In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
“And of men and beasts and cattle, in like manner, divers hues? The erudite among His bondmen fear Allah alone. Lo! Allah is Mighty, Forgiving.” (35:28)
The Biographies of the Four Imams:
four lives abounding in beauty and grandeur,
carefully abridged
from the matchless, monumental work
*Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'*
by Imam al-Dhahabi, may Allah have mercy on him,
prepared by Shaykh Muhammad al-Muhanna,
may Allah preserve him.
Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him:
he is the Shaykh al-Islam,
the Proof of the Ummah,
the Imam of the Abode of Migration (Madinah),
Abu 'Abdullah,
Malik ibn Anas
ibn Malik ibn Abi 'Amir
al-Asbahi al-Madani.
His mother was 'Aliyah bint Sharik al-Azdiyyah.
Malik's birth, according to the most correct view,
was in the year ninety-three,
the year of the passing of Anas,
the servant of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
He grew up in an environment of dignity, comfort, and grace,
and sought sacred knowledge while still a youth,
in his mid-teens.
He learned from Nafi', Ibn al-Munkadir, al-Zuhri,
Hisham ibn 'Urwah, and countless others.
He became qualified to issue formal legal verdicts (fatwa)
and sat to teach when he was just twenty-one years old.
A group of scholars narrated from him while he was still a tender youth,
and seekers of knowledge journeyed to him from all horizons
toward the end of Abu Ja'far al-Mansur's reign
and thereafter.
They crowded around him during the caliphate of al-Rashid,
until his death.
On the authority of Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
"People will soon beat the flanks of camels in search of knowledge,
yet they will find no scholar more knowledgeable than the scholar of Madinah."
It is related from Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah that he said:
"I used to say
he was Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab,
until I realized
that in his era there were Sulayman ibn Yasar,
Salim ibn 'Abdullah, and others.
Then today I have come to say:
it is indeed Malik,
for none remains in Madinah equal to him."
Abu al-Mughirah al-Makhzumi mentioned that its meaning is:
as long as Muslims seek knowledge,
they will find none more knowledgeable than a scholar in Madinah.
Accordingly, this applies to
Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab,
then after him, those among Malik's teachers,
then Malik,
then whoever maintained his knowledge after him.
I say:
the scholar of Madinah in his respective time,
after the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
and his companion (Abu Bakr),
was Zayd ibn Thabit and 'A'ishah,
then Ibn 'Umar,
then Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab,
then al-Zuhri,
then 'Ubaydullah ibn 'Umar,
then Malik.
Ibn 'Uyaynah said:
"Malik is the scholar of the people of the Hijaz,
and he is the proof of his age."
Al-Shafi'i said—and he spoke truly and excellently:
"Whenever scholars are mentioned,
Malik is the brilliant star."
Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar said
regarding the hadith "People will soon beat the flanks of camels":
Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah,
whenever he narrated this during Malik's lifetime,
would say:
"I deem him to be Malik."
He maintained this view for a long time,
then later reconsidered
and said:
"I deem him to be 'Abdullah ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz al-'Umari, the ascetic."
Ibn 'Abd al-Barr and several others said:
Al-'Umari is not one to rival Malik in sacred knowledge and fiqh,
even though he was a nobleman, a master, and a devoted worshipper.
I say:
This al-'Umari possessed sound knowledge, fiqh, and virtue;
he was an outspoken champion of truth,
an enjoiner of good,
and secluded from the people.
Whenever he was alone with Malik, he would urge him
toward asceticism, detachment from worldly ties, and seclusion.
May Allah have mercy on them both.
Al-Hafiz Ibn 'Abd al-Barr mentioned in *al-Tamhid*
that 'Abdullah al-'Umari, the devoted worshipper,
wrote to Malik urging him toward seclusion and solitary devotion.
So Malik wrote back to him:
"Indeed, Allah has distributed deeds just as He has distributed provisions.
For many a man has been granted devotion in voluntary prayer,
but not in fasting;
another has been granted devotion in charity,
but not in fasting;
and another has been granted devotion in jihad.
Spreading knowledge is among the most virtuous of righteous deeds,
and I am well pleased with what Allah has granted me therein.
Nor do I believe that the path I am on is inferior to yours,
and I hope that both of us are upon goodness and righteousness."
There was no scholar in Madinah after the Tabi'un
who rivaled Malik in knowledge, fiqh,
majesty, and memorization.
Madinah had possessed, after the Companions, figures like
Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab, the Seven Jurists,
al-Qasim, Salim,
'Ikrimah, Nafi', and their generation;
then Zayd ibn Aslam, Ibn Shihab,
Abu al-Zinad, Yahya ibn Sa'id,
Safwan ibn Salim,
Rabi'ah ibn Abi 'Abd al-Rahman, and their generation.
When they passed away,
renown in Madinah belonged to Malik, Ibn Abi Dhi'b,
'Abd al-'Aziz ibn al-Majishun,
al-Darawardi, and their peers.
Yet Malik was undeniably the foremost among them all,
the one toward whom the flanks of camels were spurred from across the horizons,
may Allah the Exalted have mercy on him.
Al-Ru'ayni said:
Caliph al-Mahdi arrived in Madinah,
so he sent for Malik, and Malik came to him.
The Caliph then said to his two sons, Harun and Musa:
"Listen to him."
So they sent for him, but he did not respond to their summons.
Al-Mahdi was informed of this
and spoke to him about it.
Malik replied: "O Commander of the Believers,
knowledge is to be approached, not summoned."
Al-Mahdi said: "Malik has spoken the truth;
go to him."
When they arrived at his gathering,
their tutor said to him:
"Read to us."
Malik said:
"The people of Madinah read before the scholar
just as children read before their schoolmaster;
if they make an error, he corrects them."
So they returned to al-Mahdi,
who sent for Malik and spoke to him.
Malik said:
"I heard Ibn Shihab say:
'We gathered this knowledge in the Rawdah from prominent men,
who were, O Commander of the Believers:
Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab,
Abu Salamah, 'Urwah,
al-Qasim, Salim,
Kharijah ibn Zayd,
Nafi',
and 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Hurmuz;
and from after them:
Abu al-Zinad, Rabi'ah,
Yahya ibn Sa'id, and Ibn Shihab—
all of them had students read before them,
and they did not read themselves.'"
Al-Mahdi said:
"In these figures lies an exemplary precedent;
go to him and read before him."
And so they did.
Qutaybah said:
Whenever we entered upon Malik,
he would come out to us adorned,
wearing kohl and perfumed,
dressed in his finest clothes.
He would preside over the study circle,
call for hand fans,
and distribute a fan to each of us.
Muhammad ibn 'Umar said:
Malik used to come to the mosque,
attending the prescribed prayers, the Friday sermon, and funeral processions;
he would visit the sick
and sit in the mosque,
where his companions would gather around him.
Then he ceased sitting there;
he would pray and depart,
and he stopped attending funerals.
Later, he gave all of that up, including the Friday prayer,
yet the people tolerated it all,
being as eager as ever to learn from him.
He would occasionally be questioned about this,
and he would say:
"Not everyone is able to disclose his valid excuse."
He meant that he had been afflicted with an ailment
that prevented him from attending the Friday prayer and congregational prayers.
He said:
His assembly was a gathering of dignity and forbearance,
for he was an awe-inspiring, noble man;
there was no disputation or clamor in his gathering,
nor any raising of voices.
Isma'il ibn Abi Uways said:
I asked my maternal uncle Malik about a legal issue,
and he said to me: "Wait."
Then he performed ablution and sat upon the couch.
He then said:
"There is no power and no strength except with Allah."
And he would never issue a legal verdict until he had uttered it.
Abu Mus'ab said:
"Malik would never narrate hadith unless he was in a state of ritual purity,
out of deep reverence for the hadith."
The physical description of Imam Malik:
'Isa ibn 'Umar said:
"I have never seen any fair complexion with a ruddy hue
more handsome than the face of Malik,
nor any garment whiter than that of Malik."
More than one authority transmitted
that he was tall and solidly built,
large-headed, fair-haired with a blondish complexion,
white-haired in beard and head,
having a magnificent, thick beard,
and it was said he had blue eyes.
Abu 'Asim said:
"I have never seen a hadith scholar more handsome in countenance than Malik."
Abu Mus'ab said:
"Malik was among the most handsome of people in face,
the clearest and most radiant of them in gaze,
the purest of them in his fair complexion,
and the most perfectly tall among them with an excellent physique."
Al-Qadi 'Iyad cited from various chains of transmission
the elegance of the Imam's attire
and the exquisite perfection of his dignified appearance.
Malik was an eminent master in the critical appraisal of narrators (naqd al-rijal),
a consummate, precise, and masterly memorizer of hadith.
'Atiq ibn Ya'qub said:
"I heard Malik say:
'Ibn Shihab narrated to me forty-odd hadiths,
and then said: "Recite them back to me."
So I recited forty of those hadiths back to him from memory.'"
Al-Shafi'i said:
"Muhammad ibn al-Hasan said:
'I stayed with Malik for over three years,
and I heard directly from his own words more than seven hundred hadiths.'
So whenever Muhammad narrated on the authority of Malik,
his house would become completely packed;
but whenever he narrated on the authority of other Kufan scholars,
only a very few would come to him."
Ibn Abi 'Umar al-'Adani said:
"I heard al-Shafi'i say:
'Malik is my teacher, and from him I acquired knowledge.'"
Ibn Mahdi said:
"The foremost leaders of the people in their era were four:
al-Thawri, Malik,
al-Awza'i, and Hammad ibn Zayd."
And he said:
"I have never seen anyone more profoundly intelligent than Malik."
It is related that Malik said:
"The shield of the scholar is to say: 'I do not know.'
If he neglects it, he exposes his mortal vulnerabilities."
Al-Haytham ibn Jamil said:
"I heard Malik being asked about forty-eight issues,
and in thirty-two of them he answered: 'I do not know.'"
Malik said:
"I heard 'Abdullah ibn Yazid ibn Hurmuz say:
'A scholar ought to pass down to his companions the habit of saying,
"I do not know,"
so that it becomes a foundational refuge they readily turn to.'"
Ibn 'Abd al-Barr said:
"It is authentically transmitted from Abu al-Darda'
that saying 'I do not know' is half of knowledge."
The Trial:
Muhammad ibn Jarir said:
"Malik was once subjected to flogging with whips,
and opinions differed regarding the reason for that.
Al-'Abbas ibn al-Walid narrated to me:
Ibn Dhakwan narrated to us,
on the authority of Marwan al-Tatari,
that Abu Ja'far al-Mansur forbade Malik from narrating the hadith:
'There is no divorce binding upon one who is coerced.'
Then he secretly dispatched someone to ask him about it,
and Malik narrated it to him publicly before all the people,
so he had him flogged with whips."
Ahmad ibn Hanbal was asked:
"Who flogged Malik?"
He said:
"One of the governors, concerning the divorce of the coerced,
as Malik did not deem it valid;
so he flogged him on account of that."
Al-Waqidi said:
"When Malik was summoned, consulted,
listened to, and his opinions were embraced,
he was envied,
and people sought to transgress against him by every means.
When Ja'far ibn Sulayman was appointed governor over Medina,
they slandered Malik to him,
heaping accusations against him in his presence,
and they said:
'He does not regard this oath of allegiance of yours to be of any binding value,
and he relies upon a hadith
which he narrated from Thabit ibn al-Ahnaf concerning the divorce of the coerced,
holding that it has no validity in his view.'"
He said:
"Thereupon Ja'far became furious
and summoned Malik.
He confronted him with what had been reported against him,
then ordered that he be stripped and flogged with whips.
His arms were stretched so violently that his shoulder was dislocated,
and a grievous injustice was committed against him.
Yet by Allah, after that Malik only continued to rise in honor and lofty standing."
I say:
this is the fruit of praiseworthy tribulation,
in that it elevates the servant in the estimation of the believers.
For when a believer is tested,
he endures patiently, takes admonition, and seeks Allah's forgiveness,
never occupying himself with vilifying those who wronged him;
for Allah is an equitable Judge.
He then praises Allah for the preservation of his religion,
knowing that punishment in this world is lighter and ultimately far better for him.
Abu al-Walid al-Baji said:
"It is related that al-Mansur performed the pilgrimage
and offered Malik legal retribution (qisas) against Ja'far ibn Sulayman, who had flogged him—
meaning he surrendered him to Malik so he could exact retribution from him—
but Malik refused and said:
'I seek refuge in Allah!'"
Malik—may Allah have mercy on him—authored a treatise on divine decree (qadar),
which he wrote to Ibn Wahb, and its chain of transmission is authentic.
He also had a work on the stars and lunar mansions,
transmitted by Sahnun from Ibn Nafi' al-Sa'igh on his authority.
He had a small treatise in Tafsir,
a single-volume treatise on judicial rulings (al-aqdiyah),
and the work 'Kitab al-Sirr' through the transmission of Ibn al-Qasim from him.
As for what his senior disciples transmitted from him of juridical issues, fatwas, and scholarly benefits,
it is exceedingly vast.
Among those treasures are
al-Mudawwanah, al-Wadihah, and other seminal works.
In any case,
wherever the fiqh of Malik reaches,
the vast majority of his legal positions are sound and firmly guided;
and were there nothing to his credit other than blocking legal stratagems (hiyal)
and observing the higher objectives of the law (maqasid), it would indeed suffice him.
His school of thought spread throughout the Maghreb and al-Andalus,
vast parts of the lands of Egypt,
parts of the Levant, Yemen, and the Sudan,
as well as Basra, Baghdad, Kufa,
and parts of Khorasan.
Yet this great Imam—
namely, Imam Malik—
who is truly a guiding star,
was profoundly fair and uttered a decisive statement
when he said:
"The words of anyone may be accepted or rejected,
except for the occupant of this grave, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him."
Al-Shafi'i said:
"Knowledge revolves around three men:
Malik, al-Layth, and Ibn 'Uyaynah."
I say:
and alongside them are al-Awza'i, al-Thawri,
Ma'mar, Abu Hanifah,
Shu'bah, and the two Hammads.
It is related from al-Awza'i
that whenever Malik was mentioned, he would say:
"He is the scholar of scholars and the mufti of the Two Holy Sanctuaries."
Abu Yusuf said:
"I have never seen anyone more knowledgeable than Abu Hanifah,
Malik, and Ibn Abi Layla."
Ahmad ibn Hanbal mentioned Malik
and gave him precedence over al-Awza'i, al-Thawri,
al-Layth, Hammad, and al-Hakam in knowledge,
saying:
"He is an imam in hadith and in fiqh."
Malik said:
"I did not issue fatwas until seventy scholars testified
that I was qualified to do so."
Abu al-'Abbas al-Sarraj said:
"I heard al-Bukhari say:
'The soundest of all chains of transmission is:
Malik, from Nafi', from Ibn 'Umar.'"
From Malik's statements concerning the Sunnah:
Mutarrif ibn 'Abdullah said:
"I heard Malik say:
'The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and the leaders of authority after him laid down sunnahs;
adhering to them is following the Book of Allah,
the perfection of obedience to Allah,
and strength in the religion of Allah.
No one has the right to alter or replace them,
nor to entertain anything that contradicts them.
Whoever is guided by them is truly guided,
whoever seeks victory through them is granted victory,
and whoever abandons them follows a path other than that of the believers,
so Allah will leave him to what he has turned to,
and cast him into Hell—and an evil destination it is!'"
Ishaq ibn 'Isa said:
"Malik said:
'Are we, every time a man comes along who is more skilled in disputation than another,
to abandon what Gabriel brought down to Muhammad, peace be upon him,
on account of his argumentation?'"
Ja'far ibn 'Abdullah said:
"We were in the presence of Malik,
when a man came to him and said:
'O Abu 'Abdullah,
“The Beneficent One, Who is established on the Throne.” (20:5)
how did He ascend (istawa)?'
Malik was never troubled by anything
as much as he was troubled by his question.
He looked down at the ground,
scratching it with a stick in his hand,
until he was dripping with sweat.
Then he raised his head, tossed the stick aside,
and said:
"The modality is beyond human comprehension,
the Istiwa' (ascending the Throne) is not unknown,
believing in it is obligatory,
asking about its modality is an innovation,
and I suspect that you are an innovator!"
He then ordered him to be expelled.
'Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated
in the book *al-Radd 'ala al-Jahmiyyah*
on the authority of 'Abdullah ibn Nafi',
who said
that Malik said:
"Allah is above the heavens,
yet His knowledge is everywhere;
nothing is hidden from it."
Ibn Abi Uways said:
"I heard Malik say:
'The Qur'an is the speech of Allah,
and the speech of Allah originates from Him,
and nothing originating from Allah is created.'"
Ibn Nafi' narrated from Malik,
"[Whoever] says the Qur'an is created
should be flogged and imprisoned."
The judge said:
More than one narrator reported from Malik:
"Faith consists of speech and action;
it increases and decreases,
and parts of it are superior to others."
Ibn 'Adi said in *Musnad Malik*,
with an authentic chain of transmission from Ibn Wahb,
that Malik said:
"Nafi' transmitted an immense amount of knowledge from Ibn 'Umar,
far more than Ibn 'Umar's own sons transmitted from him."
Ibn Wahb said
that Malik said:
"I used to visit Nafi' when I was a young boy;
he would step down from his stairs, stand with me, and narrate hadiths to me.
He used to sit in the mosque after the dawn prayer,
and hardly anyone would come to him."
Ibn Wahb also said:
"I heard Malik say:
'It is incumbent upon anyone who seeks knowledge
to possess dignity, serenity, and reverence.'"
And he said
that Malik said:
"It has reached me that no one practices renunciation of the world and acts with piety
except that they are granted speech of wisdom."
And he said
that Malik said:
"Indeed, whenever a person praises himself,
his dignity departs."
Ibn Wahb said:
"Malik's sister was asked,
'What was Malik's main occupation in his home?'
She replied:
'The Mus-haf and reciting the Qur'an.'"
Khalid ibn Nizar al-Ayli said:
"Al-Mansur sent for Malik when he arrived in Madinah
and said:
'The people in Iraq have differed,
so author a book around which we can unite them.'
Thus, he composed *al-Muwatta'*."
Al-Shafi'i said:
"There is no book of knowledge on earth
more sound than Malik's *al-Muwatta'*."
I say:
He said this before the two Sahihs were compiled.
Abu Mus'ab said:
"People used to crowd around Malik's door
to the point of fighting from the sheer congestion.
When we were in his presence,
no one would turn toward another,
all lowering their heads in complete stillness.
Even rulers held him in awe.
He would answer with a simple 'no' or 'yes,'
and no one would dare ask him,
'From where do you say that?'"
Mus'ab ibn 'Abdullah said regarding Malik:
"He leaves a question unanswered, yet none challenge him out of awe,
while the inquirers lower their chins in reverence.
The dignity of majesty and the luminous authority of piety surround him;
thus he is revered, though he holds no worldly reign."
Ibn Mahdi said:
"I have never seen anyone more awe-inspiring,
of more complete intellect than Malik,
nor of deeper piety."
Ibn Wahb said:
"What we conveyed of Malik's exemplary conduct
is far more than what we learned of his knowledge."
Al-Qa'nabi said:
"I heard them say
that Malik's lifespan was eighty-nine years;
he passed away in the year one hundred and seventy-nine."
Isma'il ibn Abi Uways said:
"Malik fell ill,
so I asked some of our family about what he said at the time of death.
They said he uttered the testimony of faith, and then recited: ◁To Allah belongs the command before and after.▷"
“Within ten years - Allah's is the command in the former case and in the latter - and in that day believers will rejoice” (30:4)
He passed away on the morning of the fourteenth of Rabi' al-Awwal
in the year one hundred and seventy-nine.
The funeral prayer was led by the governor 'Abdullah
ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim
ibn Muhammad ibn 'Ali
ibn 'Abdullah
ibn 'Abbas al-Hashimi.
He was washed by Ibn Abi Zinbar
and Ibn Kinanah,
while his son Yahya
and his scribe Habib
poured the water over them.
I say: He was buried in al-Baqi'.
Biographies of the Four Imams.