Maliki Fiqh

Maliki fiqh: how this section is organised

• What you will find here: the primers of the Maliki school and their commentaries, in Arabic, in their original editions and all new.
• Four genres: primer, abridgement, commentary, gloss. The genre is stated on every listing, since it determines use and level.
• Three levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced, indicated by the length of the text, its density and its vocalisation.
• Classical texts and contemporary manuals: from fourth-century matn to manuals written for modern teaching.
• What you will not find: translations or bilingual editions. The catalogue is entirely in Arabic.

Where the Maliki school comes from and where it is followed

The school goes back to Imam Malik ibn Anas, who died in 179 AH in Medina, and whose Muwatta is at once a collection of hadith and a work of law. His students in Egypt and Ifriqiya carried the school westwards, where it settled lastingly.

Today it is the majority school in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania and much of West Africa, as well as in Upper Egypt and Sudan. For a reader whose family comes from the Maghreb or West Africa, it is very probably the school in which he heard the answers, even without the word being said.

One point of method is worth knowing before opening a book from this section: the school gives a place of its own to the practice of the people of Medina, held to be a collective transmission from the first generation. That accounts for part of the differences with the other madhhab, and the commentaries return to it regularly.

The Maliki curriculum, text by text

Maliki teaching is among the most codified, and the order of texts is much the same everywhere.

To begin

The Mukhtasar of al-Akhdari, very brief, limited to worship, often the first text memorised. Al-Murshid al-Mu'in by Ibn Ashir, a poem gathering creed, law and conduct, central in Moroccan and West African teaching.

The reference text at intermediate level

The Risala of Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani, written in the fourth century AH in Kairouan. It covers worship and a large part of transactions, in clear language, and exists in many commented editions. It is the text most students work through in full.

For the advanced level

The Mukhtasar of Khalil ibn Ishaq, which condenses the whole of Maliki law into a volume of extreme density. It is not read alone: it is approached with a commentary, that of al-Kharashi, the gloss of al-Dasuqi, or Mawahib al-Jalil by al-Hattab for sustained work.

Apart from these, Bidayat al-Mujtahid by Ibn Rushd sets out the differences between schools with their proofs. It is a work of comparative fiqh written by a Maliki, and it assumes the basics of the school are already in place.

Three buying tips particular to this section

First: on the Mukhtasar of Khalil, buy the commentary rather than the bare text. The text alone is unreadable without explanation; that is its deliberate manner.

Second: on the Risala and on Ibn Ashir, look for a vocalised edition if you are memorising, and check that the commentary reproduces the primer in full.

Third: beware of West African and Maghrebi editions of the same title, which differ in pagination and sometimes in annotation. If you study with a teacher, take the edition he uses.

The other schools

The catalogue covers the four madhhab: Hanafi Fiqh, Shafii Fiqh and Hanbali Fiqh complete this section, and the general Fiqh section gathers works of comparative fiqh and manuals that belong to no single school.

Buy Maliki fiqh books in Arabic from My Maktaba

Every work in this section is in Arabic, in its original edition, and every one is new. For each title, the listing states the publisher, year, number of volumes, format, binding, vocalisation, genre and level. If you do not know where to start, write to us stating your level of Arabic and the texts you have read: we will suggest two or three titles in the order in which to approach them.