A Knowledge Tree of Mālikī Fiqh Texts and Authors

This essay is a preliminary attempt to outline the development of the Mālikī madhhab and transmission of Imām Mālik’s (d. 795 CE) fiqh down until the present day. It does so through a family tree type approach through looking at specific major texts of the Mālikī school and their authors. Some of these texts have a direct relationship with each other; others are indirect and seen as derivative due to the time period they were written (especially after Mukhtaṣar Khalīl, which became the dominant text of the school in the latter period). It is not comprehensive in scope, and simply a means for those interested to navigate the hierarchy of major books and sources cited when learning and discussing Mālikī fiqh. Many other commentaries and texts would also need to be included for this article to be truly comprehensive, but there is simply no place for them in this overview. Therefore, only common, well-known texts are mentioned.

The original compilers of Mālik’s fiqh and narrators of the traditions (aḥādīth and riwāyāt) that came down to him from his teachers were his main students. Imām Mālik taught the Muwaṭṭaʾ (well-trodden path) for around 40 years, so various recensions of it exist as transmitted from his students. This contains not only traditions transmitted by Mālik, but also much of the early fiqh found in Medina. The most well-known recension of the Muwaṭṭaʾ is by Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā al-Laythī (d. 848 CE).[1] One important point to note here is that Mālik’s fiqh was transmitted all the way from Medina to Andalusia (Muslim Spain) either within his own lifetime, or shortly thereafter. He certainly had students hailing from across the Muslim world that came to Medina to learn from him.

Several early texts specifically record Imām Mālik’s fiqh and legal opinions. The most well-known of these is the Mudawwana (also known as the Mudawwana al-Kubrā), collated by Saḥnūn (d. 854), narrated from one of Imām Mālik’s longest serving students, Ibn al-Qāsim (d. 806).[2] This is considered one of the — if not the — motherbooks (ummuhāt) of the school.

Other motherbooks of the school, compiled by grand-students of Mālik, include: The Wāḍiḥa of Ibn Ḥabīb (d. 853), the Mustakhraja (or the ʿUtbiyya) of al-ʿUtbī (d. 869 CE), the Mawwāziyya of Ibn Mawwāz (d. 895 CE), the Mabsūṭ of Qāḍī Ismāʿīl ibn Isḥāq al-Baghdādī (d. 895), and the Majmūʿa of Ibn ʿAbdūs (d. 874 CE). As can be seen, the fiqh of Mālik was transmitted and preserved within a century of his death, providing volumes of source material for early Mālikī scholars to build upon.

The most important of these was at the next stage: the Al-Nawādir wa-l-Ziyādāt of Ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī (d. 996 CE). In this work, Ibn Abī Zayd collated all the various transmissions of Mālik’s fiqh from the motherbooks of the madhhab and synthesised them, particularly the Mudawwana and the ʿUtbiyya, plus additional material.[3] He also made an abridgement (mukhtaṣar) of the Mudawwana. His student, al-Baradh‘ī (d. 983) also made his own abridgement of the Mudawwana, but the Nawādir came to be regarded as a major source of the school.

Ibn Abī Zayd is also famous for producing his Risāla, which was originally written for teens to learn the basics of Mālikī fiqh, and credal beliefs (ʿaqīda). It remains a very popular text taught in Mālikī circles to this day, for the benefit of being connected to its author (due to his immense standing in the madhhab and more widely), as well as its concise summary of the main positions of the school in the areas it covers (creed, purification, the five pillars, marriage/divorce, business transactions, inheritance, etc).[4] A number of commentaries (shurūḥ) and super-commentaries (ḥawāshī) have been written on the Risāla, with some well-known ones being the Kifāyat al-Ṭālib al-Rabbānī by al-Manūfī (d. 1532), which is especially read with the Ḥāshiyyat al-ʿAdawī by Shaykh ʿAlī al-Ṣaʿīdī al-ʿAdawī (d. 1775), the teacher of Imām al-Dardīr (mentioned below). Another popular commentary is by the Azharī scholar, al-Abbī (d. 1917) called Al-Thamr al-Dānī. It is in one large volume and provides scriptural and transmitted evidence for each fiqh matter listed by Ibn Abī Zayd, as well as clarification of some difficult terms and points. A more extensive commentary is Al-Fawākih al-Dawānī of al-Nafrāwī (d. 1714), which is currently published in four volumes and introduces the reader to the various opinions within the school on each legal issue (masʾala).

The next generation of scholars produced important texts. First is Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Baghdādī (d. 1031), who is especially known for two texts in the realm of fiqh (as well as others in the realm of legal theory, or uṣūl al-fiqh). The first is his Al-Talqīn, in which he attempted to summarise the positions of the school in all areas of the law, as well as gave his own position when necessary. The second is his Al-Maʿūna, which brings together the source evidence and deductive process (istidlāl) used by Mālikīs for the various subsections of the law, in a concise way. His work is important because it preserves the Iraqi sub-school of the Mālikī madhhab, which was prominent before dying out and being subsumed within the rest of the school.

We next come to the encyclopaedic contribution of Ibn Yūnus (d. 1059), who was from Sicily. His text, Al-Jāmiʿ li-Masāʾil al-Mudawwana is currently published in 10 volumes, and is also known as “the Muṣḥaf of the Mālikīs” due to its importance in preserving the fiqh of, and explaining, the early motherbooks of the school. Although it focuses primarily on the Mudawwana, it also compiles and utilises other early Mālikī sources such as those transmitted from Ibn Wahb, Ibn Ḥabīb, Ibn al-Labbād, and others into a comprehensive encyclopedia of fiqh knowledge.

The next important set of texts produced after that is by Ibn Rushd al-Jadd (d. 1126) who — more-so than his grandson, the well-known philosopher and legal thinker Ibn Rushd al-Hafid, or Averroes (d. 1198)[5] — can be considered to have established and developed the Mālikī madhhab further. Besides being one of the most senior scholars, judges, and Muftīs in his time, and thus having a widely-known collection of fatāwā Ibn Rushd al-Jadd wrote two texts that, similar to Ibn Abī Zayd, aimed to explain and synthesise the mother books of the school. These were his Al-Muqaddimāt al-Mumahhidāt, and Al-Bayān wa-l-Taḥṣīl.

The Muqaddimāt focuses on the Mudawwana and extrapolating the legal and juristic points from the transmission of Mālik’s fiqh via Ibn al-Qāsim and Saḥnūn. It is considered one of the most important books of the Mālikī school, and even outside of it, due to its level of detail, structure, and exposition of legal reasoning. It gives numerous statements and reports from early Mālikī authorities, alongside the different and since defunct schools. Ibn Rushd al-Jadd engages with them all critically.

His Bayan wa-l-Tahsil focuses on the Mustakhraja (ʿUtbiyya) and is huge — it is currently published in around 18 volumes. It is considered a distillation of all Ibn Rushd al-Jadd’s knowledge of the Mālikī madhhab after many years of experience as the Chief Judge (Qāḍī al-Quḍāt) in Córdoba, as well as a leading Muftī. It came to supplant the ʿUtbiyya in terms of reference, with later scholars explicitly referring to it as a source for the School. His categorisation of the various chapters of fiqh within it was also a major influence on later texts.

The next important text the development of the Mālikī madhhab was through the effort off Ibn al-Hājib (d. 1249), with his Jāmiʿ al-Ummuhāt (also known as Mukhtaṣar Ibn al-Hājib al-Farʿī). A noted jurist and legal theorist (who also wrote an important text in Mālikī uṣūl al-fiqh, known as Mukhtaṣar al-Muntahā or Mukhtaṣar Ibn al-Hājib al-Uṣūlī), Ibn al-Ḥājib further refined and abridged the proceeding works from Ibn Rushd al-Jadd and Ibn Abī Zayd, into a text transmitting the established positions of the madhhab in all major areas of fiqh, largely for use as a teaching tool. It is currently printed in two or three volumes as a standalone text but is usually studied through commentaries. The most widely received of these commentaries was by Khalīl ibn Isḥāq al-Jundī (d. 1365), known as Al-Tawḍīḥ, which is currently published in 6–9 volumes. However, there are other commentaries such as the Sharḥ (sometimes titled Tanbīh al-Ṭālib) of Ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Ḥawārī (d. 1348), that of Ibn Harūn al-Kinānī (d. 1349), Ibn Farḥūn (d. 1397), and even a modern commentary by Muḥamad ʿIzz al-Dīn al-Ghiryānī. In his commentary, Khalīl aimed to not only explain and record divergent opinions of the school, but also give his own preponderance (tarjīḥ) between these opinions.

Khalīl then wrote another, much more abridged text, known as Mukhtaṣar Khalīl. It was built upon five important sources of the Mālikī school: the Mudawwana al-Kubrā itself, the Muqaddimāt of Ibn Rushd al-Jadd, the Tabṣira of al-Lakhmī (d. 1085), the Jāmiʿ of Ibn Yūnus (d. 1059), and the Sharḥ al-Talqīn of al-Māzarī (d. 1141), which is a commentary on the previously mentioned Talqīn of Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Baghdādī. Mukhtaṣar Khalīl later became the dominant book of the school, attracting numerous commentaries (shurūḥ) and super-commentaries (ḥawāshī).[6] Some of the most well-known of these are Al-Tāj wa-l-Iklīl by al-Mawwāq (d. 1492), Mawāhib al-Jalīl by Ibn al-Ḥattāb (d. 1547), the Sharḥ al-Zarqānī with the Ḥāshiyya of al-Banānī (d. 1780) known as Fatḥ al-Rabbānī, the Sharḥ al-Kabīr of Abū al-Barakāt Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad al-Dardīr (d. 1786), with the Ḥāshiyya of al-Dasūqī, his student (d. 1815), the Sharḥ Manḥ al-Jalīl ʿalā Mukhtaṣar al-ʿAllāma Khalīl by Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ʿUlaysh (d. 1882), and the Jawāhir al-Iklīl of al-Abbī al-Azharī (d. 1917). As can be seen, Mukhtaṣar Khalīl was widely taught and commented on throughout the centuries from its compilation until the present.[7]

After the Mukhtaṣar of Khalīl became the dominant handbook of the school, numerous texts were written to help either explain it, as above, or as a steppingstone towards reaching it. One of the more prominent texts was the Targhīb al-Murīd al-Sālik ilā Madhhab al-Imām Mālik by Shaykh Ibrāhīm al-Sahāʾī al-Azharī (d. 1670). This was versified by Shaykh Muḥammad Bashshār (d. 1748) in his Ashal al-Masālik fī Madhhab al-Imām Mālik. This text is a common steppingstone to reach Mukhtaṣar Khalīl, as its chapter and section structure closely follows it. One of its most widely-known commentaries is Sirāj al-Sālik Sharḥ Ashal al-Māsalik by Sayyid ʿUthmān ibn Ḥasanayn Birrī al-Jaʿlī (d. 1945 approx), currently published in one or two volumes. One of the other popular commentaries is the Zād al-Sālik Sharḥ Ashal al-Māsalik by the late Algerian Shaykh Muḥammad Bāy Bu-l-ʿĀlam (d. 2009), which is commonly taught in the traditional Algerian madrasa system in the Adrar region, where Shaykh Bu-l-ʿĀlam was based for his entire teaching career.

Another prominent text used as a steppingstone towards reaching Mukhtaṣar Khalil is the Muqaddimat al-ʿIzziyya of al-Manūfī (d. 1532), which was commonly used in the Al-Azhar system, until it was supplanted by Aqrab al-Masalik, below. As with Ashal al-Masālik, it largely follows the same section structure as Khalīl and has attracted numerous commentaries after receiving wide acceptance by scholars of the Mālikī school. Among those are the Al-Jawāhir al-Maḍiyya of al-Abbī al-Azharī (d. 1917), Sharḥ al-Zarqānī ʿalā al-Muqaddima al-ʿIzziyya by al-Zarqānī (d. 1688), usually read with the Ḥāshiyya of al-ʿAdawī (d. 1775), and Al-Ṣabayk al-Ibrīziyya Sharḥ ʿalā Al-Jawāhir al-Kinziyya by Shaykh Muḥammad Bāy Bu-l-ʿĀlam, which is a commentary on his own versification of the ʿIzziyya.

Other texts that were seen as derivatives of Mukhtaṣar al-Khalīl include the Muqaddima by Shaykh ʿAlī ibn Khiḍr al-ʿAmrūsī (d. 1759), and the Majmūʿ of Shaykh Muḥammad al-Amīr al-Kabīr (d. 1817). Both texts also had commentaries written by their authors.

Shaykh Abū al-Barakāt Aḥmad al-Dardīr went a step further than writing a commentary on Mukhtaṣar Khalīl. Due to his status as a prominent scholar within Al-Azhar and the head of the Mālikī school there in his time, he developed resources to help teach it to students. This included his abridgement of Mukhtaṣar Khalīl, known as Aqrab al-Masālik, which lists only the well-known position of the school on a point of law (rather than the multiple points and divergences that exist in Khalīl). He also wrote his own commentary on it, called Sharḥ al-Ṣaghīr. This text is known as the muftā bihi in the school, which means that it is relied on for issuing fatwās. Ashal al-Masālik is commonly studied before Aqrab al-Masālik in terms of depth and scope, with the Sharḥ al-Ṣaghīr of al-Dardīr being the most popular and established commentary (sharḥ) taught alongside Aqrab al-Masālik. One of its most well-known super-commentaries is the Ḥāshiyya by al-Dardīr’s student, Aḥmad al-Ṣāwī (d. 1825) titled Bulghat al-Sālik. It has additional remarks (taʿlīq) by Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Āl al-Shaykh Mubārak (d. 1983) known as Taʿlīq al-Ḥāwī).[8]

In the twentieth century, Aqrab al-Masālik was abridged further for use as a teaching tool. The Tadrīb al-Sālik ilā Qirāʾat Aqrab al-Masālik, by Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Ḥamad Āl al-Shaykh Mubārak (d. 1940), was produced in one volume (approximately 350 pages of large, clear Arabic with some footnotes), outlining the aspects of Mālikī fiqh relating to worship, personal status, and civil transactions. Areas relating to aspects of law now administered by the nation state were not included, such as criminal law (ḥudūd and ʿuqubāt), witness testimony, dealing with court evidence, warfare etc., and the author added an additional section at the beginning on Islamic creed (ʿaqīda) as well as miscellaneous topics of social etiquette (adab) at the end. This provides a good overview of the madhhab in the areas of Islamic law most affecting individual Muslims today, and is very useful as a bridge to both Aqrab al-Masālik and Mukhtaṣar Khalīl.

A detailed commentary on this text, called Tabyyin al-Masālik Sharḥ Tadrīb al-Sālik has been published in 4 volumes by Shaykh Muḥammad al-Shaybānī al-Shinqīṭī, a contemporary scholar. This details the evidence for each legal issue (masʾala) discussed in Tadrīb al-Sālik, often providing some comparative evidence with the other legal schools. It is also a type of completion (takmila) of Tadrīb al-Sālik, including the areas of Islamic law left out by the original author (Āl al-Shaykh Mubārak) at a similar level of depth for the sake of comprehensiveness.

In the modern period, numerous detailed texts have been produced which seek to catalogue and explain the madhhab in all its facets in a modern format. A modern rendering of the material largely covered in Mukhtaṣar Khalīl with explanatory commentary, is Al-Tashīl li-Maʿānī Mukhtaṣar Khalīl, by Ṭāhir ʿĀmir, which is often used as a reference whilst studying the pre-modern text. Currently published (yet incomplete) in around six volumes, it is written in modern, accessible Arabic, and clarifies some of the difficult areas of the pre-modern texts (especially those removed from our lived reality today), whilst adding additional source material and even sources from outside of the school. A modern rendering of the material largely covered in Aqrab al-Masālik and its commentaries is Al-Fiqh al-Mālikī wa-Adillatuhu by Al-Ḥabīb Ṭāhir, which clarifies difficult passages and provides evidence for the text. It also adds additional evidence and positions from outside the mainstay of the madhhab, too, and other important jurists from within the madhab as well, including the likes of Qāḍī Abū Bakr Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 1148) and Imām al-Qurṭubī (d. 1273) (who was a jurist as well as a scholar of tafsīr), and sometimes notes solitary and unique positions within the school. Another includes Al-Fiqh al-Mālikī fī Thawbihi al-Jadīd, by Shaykh Muḥammad Bashīr al-Shafqa. This is currently incomplete and published in numerous volumes covering worship (ʿibādāt), personal status law (al-aḥwāl al-shakhṣiyya), and aspects of social and business transactions (muʿāmalāt).

There are numerous other texts taught before reaching any of the above-mentioned works, mostly as primers to ensure knowledge of the five pillars (al-arkān al-khamṣa), and related individual obligatory knowledge (i.e. farḍ al-ʿayn knowledge). The fiqh is largely taken from Mukhtaṣar Khalīl, but at a much lower level of depth and scope, introducing the main concepts and ideas in each area of fiqh. There is regional variation on which texts and commentaries are used (some more local in scope, e.g. the Kafāf al-Mubtadīʾ of Muḥammad Mawlūd ibn Aḥmad Fāl al-Shinqīṭī (d. 1852), which is often used in Mauritania in place of Aqrab al-Masālik before studying Mukhtaṣar Khalīl); this brief article only highlights common texts and pathways.[9]

Commonly, progression begins with teaching Matn al-ʿAshmawiyya, often alongside the Matn al-Akhḍarī. Both texts cover purification (ṭahāra) and prayer (ṣalāt), with the ʿAshmawiyya also including a brief section on fasting (ṣawm). Matn al-Akhḍarī is especially known for its detailed section on forgetfulness in prayer (al-sahw). Next, the student can move onto a text such as the Murshid al-Muʿīn ʿalā al-Ḍarūrī min ʿUlūm al-Dīn of Ibn ʿĀshir (d. 1631), which covers all the five pillars, as well as creed (ʿaqīda) according to the Ashʿarī school, and the mainstream, practical spirituality (taṣawwuf or tazkiyyat al-nafs) traced back to Junayd al-Baghdādī (d. 910). Murshid al-Muʿīn has received wide acceptance by the school and has numerous commentaries. Perhaps the most famous is by Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Mayyāra (d. 1662), the student of Ibn ʿĀshir, called Al-Durr al-Thamīn. This has a super-commentary (ḥāshiyya) by the well-known Muftī of Fes, Muḥammad al-Mahdī al-Wazzānī (d. 1923). There is also a more recent commentary by Aḥmad ibn al-Bashīr al-Qalāwī al-Shinqīṭī (d. 1851) called Mufīd al-ʿIbād.[10]

After this, the student can then move onto a text such as the Risāla, Tadrīb al-Sālik, or Al-Muqaddima al-ʿIzziyya etc., introducing the areas of fiqh outside of worship, such as marriage, business transactions, and the like, before progressing onto Ashal al-Masālik. After that, the student then begins a more detailed study covering all areas of fiqh, such as with Aqrab al-Masālik (usually taught via Sharḥ al-Ṣaghīr), before reaching Mukhtaṣar Khalīl. Of course, qualified teachers may use other texts at a similar level, or skip entire levels, though jumping to a more advanced text after not developing a solid base requires preparation, intensive reading, and a patient teacher! The texts mentioned are only pathways to increase depth of knowledge and scope, usually until reaching Mukhtaṣar Khalil, which is then studied through its numerous commentaries. This is most commonly the Sharḥ al-Kabīr of al-Dardīr, and the Ḥāshiyya of al-Dasūqī, although there are regional variations. Readings from and cross-referencing the sources of Mukhtaṣar Khalīl are also important in order to grasp the wider internal discussions and debates of the school as progression is made.

In terms of learning, Mukhtaṣar Khalīl is just that — ­an abridgement (mukhtaṣar) — and may not always be the final word on matters. It is entirely possible to revisit Al-Tawḍīḥ or the other sources Khalīl explicitly mentioned as the base of his Mukhtaṣar (such as the Jāmiʿ of Ibn Yūnus, for example), and find more detailed discussion on a specific issue (masʾala) there, as well as various opinions as to what the position of the madhhab on the matter actually is. That is when mastery of the madhhab and its sources come into play, in order to develop discernment as a jurist and scholar, alongside having a strong base in the school’s legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh), juristic maxims (qawāʿid fiqhiyya) and various fatwā collections.

This concludes an outline of the well-known and important texts of the Mālikī school of law. As stated at the outset, it is not comprehensive, and there are many other texts, abridgements, commentaries, and super-commentaries that could be mentioned or placed in the accompanying diagram. The aim was to mention and highlight the most commonly taught texts and place them in context so that the learner can visualise the development of the Mālikī school of law, especially the relationship and hierarchy of texts culminating in Mukhtaṣar Khalīl, and those that are taught as a bridge to reach it. It will also hopefully aid the learner when they see such-and-such a scholar being quoted, from such-and-such a text.

[1] An academic translation of this has been recently published, edited by Mohammad Fadel. See Al-Muwaṭṭaʾ The Royal Moroccan Edition: The Recension of Yaḥyā ibn Yaḥyā al-Laythī (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2019).

[2] Ibn al-Qāsim’s learned from Imām Mālik for around twenty years. Other long-term students of Mālik, such as Ibn Wahb, noted that Ibn al-Qāsim excelled in fiqh.

[3] This work is currently published in 15 or more dense volumes, and that is after Ibn Abī Zayd’s synthesis of materials, excising repetition, and more!

[4] This text is available in English, translated by Aisha Bewley. It has been published both online and in book format. The online version can be found on her website: http://bewley.virtualave.net/Risalatitl.html

[5] Besides being considered the major commentator on the philosophical works of Aristotle, Averroes is also known for his work Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa-Nihāyat al-Muqtaṣid, which aims to show, in a coherent way, the reasons why the different legal schools and early scholars disagreed on rulings, based on their different approaches to scriptural and other evidence. This is in order to train the aspiring jurist to be able to reason for themselves and essentially undertake ijtihād, or independent legal reasoning.

[6] For an academic discussion of the rise of the Mukhtaṣar genre and their importance in stabilising the schools of law, please see Mohammed Fadel, “The Social Logic of Taqlīd and the Rise of the Mukhtaṣar”, Islamic Law and Society, Vol 3, Issue 2 (1996): 192–233

[7] In fact, there are now multiple lecture series available on Mukhtaṣar Khalīl on YouTube, including that of Shaykh Aḥmad Ṭaha Rayyān, the head of the Mālikīs in Al-Azhar, who also teaches Mālikī fiqh in the mosque of Imām al-Dardīr himself.

[8] One of the better recent editions of this text includes all four of these texts in a single printed edition: the base text of Aqrab al-Masālik, alongside the Sharḥ al-Ṣaghīr of al-Dardīr, with the Bulghat al-Sālik of al-Ṣāwī, and Taʿlīq al-Ḥāwī of Āl al-Shaykh Mubarak. It is currently published by Dār Ibn Ḥazm in 8 volumes, and clearly demarcates the base text and commentaries, providing useful clarifications of difficult passages and terminology used.

[9] For Arabic speakers, there is an excellent online initiative called Faqqih Nafsak, which aims to teach an entire Mālikī fiqh curriculum through YouTube. Texts ranging all the way from the ʿAshmawiyya right through to Aqrab al-Masālik are available in lecture format. The curriculum proposed by Shaykh Nāyif Āl al-Shaykh Mubārak can be found here, in his publication Madārij al-Tafaqquh fī al-Madhhab al-Mālikī: Barnāmij Dirāsī wa-Sullam Taʿlīmī Muqtariḥ. Please see the Faqqih Nafsak site for more information: http://faqihnafsak.com/

[10] This commentary by al-Qalāwī has been translated and published in one large volume as Islam in the School of Medina by Diwan Press. However, it focuses on giving details of internal school difference of opinion (khilāf fī al-madhhab), and is thus not suitable for the beginner without a teacher, as some knowledge of the cited texts, their authors, and their place in the madhhab is assumed.