Imam Malik ibn Anas (RH)

“Imam Malik (RH) is reported to have never ridden a mount within the bounds of Madinah from the time he became a scholar until his death. He would dismount at the city limits and walk. When asked why, he said: I am too embarrassed to tread with the hooves of an animal on the earth beneath which lies the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”

“When Ja'far ibn Sulayman, the Abbasid governor of Madinah, ordered Malik (RH) to be flogged and his arm twisted for a fatwa on divorce under compulsion, Malik bore the punishment without publicly recanting. When asked afterward about his experience, he said: They stretched my arm and I was concerned it would be dislocated. But I feared that if I showed anger, my patience might be diminished before Allah.”

“Al-Shafi'i (RH) said: When Malik was asked about a matter of fiqh or hadith and he did not know the answer with certainty, he would say: I do not know. He would not speculate. Some counts record that in a single sitting he said I do not know to thirty-two consecutive questions. He said: Saying I do not know is half of knowledge.”

“Imam Malik (RH) used to say before issuing a fatwa: I do not issue a ruling until I have consulted thirty jurists who are more learned than me. And he said to one who asked him a question: This is a matter between me and Allah — if I give you a wrong answer, I am the one who will be questioned for it. So give me time.”

“It is narrated that Malik's mother dressed him in the garments of a scholar when he was young and took him by the hand to the circle of Rabi'ah ibn Abi Abd al-Rahman, saying: Go and learn from his manners before you learn from his knowledge. This instruction shaped his understanding of scholarship: character first, then text.”

“Al-Shafi'i (RH) said: I never saw Malik strike a student, nor heard him speak harshly to one. If a student made an error, he would repeat the correct answer and move on. He said: Harsh teachers produce students who are afraid to ask. I would rather have a student who asks too much than one who asks nothing.”

“Students and scholars traveled from Andalusia, North Africa, Persia, and Yemen to sit in Malik's circle in Madinah. He held his circles with great formality — he would perform ablution, put on his best garments, perfume himself, and sit on a cushion with complete composure before the session began. He said: I honor the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — how then should I not honor the sitting in which it is transmitted?”

“Imam Malik (RH) was known to give generously from his income to the poor of Madinah. He said: The scholar who eats well while the poor in his neighborhood go hungry has a reckoning with Allah before he has a reckoning with his books.”

“Al-Shafi'i (RH) said: I saw Malik, when he wished to sit and narrate hadith, perform ablution, sit on a high cushion, comb his beard, and put on his most beautiful garments. He narrated hadith with dignity and reverence. Someone asked him why he did all this for a scholarly session. He said: I revere the hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, so I wish to honor it.”

“Imam Malik (RH) said: The people of Madinah have an inheritance that others do not have. We inhale the air that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ inhaled. We walk the earth he walked. Every stone here is a witness. I do not leave this city because I would leave what cannot be found anywhere else on earth.”

“Imam Malik (RH) dressed formally for his scholarly sessions but lived simply at home. His house was modest and his meals were plain. He said: I do not need the world to be large for me. I need only enough to free my mind for what matters.”

“Imam Malik (RH) was asked in his final illness what he was experiencing. He said: What is there to say? I only wish I had been stricter in the fatwas I gave — that every matter I ruled permissible, I had made haram, and every matter I made haram, I had left to Allah. He died in 179 AH after a prolonged illness, having spent his final months in intensive recitation of the Quran.”