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The ''Muwaṭṭaʾ'' ( ar, الموطأ, "well-trodden path") or ''Muwatta Imam Malik'' ( ar, موطأ الإمام مالك) of
Imam Malik Malik ibn Anas ( ar, مَالِك بن أَنَس, ‎ 711–795 CE / 93–179 AH), whose full name is Mālik bin Anas bin Mālik bin Abī ʿĀmir bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith bin Ghaymān bin Khuthayn bin ʿAmr bin Al-Ḥārith al-Aṣbaḥī ...
(711–795) written in the 8th-century, is one of the earliest collections of
hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
texts comprising the subjects of Islamic law, compiled by the
Imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, serve ...
, Malik ibn Anas. Malik's best-known work, ''Al-Muwatta'' was the first legal work to incorporate and combine hadith and
fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and e ...
(except possibly for
Zayd ibn Ali Zayd ibn Zayn al-Abidin ( ar, زيد بن زين العابدين; 695–740), also spelled Zaid, was the son of Ali ibn al-Husayn Zayn al-Abidin, and great-grandson of Ali ibn Abi Talib. He led an unsuccessful revolt against the Umayyad Calipha ...
's Musnad).


Description

It is considered to be from the earliest extant collections of hadith that form the basis of
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
ic
jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...
alongside the
Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...
."The Hadith for Beginners", Dr. Muhammad Zubayr Siddiqi, 1961 (2006 reprint), Goodword Books It includes reliable hadith from the people of the
Hijaz The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provinc ...
, as well as sayings of the companions, the followers and also those who came after them. The book covers rituals, rites, customs, traditions, norms and laws of the time of the
Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam ( ar, الأنبياء في الإسلام, translit=al-ʾAnbiyāʾ fī al-ʾIslām) are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and to serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets ar ...
Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mon ...
. It is reported that Imam Malik selected for inclusion into the Muwatta just over 1900 narrations, from the 100,000 narrations he had available to him.As-Suyuti in Tanwir al-Hawalik as quoted in Ash-Shaybani, M. (2004). The Muwatta of Imam Muhammad (p. 11). Turath Publishing.


History

Due to increase in juristic differences, the
Caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
of the time, Abū Ja‘far al-Manṣūr, requested Imām Mālik to produce a standard book that could be promulgated as law in the country. The Imam refused this in 148 AH (765/766 CE), but when the Caliph again came to the Ḥijāz in 163 AH (779/780 CE), he was more forceful and said:
“O Abū ‘Abd Allāh, take up the reign of the discipline of fiqh in your hands. Compile your understanding of every issue in different chapters for a systematic book free from the harshness of ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Umar, concessions and accommodations of ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Abbās and unique views of ‘Abd Allāh b. Mas‘ūd. Your work should exemplify the following principle of the Prophet: “The best issues are those which are balanced.” It should be a compendium of the agreed upon views of the Companions and the elder imāms on the religious and legal issues. Once you have compiled such a work then we would be able to unite the Muslims in following the single fiqh worked by you. We would then promulgate it in the entire Muslim state. We would order that no body acts contrary to it.”
Historical reports attest that another ‘Abbāsī caliph
Harun al-Rashid Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi ( ar , أبو جعفر هارون ابن محمد المهدي) or Harun ibn al-Mahdi (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Harun al-Rashid ( ar, هَارُون الرَشِيد, translit=Hārūn ...
too expressed similar wishes before Imām Mālik who remained unmoved. He, however, compiled Muwaṭṭa’, keeping before himself the target of removing the juristic differences between the scholars.


Authenticity

Composed over a forty-year period, according to Abu Hatim al-Razi it was called 'Muwatta' from the Arabic ("watta'a") meaning easy for the people. Malik said, "I showed this book of mine to seventy of the fuqaha of Madinah and all of them agreed with me ("wata'a") about it and so I called it the Muwatta. The Muslim Jurist, Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi`i also called Imam Al Shafi`i famously said, "There is not on the face of the earth a book – after the Book of
Allah Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", a ...
– which is more authentic than the book of Malik." Over one thousand disciples of Malik have transmitted this work from him throughout his life, which resulted in differences in the text. There are many versions of the work - with sixteen being known today - of which the most famous is the one transmitted by Yahya ibn Yahya al-Laythi, who studied and received the Muwatta in the last year of Malik's life. Al-Laythi's recension is considered the 'vulgate' or standard version in the Maliki school of law. The recension of the Muwatta produced by
Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr al-Zuhri Abū Muṣʿab Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr al-Qāsim ibn al-Ḥārith al-Zuhri ( ar, أبو مصعب أحمد بن أبي بكر القاسم بن الحارث الزهري), 767–856 CE / 150–242 AH, was a Muslim scholar and judge () who was a ...
is approximately five to ten percent larger than the recension of al-Laythi.


Composition of al-Muwatta

Al-Muwatta consists of approximately 1,720 hadith divided amongst the following hadith terminology as follows: * 600 '' marfu`'' hadith * 613 '' mawquf'' hadith * 285 ''maqtu hadith * 222 '' mursal'' hadiths


Distinguishing characteristics

Amin Ahsan Islahi has listed several distinguishing characteristics of the Muwatta:''Mabadi Tadabbur-i-Hadith'', Amin Ahsan Islahi # Its briefness (in size) yet comprehensiveness (in coverage). # Malik did not accept any marfū‘ hadīth (ascribed to the Prophet) if it was not verbatim transmission of the words of the Muslim prophet Muhammad (he even gave consideration to letters, prepositions and particles like wāw, tā, bā etc. in them). # No acceptance of Hadith from any innovator - this is a stricter standard than many other '' muhaddithun''. # Highly literary form of the classical Arabic. This helps readers develop the ability to understand the language of the prophetic traditions.


Commentaries on Al-Muwatta

Due to the importance of the Al-Muwatta to
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
s it has often been accompanied by commentaries, mostly but not exclusively by followers of the
Maliki The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as prima ...
school. It's said that on the version transmitted by Yahya al-Laithi alone there are around a hundred commentaries. *''Al Tamhid'' by Yusuf ibn abd al-Barr is organized according to the narrators which Malik narrates from, and includes extensive biographical information about each narrator in the chain. *''al-Istidhkar'', also by Ibn Abd al-Barr is more of a legal
exegesis Exegesis ( ; from the Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works. In modern usage, exegesis can involve critical interpretation ...
on the hadith contained in the book than a critical hadith study, as was the case with the former. It is said that the Istidhkar was written after the Tamhid, as Ibn Abd al Barr himself alludes to in the introduction. However, through close examination it is apparent that the author made revisions to both after their completion due to the cross referencing found in both. *The explanation of
Al-Suyuti Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti ( ar, جلال الدين السيوطي, Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī) ( 1445–1505 CE),; ( Brill 2nd) or Al-Suyuti, was an Arab Egyptian polymath, Islamic scholar, historian, Sufi, and jurist. From a family of Persian ...
, who although a follower of the Shafi`i school, wrote a small commentary to the Al-Muwatta. *''Al-Musaffa Sharh al-Muwatta'', Shah Wali Allah Dahlawi (al-Musaffa Sharh al-Muwatta in Persian). Shah Waliullah attached great importance to the Muwatta and penned another commentary in Urdu too. *''Al-Muntaqâ sharh al-Muwatta'' of
Abu al-Walid al-Baji Abu al-Walid al-Baji (or Sulayman ibn Khalaf ibn Sa`d or Sa`dun ibn Ayyub, al-Qadi Abu al-Walid al-Tujaybi al-Andalusi al-Qurtubi al-Baji al-Tamimi al-Dhahabi al-Maliki) (c. 1013–c. 1081) was a famous Maliki scholar and poet from Beja, Al-Anda ...
, the Andalusian Mâlikî Qâdî, (Abû al-Walîd Sulaymân ibn Khalaf al-Bâjî, al-Muntaqâ sharh Muwatta’ Mâlik, edited by Muhammad ‘Abd al-Qâdir Ahmad ‘Atâ, Beirut: Dâr al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah, 1420/1999) Sharh al-Muwatta' has two versions: al-Istifa' and its abridgment al-Muntaqa. *''Awjāz-ul-Masālik ilá Muwattā' Imām Mālik'' is a
Deobandi Deobandi is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam, adhering to the Hanafi school of law, formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the name derives, by Muhammad Qasim Nanautav ...
commentary written by great scholar Muhammad Zakariya al-Kandahlawi. He began the work in 1927 in Medina while only 29 years old. It is said regarding this commentary that Muhammad Ibn Al-Hasan Al-Alawi Al-Māliki said after reading this book that if the author did not mention in the introduction that he is a
Hanafi The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named a ...
I would not have known. Such was the brilliance of this work. It is also said that upon seeing the commentary, the Maliki scholars said, Qad Hannafal Muwatta, as a word of praise (meaning: that Shaykh Zakariya al-Kandahlawi wrote the book Awjāz-ul-Masālik ilá Muwattā' Imām Mālik in such a way that it seems like the Muwatta has become a Hanafi book). *''Sharh Muwatta al-Malik'' by
Muhammad al-Zurqani Muhammad al-Zurqani (1645–1710 CE ) ( ar, محمد الزرقاني) was a Sunni Maliki Islamic scholar. Name His full name was Imam Abu-Abd-Allah "Ibn Fujlah" Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Bāqī al-Azhari al- Zurqānī al-Maliki. Biography ...
. It is considered to be based on three other commentaries of the Muwatta; the Tamhid and the Istidhkar of Yusuf ibn Abd al Barr, as well as the Al-Muntaqa of Abu al-Walid al-Baji. *''Al-Imla' fi Sharh al-Muwatta'' in 1,000
folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...
s, by Ibn Hazm. *''Sharh Minhaaj'' by Subki. *''Sharh Muwatta'' by
Ali al-Qari Nur ad-Din Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Sultan Muhammad al-Hirawi al-Qari ( ar, نور الدين أبو الحسن علي بن سلطان محمد الهروي القاري; d. 1605/1606), known as Mulla Ali al-Qari () was an Islamic scholar. He was b ...


See also

* List of Sunni books ** Sahifah Hammam ibn Munabbih


References


Source

* *


External links

*
Online preview with introduction


full English text, including some corrections and changes to the original translation.

full English text, originally from the CMJEbr>online translation
by Aisha Abdarahman at-Tarjumana Bewley and Yaqub Johnson. {{Authority control Sunni literature Hadith Hadith studies Hadith collections 8th-century Arabic books Sunni hadith collections