Books of the Four Schools

03

The Maliki school

المذهب المالكي

Malik ibn Anas · d. 179 AH

The school of Madinah, then Qayrawan, al-Andalus, and the Maghrib. Malik’s own book is the Muwatta — hadith and amal of the people of Madinah together. The furu of the school were poured into the Mudawwanah by Sahnun from Ibn al-Qasim. Later Maghrib takes fatwa from Khalil and his shuruh.

A path through the books

al-Risalah of Ibn Abi Zayd → Mukhtasar Khalil with a teacher → al-Sharh al-Kabir and al-Dasuqi when you need the mutamad.

  1. الموطأ

    al-Muwatta

    Malik ibn Anas

    The imam’s own book. Hadith, and the practice of Madinah. On Nur’s Nine Books shelf.

  2. المدونة الكبرى

    al-Mudawwanah al-Kubra

    Sahnun, from Ibn al-Qasim

    The great early corpus of Maliki furu.

  3. الرسالة

    al-Risalah

    Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani (d. 386 AH)

    The beginner’s matn of the Maghrib. Still taught.

  4. الكافي

    al-Kafi fi fiqh ahl al-Madinah

    Ibn Abd al-Barr (d. 463 AH)

    A complete fiqh of the school from a hadith imam.

  5. بداية المجتهد

    Bidayat al-Mujtahid

    Ibn Rushd al-Hafid (d. 595 AH)

    Comparative dalil. Maliki, but it teaches you why the four differ.

  6. مختصر خليل

    Mukhtasar Khalil

    Khalil ibn Ishaq (d. 776 AH)

    The later matn. Dense. Needs a teacher.

  7. الشرح الكبير

    al-Sharh al-Kabir

    al-Dardir (d. 1201 AH)

    On Khalil. A main road of later fatwa.

  8. حاشية الدسوقي

    Hashiyat al-Dasuqi

    al-Dasuqi (d. 1230 AH)

    On al-Dardir. Widely cited as mutamad in the later school.

Amal ahl al-Madinah is a usul of this school, not a slogan. Read it in Malik and Ibn al-Qasim, not in a pamphlet.