Читать книгу The Muslim 100 - Muhammad Mojlum Khan - Страница 28

AS ISLAM IS not only a religion but also a complete way of life, the Holy Qur’an and the normative practice (sunnah) of the Prophet provide detailed and comprehensive guidance for Muslims, covering every sphere of their life. After preaching and propagating Islam in Makkah for more than a decade, the Prophet migrated to Madinah in 622 and devoted the next decade of his life to transforming that Arabian oasis into a fully-fledged Islamic society. The Prophet not only imparted Islamic knowledge to the people of Madinah, he also developed the social, political, economic and legal apparatus of that society in the light of the Divine revelation, and in so doing he established the first Islamic State in history. From that day on, Madinah became the model Islamic society, a shining example of what a Muslim State ought to be like. Ever since then, Muslims have continued to admire, study and analyse the key features and characteristics of that early Madinian society as established by the Prophet. Probably more than anyone else, one man played a pivotal role in recording the norms and culture of that early Madinian society; he was Malik ibn Anas.

Abu Abdullah Malik ibn Anas ibn Malik ibn Abi Amir al-Asbahi, known as Imam Malik, was born in Madinah during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik. Hailing from the Yemeni province of Himyar, Malik’s grandfather came to Madinah and settled there with his family during the reign of Caliph Umar. Living during the early days of Islam, his grandfather and father acquired a thorough education in Islam under the supervision of the Prophet’s companions (sahabah). Young Malik was thus brought up in a deeply religious environment, where everyone lived their lives in accordance with the Prophetic norms and practices. After memorising the whole Qur’an, he received instruction in Arabic grammar and traditional Islamic teachings at home. He then acquired a thorough familiarisation with the fundamentals of Islam under the supervision of his learned father, Anas, and uncle, Rabi. Being very studious, he preferred to occupy himself with his studies rather than pursue a career in trade or commerce. Such was his thirst for knowledge and education that he chose to stay at home and study, rather than go out and play games with other children. His love for learning remained with him for the rest of his life, as he went onto become one of the Muslim world’s most celebrated scholars and jurists. As a gifted student, he excelled in his studies and outshone not only his peers but also his older brother, Nadhr ibn Malik. Though Damascus was the political capital of the Islamic world at the time, Madinah remained the hub of Islamic learning and scholarship by virtue of the fact that it was the city of the Prophet (madinat al-nabi), and the first civic capital of the Islamic State. Brought up and educated in this blessed city, Malik developed instant affinity with the normative practice of the Prophet. Not surprisingly, the study of Prophetic hadith (or tradition) became his favourite preoccupation in life.

Since his uncle Abu Suhail al-Nafi was an eminent authority on hadith literature, Malik began to study this and other related subjects under his guidance. Al-Nafi was fortunate to have studied Islamic sciences, especially hadith, directly under the supervision of Aishah, the Prophet’s beloved wife, and famous companions like Abu Hurairah and Abdullah ibn Umar. Malik sat at the feet of al-Nafi, and began to absorb Islamic knowledge in a systematic way. Other outstanding students of al-Nafi included al-Zuhri, al-Awza’i and Ibn Jarir, but it was the precocious Malik who was destined to outshine all of them on account of his unrivalled mastery of the Prophetic hadith. Malik may have been gifted, but he was equally selfless and hardworking. He made it a rule for himself to visit his teachers in their homes and wait as long as it was necessary for them to come out of their houses and teach him. Adverse weather and difficult terrain notwithstanding, he always insisted on visiting all the luminaries of Madinah including Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Ansari, Abu Hazim Salmah ibn Dinar and Yahya ibn Sa’id in order to learn hadith from them. Thus he spent considerable sums of money, endured physical hardship and even experienced personal difficulties in his quest for Prophetic hadith.

After completing his formal study of tafsir (Qur’anic exegesis), fiqh (jurisprudence) and hadith, Malik began to attend the class of Rabi’ah ibn Abd al-Rahman and Sa’id ibn Musayyib, two of the greatest Islamic scholars of their generation. As a passionate exponent of independent reasoning in juristic matters (ijtihad), the former argued that the ability to exercise scholarly discretion was a sine qua non for a correct understanding and application of Islamic principles at a practical level. Thus he did not hesitate to push the boundaries of scholarly discretion beyond their limits where he felt it was appropriate to do so, although most of his peers tried to curtail the use of intellectual discretion in interpreting the revealed scriptural sources of Islam. Keen to master the art of independent reasoning in juristic matters, Malik attended Rabi’ah’s lectures and became highly proficient in exercising intellectual discretion. The need for such an interpretive approach vis-à-vis the revealed sources of Islam was recognised as soon as the Muslims began to encounter new challenges during the rapid expansion of the Islamic world following the death of the Prophet in 632. Faced with new challenges and difficulties, the early scholars of Islam approached the Divine revelation and Prophetic hadith with critical minds in order to derive guidance from them in providing Islamic answers to the problems of their time.

Although the justification for formulating such an interpretative methodology already existed in the Qur’an, the majority of the scholars were reluctant to go down this road until Abu Hanifah emerged to develop the methodology in a rigorous and systematic manner, thus making it a key feature of hanafi legal thought. Not content with what he had learned so far, Malik then mastered hadith under Hisham ibn Urwa, Abd al-Rahman ibn Hurmuz and Sa’id ibn Musayyib. Despite being a prominent follower (tabi) of the Prophet’s companions and an eminent authority on hadith, Sa’id was so impressed with Malik’s knowledge of hadith that he formally authorised him to teach. Malik then attended Ja’far al-Sadiq’s lectures on the Qur’an, hadith and fiqh at the masjid al-nabi. As well as being a direct descendant of the Prophet, Ja’far was a great Islamic scholar and sage of his time; Malik studied under Ja’far’s tutelage and the latter was also deeply impressed with his vast knowledge of Prophetic traditions. But after the emergence of various religious groups like the shi’at Ali, khawarij, mu’tazilah and the murijah, political rivalries and religious schisms began to spread across the Islamic dominion. The rise of both political and theological differences within the early Muslim community prompted Malik to familiarise himself with the views of all these sects and groups, and become a champion of traditional Islam.

By the time Malik reached his fortieth birthday, he was already widely recognised as an eminent Islamic scholar and jurist throughout Madinah, not least because more than seventy distinguished scholars of tafsir and hadith had authorised him to teach the Islamic sciences. Since he was also a strict adherent of the Prophetic sunnah and the practice (amal) of the people of Madinah, he cared little about the wealth and luxuries of this world; indeed, he chose to live in virtual poverty, far removed from the wealth and pleasures of this life. As expected, his piety, simplicity and asceticism (zuhd) boosted his standing in Madinah and the locals became very fond him. After the death of his beloved teacher Rabi’ah in 755, he came to be regarded as one of Madinah’s most learned scholars. And since there was no better place to start teaching than in the Prophet’s own mosque, Malik began to deliver daily lectures on hadith and fiqh in the masjid al-nabi. Being a polite and friendly teacher, he always encouraged his students to ask questions and he, in turn, also provided simple and straightforward answers. And although he was an undisputed master of Prophetic traditions and the norms and ethos of the people of Madinah, people often tested his knowledge of Islam by posing difficult political and theological questions vis-à-vis the behaviour of the city’s ruling elites. But he always responded to such questions in a measured, relevant and succinct way. His honesty, sincerity and unusual grasp of Islamic teachings and practices, coupled with his photographic memory and intellectual brillance, made him a popular figure not only in Madinah but also across the Islamic dominion. So much so that, on one ocassion, al-Zuhri, who was also a great scholar of hadith and a contemporary of Malik, referred to him as a ‘great vessel of knowledge’.

Malik’s lectures at the masjid al-nabi became so popular that thousands of students came from all over Arabia and other parts of the Muslim world to hear him speak. Some of his famous students included al-Shafi’i, Abu Yusuf, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani and Abdullah ibn Mubarak. According to some scholars, Abu Hanifah, Abbasid Caliphs Abu Ja’far al-Mansur, al-Mahdi and Harun al-Rashid and his young sons (who later became Caliphs al-Amin and al-Ma’mun) had also attended Malik’s lectures. However, other scholars have questioned this claim; they argue that Abu Hanifah, Abu Yusuf, al-Amin and al-Ma’mun probably had not even heard of Malik, not to mention attending his lectures. Either way, as a gifted scholar, he developed his own style of textual exposition and delivery. He used to sit on the pulpit (minbar) in the Prophet’s mosque with a copy of the Qur’an on one hand and his collections of hadith on the other, and delineate the fundamental principles and practices of Islam; firstly in the light of the Qur’an, and then further illuminating the issues concerned by examining them in accordance with the Prophetic sunnah. His methodical approach to the textual sources of Islam, coupled with his slow but measured delivery, enabled his students to understand his explanations and also take copious notes at the same time. When the number of people attending his lectures became very large, Malik appointed several teaching assistants who repeated his words aloud so that eveyone could hear him. This style of teaching proved so successful that later it became institutionalised in the form of madrasah (Islamic seminaries) across the Islamic world.

Central to Malik’s religious thought and worldview were the Qur’an and Prophetic sunnah; indeed, even his personal views, opinions and lifestyle were moulded by these two fundamental sources of Islam. Whenever people sought his advice and guidance, he counselled them in accordance with the teachings of the Qur’an and sunnah. If he found a hadith which contradicted the Qur’an, he rejected it immediately. Since the Qur’an was the foremost source of authority in Islam, he felt the authentic sunnah had to be subordinate to it. Like Abu Hanifah, he was thoroughly acquainted with the methods of independent scholarly discretion, and also considered Islamic teachings to be completely in harmony with human reason and logic. However, unlike Abu Hanifah, he regarded the norms and ethos of Madinian society to be a fundamental source for the interpretation of Islamic principles and practices. Shaped by the Prophet in the light of Divine guidance, the customs (urf ) and practices (amal) of the people of Madinah, therefore, became an important component of Malik’s legal theory and methodology. In addition to this, his famous Kitab al-Muwatta (The Book of the Beaten Path), composed at the behest of Abbasid Caliph Abu Ja’far al-Mansur, became one of the first and most important anthologies of hadith ever produced. After carefully examining and scrutinising a large quantity of Prophetic traditions, he collected around one thousand legally-orientated ahadith into one book. He supplemented the hadith with the views and opinions of the Prophet’s companions, followed by the customs and practices of the people of Madinah, along with his own views and opinions on the issues concerned.

Upon completion, this book became an instant success. It became so popular across the Muslim world that, on one occasion, Caliph Harun al-Rashid asked Malik for his permission to make his book the law of the land. But, being a wise scholar, he told the Caliph that it would not be appropriate to make his book the law of the land because it was based primarily on the norms and ethos of the people of Madinah. He felt it would be inappropriate to limit Islam and Muslims to one particular interpretation of Islamic law only. Nevertheless, this pioneering work later inspired generations of Islamic scholars like al-Bukhari, Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi and others to compose their own voluminous collections of hadith. Widely considered to be one of the great anthologies of Prophetic traditions, some scholars of hadith (such as Shah Waliullah of Delhi) even rated al-Muwatta higher than Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim on account of its authenticity as a book of Islamic teachings and practices. Malik was not only a great scholar of hadith, fiqh and theology; he was also a fearless defender of traditional Islam. Repeatedly flogged and chastised by the Madinian authorities for speaking the truth and defending Islamic principles, his firm and uncompromising stance against the corrupt rulers of his time won him the love and affection of the locals. Malik died in Madinah at the advanced age of around eighty-five and was buried in the city’s famous cemetery, Jannat al-Baqi. Named after Malik, the maliki madhhab (school of legal thought) later emerged and spread across the Muslim world. Today the adherents of this school are to be found mainly in Egypt, North and West Africa, and the Gulf States of Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.