mosque with a copy of the Qur’an on one hand and his collections of hadith on the other, and delineate the fundamental principles and practices of Islam; firstly in the light of the Qur’an, and then further illuminating the issues concerned by examining them in accordance with the Prophetic sunnah. His methodical approach to the textual sources of Islam, coupled with his slow but measured delivery, enabled his students to understand his explanations and also take copious notes at the same time. When the number of people attending his lectures became very large, Malik appointed several teaching assistants who repeated his words aloud so that eveyone could hear him. This style of teaching proved so successful that later it became institutionalised in the form of madrasah (Islamic seminaries) across the Islamic world.
Central to Malik’s religious thought and worldview were the Qur’an and Prophetic sunnah; indeed, even his personal views, opinions and lifestyle were moulded by these two fundamental sources of Islam. Whenever people sought his advice and guidance, he counselled them in accordance with the teachings of the Qur’an and sunnah. If he found a hadith which contradicted the Qur’an, he rejected it immediately. Since the Qur’an was the foremost source of authority in Islam, he felt the authentic sunnah had to be subordinate to it. Like Abu Hanifah, he was thoroughly acquainted with the methods of independent scholarly discretion, and also considered Islamic teachings to be completely in harmony with human reason and logic. However, unlike Abu Hanifah, he regarded the norms and ethos of Madinian society to be a fundamental source for the interpretation of Islamic principles and practices. Shaped by the Prophet in the light of Divine guidance, the customs (urf ) and practices (amal) of the people of Madinah, therefore, became an important component of Malik’s legal theory and methodology. In addition to this, his famous Kitab al-Muwatta (The Book of the Beaten Path), composed at the behest of Abbasid Caliph Abu Ja’far al-Mansur, became one of the first and most important anthologies of hadith ever produced. After carefully examining and scrutinising a large quantity of Prophetic traditions, he collected around one thousand legally-orientated ahadith into one book. He supplemented the hadith with the views and opinions of the Prophet’s companions, followed by the customs and practices of the people of Madinah, along with his own views and opinions on the issues concerned.
Upon completion, this book became an instant success. It became so popular across the Muslim world that, on one occasion, Caliph Harun al-Rashid asked Malik for his permission to make his book the law of the land. But, being a wise scholar, he told the Caliph that it would not be appropriate to make his book the law of the land because it was based primarily on the norms and ethos of the people of Madinah. He felt it would be inappropriate to limit Islam and Muslims to one particular interpretation of Islamic law only. Nevertheless, this pioneering work later inspired generations of Islamic scholars like al-Bukhari, Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi and others to compose their own voluminous collections of hadith. Widely considered to be one of the great anthologies of Prophetic traditions, some scholars of hadith (such as Shah Waliullah of Delhi) even rated al-Muwatta higher than Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim on account of its authenticity as a book of Islamic teachings and practices. Malik was not only a great scholar of hadith, fiqh and theology; he was also a fearless defender of traditional Islam. Repeatedly flogged and chastised by the Madinian authorities for speaking the truth and defending Islamic principles, his firm and uncompromising stance against the corrupt rulers of his time won him the love and affection of the locals. Malik died in Madinah at the advanced age of around eighty-five and was buried in the city’s famous cemetery, Jannat al-Baqi. Named after Malik, the maliki madhhab (school of legal thought) later emerged and spread across the Muslim world. Today the adherents of this school are to be found mainly in Egypt, North and West Africa, and the Gulf States of Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.
THE ERA OF the first four Caliphs of Islam is widely considered to be the Golden Age of Islam. Caliphs Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali were not only close companions of the Prophet, they were also exceptionally loyal and gifted Muslims. During their reigns, the four Caliphs conducted their affairs strictly in accordance with the teachings of Islam; that is to say, they tried to discharge their duties and obligations to all the citizens of the Islamic State with equity, justice and fairness. Following in the footsteps of the Prophet, they served their people in an exemplary way. Wealth, luxuries and the possessions of this world failed to distract them from their main purpose and mission in life, namely to see Islam gain ascendancy in all spheres of human life. However, after the period of the first four Caliphs, the Muslim world entered a long phase of dynastic rule. Founded by Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, the Umayyads became the first dynasty in Islamic history and went onto rule the Muslim world for nearly a century. During the rule of this dynasty, a hugely inspirational Muslim leader emerged who became known as the ‘fifth rightly-guided’ Caliph. The Prophet and his first four successors aside, Muslims have revered this ruler probably more than any other in the annals of Islam. His name was Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz.
Abu Hafs Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan ibn Hakam was born in Madinah into an aristocratic family of the Umayyad dynasty. A direct descendant of Caliph Umar, through his son Asim, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz was brought up and educated in Madinah. He completed his early education in Arabic and also memorised the Qur’an and hadith (Prophetic traditions) under the supervision of Salih ibn Kaisan and several other companions (sahabah) of the Prophet, and their successors (tabiun), such as Abdullah ibn Utbah ibn Mas’ud. He then received advanced training in Arabic grammar, literature, poetry and hadith. Young Umar became so proficient in Arabic literature and Islamic sciences that some of the leading scholars of the time tested his knowledge of the intricacies of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and Prophetic traditions, but he passed their tests with flying colours. Not surprisingly, prominent Islamic scholars and writers like Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi considered Umar to be a competent scholar of tafsir (Qur’anic exegesis), hadith and fiqh. By virtue of his scholarly achievements, he became
