Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Martha F. Lee, The Nation of Islam: 

An American Millenarian Movement (Syracuse, N.Y.: 

Syracuse University Press, 1996); Eric C. Lincoln, The 

Black Muslims of America. (Trenton, N.J.: Africa World 

Press, 1994); Clifton E. Marsh, From Black Muslims to 

Muslims: The Transition of Separatism to Islam, 1930–1980

(Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1984); Jane I. Smith, 

Islam in America (New York: Columbia University Press, 

1999); Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, with 

the assistance of Alex Haley (London: Penguin, 2001).

Malik ibn Anas

 

(ca. 708–795)  leading jurist of 

Medina and eponymous founder of the Maliki  

legal school

Malik ibn Anas lived most of his life in m

edina

,

the city of the prophet m

Uhammad

. In contrast to 

other early Muslim scholars, he is said to have left 

the city only in order to go on the hajj to Mecca.

He specialized in the study of the 

hadith

 and 

became famous for developing the idea that cus-

tomary practice (

sUnna

) of the Muslims of what 

Marshal G. S. Hodgson called “pristine” Medina 

should serve as a fundamental basis for Islamic 

law. Students traveled from great distances to 

study with Malik, and they carried his teachings, 

which were compiled in a book, the Muwatta, to 

the major centers of Islamic learning in e

gypt

, 

i

raq

, North Africa, and a

ndalUsia

 (Spain). This 

book, whose title means “well-trodden path,” is 

one of the most important sources for the study 

of the development of early Islamic legal tradition. 

It contains not only the hadith of Muhammad and 

his Companions, but also reports on the practices 

of Medina’s inhabitants in later generations. Like 

the hadith collections of al-Bukhari (d. 870) and 

Muslim (d. 875), it is organized by subject, begin-

ning with the F

ive

 p

illars

 and followed by family 

law, business transactions, and criminal law. It also 

has chapters on miscellaneous subjects. Malik’s 

opinions on legal matters were compiled later and 

became part of the tradition of the m

aliki

 l

egal

s

chool

, which bears his name.

See also c

ompanions

 

oF

 

the

 p

rophet

; 

sharia

.

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