The way of Madina in the 21st century - Mufti Abu Layth

for allowing me really this opportunity and to come here share some words some thoughts with you and for taking your time out to to come and listen and participate I want to sh share my opinions or my understanding on a few things surrounding Imam Malik the school of Medina and its relevance to us today okay so this is what that's the type of the

method of of thought really that we're going down that first of all and that begins with the question first of all what is the school of Medina and following that well why is it important to us today so that's really these are the two pivotal type of questions to Central questions we want to look at to explore I'm not saying that I have I don't know definitive answers to certain things to say that this is why you have to take this on board or this

is why this is going to make such a difference to you but this is ex this is an an opportunity to explore or you can ask questions you can think I mean you could go away I mean just have some philosophical inquiry personal philosophical inquiry on the matter the first question what is the school of Medina right now the prophet sallallah alai wasallam spent his life predominantly within the two cities

of mecah and Medina he received Revelation the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam set in motion and delivered this message and by doing so set in motion what would eventually change the world as we know it in the lifetime of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi there were several I mean hundreds of thousands of companions okay taking a broad understanding of the word companion that is because there is some dispute on what constitutes a

companion um whether it's just simple encounter to having spent some significant or qualitative time with the messenger of Allah sallu alaih wasallam or whether some have said s for example he has to have they have to have been on a battle or so on we're not taking that interpret we're just saying the people who the message had reached if we we're just taking that very broad um type of definition it reached many people the hij the Arabian Peninsula had more or less embraced The Message of Islam during the lifetime of the messenger of Allah

sallallahu alaihi wasallam it had also gone the message had gone beyond the Jaz the Arabian Peninsula but that's where it had been embraced the companions of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam were the the Transporters of this message that the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam is teaching people he's teaching the people around him the message they then are transporting this message far and wide and it begins with their first their hometowns their Villages their tribes the so on and and

then it goes to the extent that we see in the time of the that it goes beyond the Arabian Peninsula will push up fourth into sham Beyond sham into Iraq you see in the time of that the cities that at that time the Twin Cities are this I mean they're actually designed and orchestrated kuf um we see that we see in Egypt the expansion some efforts further

further west but the Muslim umah is spreading the message is spreading more importantly those who are conveying the message are spreading and I mean by that the companions you see when the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is teaching people when I'm saying something now as an example be before we come back to the prophet teaching everybody here although you can all hear me you can see me nobody shares

the exact same perspective as the other whether that will be very simply looking at things like a visual perspective on let's just say me I'm sitting here talking since none of you share the exact same geometric space you will not even you will not have an identity visual perspective it'll be slightly at an angle to another whether it's my voice reaching you and then more importantly my words how you're interpreting what I'm saying it may just be these things are what I'm saying right now is pretty standard but maybe somebody understands something else they might say well you

know I like did he say right oh it's like if I said something like oh you know it's a bit it's a bit cold is isn't it let's just say I said something like that oh it's a bit nippy somebody might understand from that I'm trying to say we should put the heating on they must say oh he's saying put the heating on I've not actually said that but this is how language works you see we interact with people using at times certain statements meaning other things we are at times implying at times people are inferring it's not always accurate sometimes it's okay sometimes

it's spot on this is is also the same for the companions around the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam there will be interpretations on what the prophet was saying on what he was teaching fundamentally we all they will all agree obviously they will agree that there is one God that there is this Revelation the Quran they will agree on these there will be no misunderstanding no miscommunication on these matters but on the more subtle issues when the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam will say things like let's say oh you shouldn't just walk in one shoe the Shan walks in one

shoe wh what did he mean by that it's some of them may understand is Haram to walk in one shoe because the prophet Sall Al was said the Shan walks in one shoe somebody May understand that to mean somebody May understand that to mean that oh like why you like you're making a mockery of yourself like what are you doing are you trying to be like I mean and the Shan walking in one shoe is almost just adding to that part in the sense that you're making a mockery I mean look oh you look stupid or you look embarrassing somebody May understand it

to mean oh you shouldn't really do that if you did it it's not it's not like it's Haram or something it's not one of those type of rulings but that is all interpretation see we will all understand these things differently so these companions who are listening to these rulings who are understanding these ruling they they have a take on the matter now when they spread what goes with them enveloping the message is their

interpretation on their take on so the companions migrate some go to Egypt some go to Sham some go some move to the the new as they would call them then the two irqs kuf with them they take this this almost this lens by which you look at the de now some companions return to mekah many remain within Medina what starts to happen is that we start to see a formation of

a almost like you could say that the Prototype of a school of understanding almost similarities in thought not identical not identical but similar so some people who for example stayed in Medina they tend to have similar outlooks on certain things they're different but they may view something in a different in a particular type of way a type of style has emerged the people of Iraq start to have a type of style of looking at things it's not identical but it there's

a similarity to a tendency these companions start to collectively teach the people around them the T so the are receiving this message they they they're putting their take onto it one of the tendencies that we see very early on that splits is a lot of the sahaba who went to Iraq or the Iraq the two Iraq you will see many of them were reluctant to do things like narrate a

Hadith on mass like to to kind of really just go for it in narrating aith they saw this as as a a almost not an they saw this almost as a chance to slip up that if I start narrating from the prophet Sall Al I start making mistakes the prophet Sall alhi wasallam said that whosoever lies or transmits something about me as a lie knowingly that that person might as well prepare himself for the Hellfire so some

of the thinking whoa I don't want to do thatd is from amongst them he would say that when he would narrate a Hadith he would get nervous say oh or he said something like this or I think he said this or to this effect or CU it would get nervous this Hadith was hanging over them above them so you start to see however now they have that anxiety but then to cushion to cushion

the whole thing to support it what they have is the that if one of you does but you make a mistake you still get an a it's a win-win situation so why should I sit here and narrate a Hadith you come and ask me a you say well you know this has happened and I say oh and the Hadith says the messenger of Allah s wasallam said this and I get it wrong and I'm preparing myself a place where I don't want

it or alternatively I could say ah now in my mind I know a Hadith but I say so oh the answer what you should do is this now I tell you what to do based on the Hadith in my mind although I don't transmit the Hadith to you but I say oh this I know something like this I what you should do is this even if I get it wrong I still get a reward a win-win situation no win no fear one of those it's a this is how so the of Iraq start

to take that type of a route in Medina they're on a whole different on the other end of the spectrum they say is why should we just be going around giving our own opinion when we've got the Hadith saying this why should I be saying I'm saying this when we know that we've got the Hadith here am I in a way putting myself above or On a par with the messenger of Allah sallallah alai wasallam not that you are but I'm just saying this mentality was there people like Omar were there people people

lik people like Zade people like Zu people like T people all of these people were there now so they were thinking well wait a minute we've got the the Hadith why do I need to like why should I start giving my opinion I go down end up dragging all these people with me I get it wrong all these people like whereas if I just narrate to them the Hadith ah it's up to them to understand it and I've got we've got this resource this it's it's based this is where the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam lived

in Medina so you can imagine theith are going to be plentiful and abundant no shortage so now this is the initial Divergence that you start to see this they start it begins like this there's that Gap and as it goes down further on you the disparity is evident like the the difference how far apart they become because although it's starting here with the companions but this will now impact your type of resources it will also impact the way you look at

things natural so this is where initially the people of hij were referred to as and the people of the IR were referred to as people of opinion or the it wasn't necessarily uh derogatory it was just referring to this this Divergence that we could see now then now let's go back to what we were talking about earlier on the understandings that you are transmitting so they're giving a take on it now the around them are understanding they're giving their take on it so it's like you're getting a lens and you're adding your lens to

it and everybody's pting a particular tint on this lens so you start to see that the lenses that we have these type of lenses are very different they give you a different shade these areas and their understandings become known as schools of law schools of law which have personalities and look into things with certain Styles or tendencies now it doesn't mean people in them were all I mean that they were symmetrical or

something everybody was the same but they had a particular style about them so as an example must let's say starting with basic um and this a term sometimes they use in social sciences like psychology and stuff like that that the ontological type of um impact really and that is before you even approach something you already have certain mindsets like you don't even know sometimes you have these mindsets but you do so before you approach a matter you will already have S so for example will you be a person to whom the uner

the bigger picture must always make sense or are you somebody with whom no that you know particulars are fine like in fact the acception is not an exception which proves the rule the exception is a new rule are you that type of a person are you are you somebody that know if something is out of place it's problematic or are you somebody that know if something's out of place it's fine doesn't bother me and do not be so naive in thinking that your in these thought processes will not impact your view of the Sharia

or your interpretation of the Shar it will because if you're somebody that anomalies will bother you you something out of place bothers you you know you can't I don't mean you have to be totally OCD but if something out of why is this over here everything must tie in in that case if you're now a a legal analyst a analyst you're one of these Scholars analyzing the Shar you will see a ruling ah but there's a problem here like let's say w we're going to pray one there's no such in Salah as just there is no Sal which is just one

ra we don't have any other Salah that is one ra so this doesn't fit in it's a problem I mean everything's supposed to everything supposed to come together is it's like this is over here and that's over there it needs to fit in therefore maybe there's a problem here maybe the people transmitting it didn't mean that so and do not think that this did not take place it did and it does you the way you look at something will impact your interpretation so people that had

this interpretation that universals for for example will are more important than the particulars amongst them is the school of Medina so when we have aith that that if somebody dies and they have to make up some fasts that the wi the theah those who the inheritors and those people they can fast on behalf of this person now that is a problem because

that's an anomaly it doesn't fit into this big picture you can't do other actions like okay let's start off with Salah you cannot pray Salah on behalf of another person so if you can't do Salah why can you do s so we need to reexamine this Hadith then maybe it doesn't mean that maybe it means in the narration that that the debt of Allah is more deserving that it is repaid regarding this Hadith means that since for a fast

you can also pay a kafar then maybe that's what it's talking about about paying the kafar and the person having fasted on his behalf meant that he took care of the fast on his behalf is this what it means this is exactly what was taking place so you're having these schools of law which are emerging they agree on the fundamentals we've got England here we've got Scotland now we've got a referendum up but the thing is there's differences in

law same initial principles same Unwritten Constitution same obviously it's Unwritten it's going to be the same but the thing is so but the same type of values same if you like in Arabic where it's stemming from yet same country yet diverse laws same thing within the Sharia you have the same we have the same basis we have different schools of law so these schools became known by the areas the locations the geographical locations in which they were situated so places like

the school of Medina the school of mecah um the school of Iraq or the school of kufa the school of Egypt these things became known like that for for a brief while then eventually there is a a person who is a dominant figure there a Figure Head who becomes almost The Voice piece for this school and that usually takes place around the time of the so the the are the successors to the Companions and then their students around their time somebody like a key figurehead emerges who becomes

like the representative or the voice of this school of law so IM Malik in IM Abu hanifah in kufa and sometimes in one city you've had different interpretations like suyan in kufa in kufa you've had other people emerging as well Im in sham you have le in Egypt you have different people emerging who become these Representatives or not yeah almost like the voice of this m so that is the first question what is

the school of Medina School of Medina is our understanding of the dean as transmitted through the Companions and the successors who lived in Medina and was expressed or voiced and expanded upon by Imam Malik that is what when we say today the school of Medina what we are talking about so the school of Medina is not necessarily it's not like IM let's say Imam Malik or Imam Abu hanifa or these people they didn't come up with all of this they

become the representatives of this school of thought so prior to them you've had so whether it's IM abif you've got the likes of ibim you've got ham you've got all these you've got all these great great major Scholars before them who have kind of already given those those opinions those fwa that type of thought Along Comes This IM and in their time the questioning and the questions and answers seem to have really gone up so many notches that people are asking everything there rapid rounds going on this is what about this what about this what about this what about this and

these people are answering so that is a school of law that is when we are saying the school of Medina we're talking about the one that is transmitted through Medina why the school of Medina okay and I don't mean yet why the school of Madina necessarily for us right now I'm just saying why the school of Madina full stop so we know what it is why and then its relevance with us in these three stages since we're close to a church we'll take the

[Laughter] trinity so the thing is why the school of Medina we have a Hadith transmitted where the Prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam said that the time has almost come upon us that people will beat their camels in search of knowledge that the prophet sallallah alhi wasallam is saying what in this Hadith he's saying that the time isn't here yet you sh or in a

you whether it's the passive or active verb but that the time is almost come upon us that it is soon to come that people say that the camels will be beaten in in search of knowledge what this means this this was an an an idiom right an idiomatic really in saying that the that people will Traverse great distances people will travel they will come from

far and wide come from so far in search of knowledge was that happening in the time of the sahaba it wasn't happening like that the sahabah themselves were coming from corners of Arabia but they weren't coming from corners of the globe in search of knowledge this is why the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said you that this time is is almost upon us it's not here yet the people will come from far and wide right create distances in search of

knowledge at that time they will not find anybody more knowledgeable than the scholar of Medina okay this is an awesome Hadith it's an incredible Hadith it teaches us that this time will come and the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam is guiding the people that when it comes that is that's your God that's the person the question here that comes to mind immediately that IM Malik didn't say oh sorry the

pro Prophet didn't say that Malik that they won't find anybody more knowledgeable than IM Malik he said scholar of Medina so why are you doing of this Hadith to say that it was Imam Malik that is a valid that is a very good question well first of all what we would say is Medina after the prophet wasam and after

the sahaba had many great many much greater than IM Malik Legends absolute T heavy weights I mean talking the likes ofed called we're talking about the likes of Sal you know son of we're talking about the likes of abak one of the first people ever to to conceptualize and the bringing together of Hadith we're talking about the likes of um and even

like we're talking about the likes of we're talking about the likes I mean many the M of Omar servant of Omar we're talking about so many great Legends the likes of the likes of OMD I mean he played a a to some extent a significant role in Medina as well and so we're talking about all these great Legends it could have been any of them but it's interesting the Hadith says he doesn't

say says that The Scholar of Medina The Scholar the problem is we have times where there is no The Scholar of Medina they are just Scholars of Medina so in the time of the Allah be pleased with them there were many in the times of the there's many in fact what's popularly known in Madina as the seven Scholars like the seven wonders of Medina that's who they were the seven wonders of Madina right so the thing is and that

that includes and all these other people and then after them you've got they're transmitting all their knowledge to the people to the likes ofab by the way is the first person to comp to be commissioned by Omar ABD to compile Hadith successfully to complete having done so the other person before him was abak ham who didn't complete it but he shab is the first scholar to do that where you had an official type of effort a project commissioned byd and successfully completed he is amongst the recipients

of the F the amazing seven the what was that Jackie Chan movie The Seven something but magnificent Ser is that the no anyway there a but let's not digress but these you have these amazing the seven fuk of Medina the point and their is is being received by the likes of it's being received by it's being received by people like ABD uhma is being received by people

like is being received by people likeus by Naf I mean Nafi is also one of the seven but it's being received by all these people where does it go from them from them it's being received by Imam Malik now in the early layers that we've seen there were always multiple people in Madina when we reach the time of Imam Malik there is no other distinguished like outstanding scholar in Medina in his time

there are no multiples in his time he is the only known renowned scholar of Madina this is why suan ABD and many others have said that we believed him to be the embodiment Imam Malik the embodiment of that Hadith because in his time there was nobody that was referred to asina except him and Imam Malik was so revered that the official announcement would be in the time of Haj that because

think about it thousands of people flocking to Medina afterwards so many people you got M what should we do what's this what's that just as you have today and the official announcement comes although today there isn't an official announcement but nobody nobody can give official statement whilst Malik is in Madina that is the official I mean look at the this Legend let's take a look at him a bit

about his life because he Imam Malik is the central person that conveys this maab then to us from him it then goes worldwide let's take a look at the very start Imam Malik is born in what year what year is he born in2 92 93 good I mean there's mixed riat some people say 92 93 popularly they will say sometimes 93 hij around 13 years

after IM Abu hanifah in kufa they are contemporaries by the way I don't know where some people trying Imam Malik was not his student in that sense they were contemporaries born in 93 H in Medina to a a respectable family known for its participation in and in in key religious positions within Islam within Medina like key religious position so if you look at the great

grandfather of IM Malik Abu they say he came to Medina he was somebody who when he came there he married into the local tribes and and he studied from major sahaba like in fact some narrations go to the extent that he saw the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and he witnessed all the battles except bad but I mean although some people have mentioned that people like ABD haven't and they taken the understanding that he came to Medina he was not a companion but he came after the prophet Sall alaihi wasallam had passed away and therefore you called them okay somebody who reaches Islam in and is in the time

of the Prophet Sall Ali but doesn't reach the prophet or somebody who is alive he comes but he doesn't see the prophet Sall alaihi wasallam and he uh Embraces Islam afterwards so and he studies from the likes of Omar from the likes ofman he takes he takes from the likes of from from he's taking from these people this is his great-grandfather AB he is one of the four people who silently uh buried and they took the body of after he had been mared and buried him during the night whilst the uprising

was going on where people were preventing the burial ofman and one of the four that took him and They Carried him on their shoulders and took him and buried him was the great grandfather of Imam Malik and they prayed his janaza a very I mean these are s these are huge type of positions and almost um events that they've lived and then so this is the type of family that we're seeing that Imam Malik is from and Imam Malik was not some people had Imam Malik was actually very upset with uh they say Muhammad isak the famous historian

uh with the with the S and the maazi and that's because he had made a claim one of the claims he had made was that Imam Malik was from a slave background which wasn't true and Imam Malik himself says that our grandfather he said when he's speaking about abir that he came to Medina and married into the Tam and that's where they ended up getting this this type of Ness of the T they were sometimes called he himself says we are from a in Yemen we are from a tribe in Yemen me the from

the asbah that's why he called Al now he was himself he was white IM Malik was white he was blue-eyed he had blonde hair now and that was exceptional for that type of surrounding generally Arabs were not like that they were more darkhaired and Dark Eyed so was this one of the reasons that Muhammad is had said that or what was the but Allah why he had said that but he had said this about IM Malik and IM Malik had got very upset about that obviously in a time where you can

imagine people made a big deal of these type of things as well and it wasn't true it wasn't true so that's where and he said a few other things as well and he he made a few comments I believe about the I think about as well and stuff like this but this is what im Malik said about him that he a that you know he's a from among the that Malik I'll be passionate on that one the godamn it so the thing is but this is the background of Imam Malik and you don't we don't need fabricated type

of stories to to Hype the IM in fact he's one of the imams that doesn't have these type of fabricated hyped stories these hyperbolic type of you know that he kept his woodo for 20 years in a row and he did this and he did that in fact Imam Malik doesn't have these type of things transmitted about him and they say one of the reasons for that may have been that Imam Malik was always generally accepted and the maab of IM Malik was accepted amongst other mhbs as one of those as like a very Like An Elegant type of mhab and in fact most MBS have made it a matter of law a

matter of principle that when their mhab cannot provide them an answer that they will resort to the maab of IM Malik as a secondary uh point of reference that is the official stance of all the other mhbs the Maliki maab obviously sees that scenario as way too hypothetical therefore doesn't engage it that they would they would never have a solution to a that just obviously would never happen being as incomp in as it is so the thing is now this so there are some stories that Imam Malik's mother when before Imam

Malik was born that she she was pregnant with him for up to three years do you see some of these stories and stuff like this and the interesting thing is Imam Malik is asked as are some other imams about this masalah and although he said that look this is what people say so we go with it like but especially recent more recent type of research has shown things like what you call Phantom pregnancies where a woman would develop symptoms and even a sense of bloatedness and it would resemble uh the pregnancy although I mean nowadays if she was tested she would not be I mean she would not be

positive for for being pregnant but the symptoms would resemble pregnancy and especially historically people quite easily mistook that to be pregnancy except it just went on and on and on and on and on and maybe during that time there was a genuine pregnancy and then they calculated the whole period and said oh this person was and you still see that in fact D I believe Ali in his recent modern research on this masalah when they've had the International Medical Islamic conference had presented his whole research on this where people still today in some tribes in Yemen and other places do have these

thoughts like they because of these Phantom pregnancies they think it's been going on for years so just to dispel that notion because it is quite popular uh Le is popularly transmitted about Imam Malik Imam Malik is born he's raised in Medina since a young age he was infat like he did have this this awe of ilm and wanted to learn and I suppose that was the same with all people growing up in Medina because it had that feel to it the vibe and everybody was on it in that sense he he he was from a family his father actually for a profession for his job worked he wasn't that well off he struggled he he wor he

made arrows and would sell arrows and things like that was his father the and Imam Malik didn't actually take after his father in that job because he became more concerned with he at a young age study memorized the Quran and he started to attend the study circles and take his brother n was much more popular and the reason I'm giving you a background to Imam Malik is because I want you to and I want you to go away and learn more I want you to explore not just the concepts but the personality I want him to come to life for

you to be a real person not just a name that you read that if you hear something about him you can almost sometimes tell without even having ascertained whether it holds any reality or not because it's like you know the person and that only happens when you start to explore more about go beyond the name go beyond the surface so he Imam Malik his brother his zelder brother n who was a businessman by the way and he would trade in cloth and Imam Malik they say went with him and from

and followed him into that trade of cloth so his brother n was in to Hadith and he would study Hadith and he was quite reasonably well like for I mean whilst they were growing up I'm not saying at a later age but and IM Malik would be known by his brother n and that's with a by the way so and they would say oh this this is the brother of and himself he wasn't known like people would know him as like oh you know Malik like they would just know him as the brother of Nar now

Imam Malik himself says this one time he says that his brother uh was with him and his father asked them both a Mah and he got it wrong and his brother got it right and his father kind of said to him that you know what like you're not focused but almost expressed this disappointment in him like you know just like all of us have always been going through so expressed this disappointment in him and they say Imam Malik says that

this bothered this got to him so much that he kind of like almost disappointed his father that he felt that you know what that I will redeem that and the reason I'm mentioning this is sometimes it's interesting to learn the drives which take people sometimes because there's multiple drives it's not like one factor why people end up doing things and these little edges sometimes they provide that almost that on in going further but it is interesting that Imam Malik recalls that decades later and

transmits it how he was disappointed like how he was kind of almost hurt by having dis let down his father and disappointed him now this is the same who at a young age he does become actually he becomes quite fascinated with singing why is it madina's got talent the pop Idol is it so the thing is and he wants to become a singer obviously a young boy now so he starts taking an interest oh yeah I'd like to do this I'd like to do this and and his mother actually dissuades him and says

look trust me you're not all that so she tells him and she also says to him that look for God's sake says that look we're that this ain't you like you won't take off like nobody's going to be interested in you and she says and look at you you got blonde hair and like blue eyes and like so you know you know you're already for I suppose for Medina look a bit strange now on top of that you you know you want to go into this profession not profession but at that time he was a hobby he was just a kid so so he eventually Le leaves that type of interest and and refocuses

upon and Subhan Allah obviously little did his mother know at the time that what she was also realigning would perhaps change the course of history as we know it so here Imam Malik at a young age goes and he starts to study and as he starts to study the determination he will see things like he says I went toas and I stayed with him and I didn't take any other teacher for at least seven years always and he says this person was an

ocean he says the way he knew the of the people of knowledge the way he knew their descent whether it was in or and the way he could debate their argument was almost unparalleled and then he starts to after him him mixing other teachers he starts to go to a scholar by the way who is known as but the that we're referring to is the of it's not I know some people they think because we have that name with him that he is the samei that people speak of the

school of Iraq all about analogies and stuff like this it's not because I wahab asks Imam Malik that when you were in his gatherings would you be all like presenting M and asking one another about and challenging each other on and would you be mentioning and he says he says like in other words hell no that that wasn't the that we're referring to the is the of that where we know we although we have evidences to suggest something but the musl the

welfare demands some ease or some exception to the ruling and we can make that exception and this is where IM Malik would say Al that knowing that is nine10 of knowledge that just even when we have a Hadith but at times the welfare demands that we can make an exception this is the type of that we that he was talking about and he learns this from and he's still young and he starts to go to Na and na he would what he would do is they say he na

would transmit the Hadith from straight in fact that is Imam Malik's shortest chain and that is the golden chain according to IM bukari that is the strongest chain that we have in Hadith the most valid and strong chain we have ofi is known as a the golden or the Platinum we can reord it right that's what it is it's it's up there and he would go and what he would do sometimes is he would take

with him Imam Malik would take all these extra they were like their version of sweets what they had in their day and age and he would give them to there was almost like a monitor that that Na and these people had that you know you look out here that he would have like some young person that would when people come to for lessons I mean just line them up and get them ready and then let me know and so what he would do is give him all these sweets and say look listen this is almost like a bribe and in turn what you have to do is anybody who comes you have to say that no he's busy he's not going to be teaching today so when Naf would look the only person standing there was

as he would say ah that blonde Boy again it's just him nobody else you say ah go on then bring bring him in and then he would just teach IM Malik and that was almost a way of being singled out and he would say he would do things like watch you know as soon as IM uh Naf would come out for for things like going to Salah and na lived in outside of Medina which is today the graveyard bak and and he would go there and just wait so when he's about to leave for Salah he would just walk with him and and just how are you doing sh and then just ask him a few questions and go to the Masjid with him sit down ask him a few more then come back and and heed to say that he was somebody that had a very Stern type of

Personality about him and this is where IM Malik is taken from and he's perhaps inheriting part of that personality you as a person end up you always take on a piece of whoever you take from you end up becoming almost an amalgamation of all these different teachers and you so he's taking that from the Imam from him and R he then goes to shab's circles in fact what is popularly transmitted and they mention in the mad as well

of he says he attended the D of oh sorry it says sh that and in and at that time he was still wearing in his ear and earring that by that they meant Imam Malik was still quite young because see obviously unknown to us but there was a bit of a culture where they would make young children including boys wear

earrings now obviously that culture doesn't seem to have continued generally so we see this as once again something shocking and exclusively uh let's say Emina or only something that women would do or girls would do but at that time commonly I mean this is why even in the fatawa later on that IM Malik is being asked that that giving uh making boys wear Golden Earrings and Imam Malik says oh gold isn't allowed and uh really although the child is he's not liable so that responsibility

is on his parents he doesn't say earrings what the hell are you talking about the whole thing is around why you asking me whether it's gold the whole thing is that's like somebody saying can we drink out of so if somebody asks you like we're not allowed to drink out of golden glasses or golden or silver actual I mean there there's a nah prohibition on drinking out of whether it's going to be a glass that or or a vessel that's actual golden or silver out of gold not golden as in just color but gold now imagine somebody says oh drinking alcohol or wine from a gold vessel and you say you know is gold isn't actually Halal to drink

from well well the whole damn thing is is is not allowed so there's no point just criticizing critiquing the the cup well alcohol in the first place isn't allowed so when Imam Malik responds with this this is also by the way as a footnote footnote that this is interesting on how we perceive the Islamic so-called Islamic culture and perhaps how it was are not always necessarily the same thing so that's an interesting just footnote but anyway the point that they were making was Imam Malik was young he then goes on and he studies with shab

and he has this amazing memory and what's interesting is he's sitting with r and r brings him and you know there's that thing see it's the way the world Works doesn't it almost like you you know people through people and I suppose R was R so he has his name anyway and he brings this young kid around with him Malik this young little kid so nobody's going take a kid seriously just as I shahab doesn't take him seriously and and he tells the lesson he narrates these Hadith he's saying them probably 40 maybe 50 erates them next day they turn up again soab is like

what the hell am I just wasting my time here what is this I'll tell you what tell me what I taught you yesterday and then I'll move on so he says I can see that you know you haven't bought a p or anything with you so tell me what I said yesterday so RAB just looks at Malik who's a kid at the time and says go on and Malik starts to transmit them one by one photographing memory people better than if you watch suits the guy has the thing is this

and is impressed and do you know what he says to him he says he says I never used to think that there was anyone that there was anybody that could do this except me and what's interesting is he almost sees him himself in this young person is that is that like me thereby taking a greater interest in

him kind of forming what would become this great Imam who would has and continues to influence are take not only our understanding of Islam but Islamic law today throughout the glob so this so this is one of his teachers and they say what im Malik would do sometimes as he would learn Hadith he would be like every time he hears one he would tie not in a string Another one not in a string not in a string Str and then he would undo the knots and as he's undoing them he would recall the Hadith

just creating that type of some type of association with something and I mentioned this to somebody I said what's interesting is I read a very similar thing but different obviously but similar thing aboutalib the poet the U poet who says that you know when poems would come to him and obviously he wouldn't be in a fully sober state right so they would come to him and what

he says kab kabi he says we've left this alcohol but then now and then I say but the point is that when this would come to him he would like he would tie a knot in a string and then he says in the morning he would as he would undo each KN he would recall the lineup po but it's I mean we I totally can't identify with that I wish I could but not with the alcohol but with the with the tying the knot in the string but this is it's interesting to see that was also a strategy which Imam Malik would use making some type of real association

with something when Imam Malik at a later age began to actually teach he would do things like organize his his time and the classes if you like in a very what was for his day and age an Innovative way like he would say things like okay what we're going to do we're going to first of all study at this point of the day we're going to study remember this was not done before now we just look at schools and look at this and devise our things accordingly remember if you're coming up with this it's different and he would say okay we're going to have Hadith in a particular way and we're going to have

this in a particular room Hadith had its own room had its own room for Hadith he would say all right I'm going to go in he would shower up come out perfume s have this and Imam Malik by the way was known to take an interest in his clothes they say he would buy and he liked white but he would buy is radiant white beaming type of white cloth they

say they say they say very expensive clothes he would buy and he would come out in the in this in this robe have this IM he would have B kind of spread out in that whole type of um you know the whole incense type of thing around that room he had the whole thing aromatized almost and this Ambience and then he'd have the people sitting there and then he would come and sit transmit Hadith and whil the Hadith is being transmitted the B would be lit in certain places then he would finish

and say leave create that psychological context for Hadith it's that you have now come into now we've come into a special right okay now we're doing Hadith people it's like this there an at today psychologists speak of these as as mental cu that you have like sometimes associating smell with something creating a particular an entry and exit a mental a psychological entry and exit which allows people to almost have as weird as it sounds but safe exits because now they feel oh we're in a different realm or now we're different now we can be like

this is very Innovative Imam Malik was not taught this by people he was coming up with these strategies he starts to teach people like this and he himself says that I spent at a later stage of his life he says I spent my life I in 3/ thirds he says if you look at the first third he says I mainly took from people and there's very little I gate and he says the second third there was an equal he says I did in the first I would give but it's very little minority the second third I was equally involved in the acquisition of more knowledge and Distributing knowledge and

in the final third I was mainly just giving so this type of strategy and and he would take like I said he would take an interest in certain things and one of the things he was interested in as well and and that was also food they say he became incredibly or relatively speaking wealthy he was not initially he speaks of a time with somebody in a dialogue where they mentioned to him where his daughter cried herself to sleep because of of hunger he saw very difficult times in his early life because he was more

involved in learning knowledge not working as he begins to work they say then the D opened up to him and you see that he became very wealthy he took an interest in food he would actually go out of his way sometimes to select what was very Exquisite or fine cuines of his age if you like but dishes for his day and age and he was very much into meat he would say that I need my daily portion of meat and it was protein it wasn't a protein

shake but it it seriously was because he would say that I would buy my two Dirhams worth of meat every day and he said and when somebody asked him he said it helps me me keep a strong big like strong posture what was he talking about obviously this protein and and he said that that this is what he would respond with so now he said if I had to I'll sell my stuff but I'll get that meat this is what he actually responded with in in a response so this is sometimes very antithetical to what people may be assuming about all of the Sala they may

think like the Sala were like all Hermits they all lived in caves and they all kind of walked around in like patched clothing and they all like oh don't mention anything about the the dun to us don't oh don't mention that was Imam Malik was totally antithetical to that he was like the opposite of of that he would and you'll see many of the imams like sufyan thori was another one IM Abu hanifa was incredibly wealthy once again somebody that was known to have taken an interest in the fashion of his age he was somebody that Imam Abu hanifah came out with he would wear the long sleeves there were these long sleeves Trend that had just emerged in his age and he was one of the scholars

that would wear it and and so this type of an sufan aori would say things like he would say that oh as to the age before us he says like meaning the sahabah and them they would look down on wealth and stuff like this he says Ah says in our day and age wealth is our Shield says that if we don't have it says if we didn't have this the Kings would have taken us up like handkerchiefs and just thrown us away like meaning we have our independence we're not dependent on these people and this is something which the have or

students of knowledge have to learn from these imams we have way too many imams who have no way and no direction to go they have to live off something like 80 100 pound a week as an IM a denigrated type of post it's become they and they fear for that if we speak up some of the issues might lose my job and so not only are they under way underpaid but then they're also fearful and intimidated and it's killed their their level or their

expertise they can't now be fussed about trying to go in or take an interest in this stuff they can't be like research too busy if you look at the hierarchy of needs people have a hierarchy of needs they need to be met so when you see these imams were independent it gave them something so Imam Malik being independent like that his trade another thing Imam Malik would openly take gifts from the KFA openly take gifts from them um and on some occasions very expensive gifts and honorariums and money when they would give him and he

was asked about this and he said that as to the he says I don't see any problem with it he said is a problem he said below them like Governors or other Statesmen he said I don't accept from but he would accept from them in in the thousands of dins of his day and age he would he would take it like when they would give and he wouldn't he was very open unlike on that in this position he was very he was different to Imam Abu who also was very wealthy but he would refuse to take anything from the the governors at the time or the the actual Statesman and the actual KFA Imam Malik

would openly take and he did not see that as a wrong thing and it we didn't see this as like oh I'm just saying but he has his explanations anyway but just coming back I'm just trying to add some make you understand who this person was he is the only Imam who everybody agrees is a and that he is somebody who is an absolute scholar at the same time he is also a an Imam and a of none of the other imams have ever

held that position so Imam Abu hanifah as respected and as amazing as he is was critiqued on his knowledge of IM was critiqued on his knowledge ofed was critiqued on his understanding of or his breath of or as being a not as in not knowing F obviously he knew but being a much as in being an IM of a m from the side he was critiqued but Imam Malik is one of those people who unanimously everybody accepted that oh no not IM Malik IM in

them both absolute Undisputed so that is another type of a defining point about the IM that he had and this should not be when I mentioned that he for example took an interest in certain things like he took an interest in clothing took an interest in food he took an interest in in the at the same time he did have certain things like Imam Malik had a principle they say he would not wear shoes in Medina when he would walk within the internal inner streets of Medina he wouldn't do that out of love and respect for the

prophet Sall aliam that was a a different side of the IM he had that angle to him he was also in his day and age very strict against Innovations within the dean very strict in fact too harsh almost to the extent anything that he he saw as new and whatever he would be very critical of it to the extent when ABD Mahi came and was sent by the governor he came to the prophet's mque and he begins his prayer and as he's Begins the Salah he takes off his type of scarf and

he puts it in front of him which would be ahead of the place of sujud and then he begins his Salah and IM Malik looks at him thinking who on Earth does he think he is he says to the gods he says take that person and throw him out of the doors he says nobody innovates in the Masid of the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaih says that is an action which the salaf did not used to do used to place a scarf before them and do their sujud he says and his wording is he says throw him from the doors even if it breaks his

legs that was his wording he says original then they go to ABD rman Mah the bouncers do they're like all right finish your Salah we got a surprise and store for you right he says to them I've been sent by the the governor of this place I'm like obviously have come on a almost a a diplomatic type of visit if you like he's got that protection so he say when he says this to them uh they come back to Imam Malik and say do you still want us to throw he's come on behalf of so IM Malik says okay just tell him to leave and then ABD M comes

and later on ends up becoming one of the students of Imam Malik and transmitting from him but he comes to him at that point and he says like you know what what's actually happened and what and he says to him why did you do that why did you put that scarf in front of you says that this he says that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said whosoever innovates in this Masid of mine that he will have the curse of the Angels upon him and the curse of the whole of mankind so this in some things he he had this side to him very strict he had another political side to

him when they when there was um an uprising of Muhammad naak against B abas and at that time people had they had their the allegiance to and people came to IM Malik and said and this is one of the popular that when they said to him that can we support Muhammad Zak and you know what do we do because we've given our we've given our pledge

to and he said and he transmitted theith that the divorce of one coerced is not a divorce and from that they understood his his implicit agreement into and support in saying that look you guys have been coerced into that pledge and Allegiance and although he didn't openly stand you know like and say that but it was enough for him to say this that the governors and the people from in Bagdad heard about it and people

landed on him in that sense that you need to retract this Hadith this a that you are transmitting and IM Malik shows such a strategic such a strategic Hadith this that but the T of a coerced person is not a t transmitted by who AB to who in the face of who B abas extremely strategic the imam's foresight was on another

level many people wouldn't even understand that perspective you see it's not just to see what other people can't see but it's to see what other people can't even conceive they can't even imagine that's genius so IM Malik he chose a Hadith as well which he knew B abas would want him to stop transmitting but they're going to struggle because this is the Hadith of Abbas so this is part of and this and this led to in the popular transmission

his where he was sanctioned and punished and beaten in turn for not withdrawing this statement and and part of that they kind of lashed him and and this led to several medical issues and even then you you have to see the style of the IM because he refused to retract his statement so they took him out in Medina and people gathered and IM Malik said he said he said who knows me then he knows me and who doesn't then I am Malik

all said who doesn't know me that I am Malik like let this be known and they obviously they did punish the Imam which they later on expressed deep regret for having done so but they did at the time it was uh you know with it was a threat which they felt if they didn't now carry through it would just be an empty threat so they did it but Imam Malik and he did not he did not instruct the people to kind of cause a he didn't say okay guys we're going to he didn't actually instruct like an uprising against this punishment against

against him he took that and he said to people now because he had a when we say he had a following he had a following we're talking about the the kind of person who I've already mentioned in Haj that they would say nobody gives a whil Malik is in Madina they say when in he led the rain uh not during the time of Hajj during the time of Hajj so we're talking about thousands and thousands of people there it was they there was a prayer

for Imam Malik was not actually leading the prayer he was just in the prayer and at one point he gets up because his thing he's sitting on the floor he gets up because his thing is stuck beneath him like he has this kind of like like a scarf thing stuck beneath him like a Shaw he gets up to and everybody gets up like one of those movie scenes what the something just happened and they think it's a part of the prayer they think it's a part of because they see him as such a figure that whatever he's doing must be something ritual my like just chill out guys don't

worry I'm just take a break so this is the type of person he was now so he has all these sides to him these Dimension this teaching people this this role of not just teaching but being Innovative in his teaching styles having in using psychology for his day and age in pushing this thing of maslaha that maslaha this welfare which was at the foundation of the school of

Medina this is Imam Malik this person he and he continues to teach he lives a a long and blessed life which he almost lives 90 years he passes away in 179 hij and throughout his life teaching conveying the message he authors himself the a book of now he was very firm in understanding that the school of Medina was the most I mean we accept all interpretations

because they they're based on they're based onad and they're based on a pure ni the objective is the same everybody is trying to look from their lens outside they just want to have a an understanding of what's going on outside everybody's got a lens we respect that Imam Malik respected that we we don't call things necessarily false or so on or or this is wrong in that sense not collectively however he believed this to be the most pure and pristine transmission of the de and he was very passionate about that

he wrote a letter to Le who was a major m in Egypt at the time and Imam Malik Begins by after extending Salam and saying you know I right to you and may Allah preserve you and protect you and and he says it reaches me that you are giving fatawa contrary to that upon which the people of Medina are that you are giving rulings which clash with the teachings and the guidance of the school of Medina and

Imam Malik says to Le he says I'd like to remind you that it was here in Medina that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam lived and passed away he says that it was here in Medina that the Quran was revealed he says and it was here in Medina that the angel jiel descended and it's here in Medina that over 10,000 sahaba remained buried he

says so correct yourself that style he was very passionate about what he believed but at the same time at the same time he wasn't about imposing this you see because that's not that that type of control freak mentality is not from the them when Abu J said to him look listen I I've had it with all this and so on and you know what the hell you know I can't seem to grasp grasp this you know we're just going to I'm going to impose your understanding like basically everybody

will follow the M everybody will follow whatever you say he said n that's not how it works it doesn't work like that if it if you win you win the hearts and Minds you do not coers people into anything that the sahaba disagreed there were different interpretations I'm not necessarily going to say that I agree with your interpretation but I can't coers you out of it you you must either see this and choose of your own valtion this this path this transmission from Madina or fine carry on with your

transmission it still goes back to the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam but we do not force we do not have this type of censorship of ideas this very alien to Islam there is no coercion in any of the matters of the dean okay so this this is very important in understanding the IM because don't think it would be naive to think that these these this type of these nuances don't play out in his in the imam's

representation of Islamic law they do in him transmitting to us all of these things will play a role so Imam Malik despite I mean so all of these things he's done he leaves he does leave a book which is the m the book is really a a combination of Hadith and it is the oldest book in Hadith we have today and it is the first that we

have today right so it has in chain I mean generally the especially the Malik and and non Malik accept it to be absolutely um there is no and they don't question that many of the obviously people would say the Maliki are going to say that anyway because there's that bias but obviously the Malik had major T of Hadith they weren't just nobodies I mean the likes of ABD the likes of the likes of the likes of the likes ofu Muhammad the likes I mean these type of people were not just they were revolutionary

figures I mean Muhammed was the first person to teach Inus these people you know when they these are major major of they obviously said that the m is not only absolutely it is number one in everything in all the books of Hadi people have sometimes questioned and they have their angle and we respect that and they've said look because IM Malik mentioned someth several in in in the m without mentioning the complete chain therefore although we respect him

but we can't accept this going by the method that we want 100% disclosure so so that's what it's about security clearance that's what it's about so the thing is that they say no we've got principles like Imam Shafi says we've got these principles we want 100% disclosure you haven't given us the full names I respect you but I can't take this with IM Malik it was different it was about trust this Dean has been entrusted to us

no trust no anything no Dean so if somebody doesn't give you the chain he's taken the burden upon himself now we look at who is he can he carry this weight and Imam Malik could he says that himself he attended a circle once where somebody was teaching Hadith and he walks off and one of his teachers asks him that why did you walk off from that Circle of Hadith he says that it's not with no fault to the person he says it was so crammed that I would have had to stand to learn the Hadith and I didn't

want to disrespect the Hadith of the Prophet Sall alaihi wasallam by standing he himself says that he says he says I've seen so many people sit by this pillar in the prophet's mosque and he would say that this person has told me transmitting Hadith that's the style of transmitting Hadith by the way so he says I've seen many a people do that and he says what and he says I did not take from them he

says he says the person if you gave him the whole Muslim treasury he wouldn't even take one dham or DIN and misuse it that's how trustworthy the person would have been says he says except this science he wasn't cut out for it this wasn't his thing you don't worry about this we got this it's one of those Imam Malik said that you that this person was a great person many people I saw they were great people but they weren't cut out for

this and Imam Malik would not transmit except from people who were also ofi they say to him once that is transmitting this and he tells them off he says don't transmit they say but is transmitting it says is he a scholar as well no so leave it this is the personality that we are coming face to face with that we are trying to learn and explore about Imam Malik see this this type of level of scrutiny this level of Hadith the way he is the way he treats the Hadith the way

he treats the Sunnah cuz this is another interesting they draw a distinction between Hadith and Sunnah and we do that within the school of Madina as to uh the KF the Han as well do a similar thing draw a distinction between Hadith andah IM Malik in the many he will bring and he will say things like oh and this is what the people of the scholars of Medina this is what the people of Madina have agreed upon and there's somewhere he will say transmits the Hadi and he'll say by the way we don't act according to that Hadith in our city it's like what

the hell so some of the are like what the hell who do you think you are how can you transmit the Hadith and say we don't act according to it he'll mention these things this is not acted or acted upon in our SE the Sunnah is the teaching of the Prophet sallam which is transmitted the fact that is transmitted as a written document is not

necessary and that just makes it a that makes it a Hadith if it's transmitted orally or as a living practiced action or teaching that is still a Sunnah IM Malik would say that a thousand from a thousand is much more beloved to me than oneon-one that oneon-one that this oneon-one would snatch the dean right from in front of you you won't even know it the meaning that we have a Dean which has multiple Transmissions

so sometimes you do get Sunnah which come to us but we don't have the for them and sometimes you have but it's not the Sunnah and this is this is important one of the Sunnah we have like s in the Malik I mean we have both opinions but it's a Sunnah it's as says that both are from the Sunnah that you can leave the hands hanging in Salah you can also fold them as well it's fine within the Mal but the point is you have S you have very little clear Hadith you do have some Hadith to support it but very little

clear Hadith to support it but you have the Sunnah and sometimes you have many a Hadith on something but it's not as Imam Malik would say as he said to uh Abu yusf when Abu YF came to him and he said oh strange the people of Medina don't know the aan because the aan is only allahar is said two times only said twice as opposed to four times he goes um aib people of Madina maybe slipped up on this one and he and IM Malik says to him that this is the aan which was called from

the time of the Prophet the children have transmitted it from their fathers from their forefathers from the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam with continuity till our very day and then he says to him says what he says maybe that the prophet in a journey somewhere one day or one night somewhere differed in doing a different aan and you guys have taken that but the point is so we're not saying your aan is wrong but we're saying he said that this was the Sunnah this was the General that which was acted

upon so all of this is what Imam Malik is kind of really putting out there and there's some things which almost become symbolic of this maab this school of law one is the ofina the practice of the people of Medina the Maliki is almost I mean that is the key thing that comes to your mind when you think of the Maliki that means the thousands that were transmitting from thousands certain practices which reaches Imam Malik now

we don't have those chains of the thousands of people but we know Imam Malik had them because he says oh this is the practice of the people of Madina this is something and this isn't by the way Madina isn't in everything the malakis have that it's in it's in a small amount of things but generally the school is the school of Medina so there's a difference between the school being the school of Madina and the ofina another thing as a small footnote almost without going into too much the is mistaken and misunderstood by many

people to be the of the consensus and although some Mal have used that word at times the ofina what they do not mean by it is the as in the technical imma of Medina so some non- malakis have sometimes what they've done is uh um they've what this misunderstanding has led them to a straw man argument they've built up a straw man and then done all these Catey chops on it and destroyed it and said ah we've taken this dissected this principal of the Maliki school they haven't they've just misunderstood it

and set up something which didn't truly reflect what the school of Madina was saying this is not imma imma is consensus imma must have every person that is a key person involved of the entire umah to explicitly Express not silently I mean to explicitly Express their concern or opinion on a matter and there's um I mean there is agreement that is a consensus which obviously has it ever happened is is another question

that IM sha asks as well but the point is that isma of some of the umah is never anma because that doesn't even make sense if I say everybody in this room agrees upon something so what that's in this room it doesn't mean the whole umah now has to accept what we've agreed upon so just because the people of Medina did agree upon something doesn't mean that the um has to accept it so this is a wrong category so people when you categorize if people categorize under that's misleading

okay its place belongs under what category under Sunnah under under a Sunnah that has been transmitted on mass in through multiple chains that is the correct category that's the filing cabinet for it where you want to put it okay anything else is problematic soina comes to mind straight away the fact that this m is one which is enriched with Sunnah it's very a m of Hadith in fact IM Malik's M as I said M

of was known as if you remember we said that how the school differed in Iraq and how it differed in hij and how the resource of Hadith was building up and this wasn't as much because of some perspectives if you remember that so they were very proud of this Imam Malik was very proud of this this connection toi he was a m after all in fact he would say he would say that oh the people of Iraq because Iraq was a bit Metropolitan at a point and it doesn't mean Medina wasn't Metropolitan Medina was not beding like by the way you know

sometimes I've I've seen some Transmissions that say and I know want to malikia maybe slipped up in following in Towing that line but the general malikia never took this line of saying Imam Malik was kind of more in line with this beduin culture and therefore the people who embrace the Maliki M were like beduins of North Africa and so that is I find that personally as an insult to the m right Medina was as Metropolitan as were the Maliki flourishing States like Al andalus or Iraq when they were in Iraq as was Egypt when they were ruling EGP as was Kwan as were these places so this is as was marush when it

was set up as were all of these place so this this is like this is just a fallacy but anyway coming back to the point that Imam Malik would say that because Iraq was known for its you know it's like all these people Crossroads and you had all this trade going on and there was a lot more trade and a lot more mixture of people and so it had this type of culture this vibe to it very super Cosmopolitan for its day and age so Imam Malik said once he said that they used to act all you know oh we're wealthy they kind of show off with their wealth to us that oh we live you know somebody might say oh I live in

this place oh it's quite well off and and all this so so they had a bit of that attitude to them that we live in in this part of you know the Middle East and it's so well off and H and you guys are still and he says he says and now they're trying to show off about ath say know your game people you are out of your depth that he says in one transmission he says he says Hadith leaves us the people of Medina and it comes back to us via Iraq

like they will transmit it from somebody from Medina and then somebody will transmit from them and then he'll come back to us he says when he comes back it's an arms length says people know your place says we respect you and everything but come on Hadith you know that's the famous thing isn't it that's the Allah you know Abu yusf when he accepted the the role of being the chief Ki he would go on Hajj accompany harun Rashid every year on the Hajj or every other year

when he would go on the Hajj so whenever he'd go there try and have a little like a little almost like a little scuffle with with Imam Malik not physical but you know what I mean so he would say oh go on I want to and try to throw questions at Imam Malik but say Imam Malik's personality was a very a more serious type of more than serious more because serious sounds depressive and sounds like worrying like somebody's serious they're like worried about something not like that type of serious but more a striking one of these like very had they say had habber that people would kind of feel his presence and they would be intimidated sometimes find it a

bit daunting it was too um I mean it was a very strong personality like and he wasn't somebody that was very jovial and cracking jokes like that Imam Abu hanifah on the other hand was I and and I would say from that angle he was probably definitely from the four imams had a very like You' say probably a more fun personality that was very you know susceptible to things like jokes and humor and cracking jokes and stuff like that although what is a question and I don't want anybody to kind of shoot me after I say this but what's interesting is his maab almost becomes the

antithesis of that it becomes a very strict and severe and very controlling and very different type of maab with a personal but his personality was amazing and very jovial and very humorous and stuff but anyway people Abu yusf was like that as well because he was with Imam Abu hanifah always used to oh throwing this debating there getting that argument doing this so he comes to IM Malik and IM Malik doesn't really play that game so he says to him that okay oh what do you say about this what do you say about this IM Malik just looks at him does that you know suppose you've watched House of Cards that look gives him that look and just walks on but the thing is that so he wants to

debate him but he won't listen so he tells harun Rashid get him to debate me get him to get him to answer me G to answer me so first when he said debate Imam Malik actually said what is this he said is something where you get like almost the way you know you get two animals and make them fight each other is that so obviously there was no comeback to that so then he said ABF said oh okay I ask him to at least to answer my questions it's not a debate we're just engaging in questions so he would then come out with all these type of questions and every time you'd come he'd look forward to some of these it's quite provocative uh in his approach actually

so this one time you see and and there is a transmission where he actually upsets the Imam as well but I mean that's uh you know where they say he he says he asks the Imam what because you know during the Hajj in a state ofam you're not allowed to uproot things like plants you're not allowed to kill any animals or even you know you're not supposed even pests you're not supposed to be not you know you can't you should be really careful about even just killing a mosquito or anything really you're not supposed to be in a state of absolute sanctity and so if you do you have to give you know especially if you've done something like hunting or you've done something like this or you've hurt an animal you have to give a

like a kafara type of thing so he asked Imam Malik says Okay I want to ask you a question he says uh he says tell me what would happen if you broke Thea if a person broke Thea are the two front teeth that you have these two front teeth are called thanaya in Arabic and he says what would happen if you broke the Thana of AA during so IM Malik says well you know you'd give the relative the relevant kaf so on he says Ah he says but do does a does a deer have two front teeth does it have th do

we call him th though when we're talking about deers they call something else so IM Malik actually gets a bit upset gets a bit he says to him it's not that we didn't know that he says but he says he says he says that it's not that we didn't know that he says he says it's just that we only accompanied perhaps the best of people meaning people who are above this type of like basically we might do ruthless but we don't do petty it's th this is a bit of

a a low blow you just trying to be funny with this little you know like a low blow really so anyway these are the type of things that they would get into but they had some very interesting discussions as well and there's this one time where Abu YF says Okay I want to ask a question in front of harun Rashid and he says okay what do you want to ask about and uh and he says oh this this Mas of if a person gets married and he gives uh and he's given this type of wealth and but he decides to kind of squander it in and he gives this this the question is about kind of doing what you please with your

wealth and he says but in this like if a person because when a person marries especially the custom then was that if if it was given to you from the other side that wealth for that for that wedding it was understood that this would be used at the wedding and although it came to you but it wouldn't be you know you still had to kind of you couldn't just say well okay I've got this now and that's it I'm going to just spend it on something else forget it and then you just bust on the on the weddding there but I gave you all this money say yeah but I spent it on that was my money once he gave it to me so this was this was what the Mas was it was one of these type of intricate M so

Imam Malik answers and he says Abu yusf says he says no he says you can and so IM Malik looks at him and he says that he says let me tell you the Hadith Allah he says this to IM Malik let me tell you the Hadith he says that there's the Hadith that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam yeah that he that he let the horses just go like he let them just go into the jungle and into the the type of woods as it was like as IND justl the meaning that you

can dispose of your thing as you please and this and this so he's telling this to Imam Malik Malik looks at him and he says says you've made a mistake says the wording of the Hadith is there's two dots beneath that that letter that you seeing that he made them run the horses to their limits meaning in terms of speed so first of all learn your stuff before you come to the table it's the big boy sit here it's not the so there were some very interesting

engagements that they had like some dialogues and stuff like but this was the personality of this IM he Imam Malik in his time had many had diverse students and one thing about Imam Malik is there are multiple Transmissions from him and in fact to this has this has appeared as sometimes a confusing matter that for example Imam Malik student one student will say oh IM Malik said this and other stent say oh he said that and you do get this quite often it's not infrequent within

the maab you have different rat in fact the mhab was perhaps the most dis I don't know widely spread maab in that I think historically allaham I may that may be questioned but especially in terms of um independent Institute so what you had was after Imam Malik the maab it spreads to Iraq where you get an Iraqi sub school it remains within hij it goes to miss Egypt where you have this Subs

school it goes to North Africa northwest Africa which begins with obviously Tunis and then goes into what would be modern day Morocco and then you had Al andalus and they had their sub school and for a shorter while you had Sicily which had its also at least for in fact sis was actually liberated by the student of IM malikat who was buried there as well right so and that remains for a few centuries although not as much as the others so each one of these sub schools as I like to call them and sometimes

they referred to as madasa an internal school so you have the m and you have a madasa within it now they dis differ in their approach sometimes so you will see things like they sometimes take different rat going back to the Imam so the malakis of Iraq who were a minority are generally surrounded by the hanis and sometimes shaf they would go back to Imam Malik in taking the interpretation through ABD hak one of the students of Imam Malik whereas the the other let's say the and would quite often go through other people northw W Africa

would go through IIM actually andalus would mix it up a bit um the thing is that they would have different riat going back to the IM there is some confusion sometimes that why did Imam Malik have these different narrations why is this person saying you do this and this person saying you do that to be honest with you I mean I struggled and battled with this for years when I was studying uh in trying to understand why this would have happened happened I I think one of the earlier type one of the common things that people would just say is like oh it's like with Hadith why do you have

different Hadith that I was never convinced with that argument because to me that was a weak response because with Hadith it was different the same sahaba were not always with the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam the sahaba sometimes this one went off this one saw the prophet here never saw him again this one sees him two years later this one but the companions or the students of Imam Malik lived with him the main students for at least 20 to 30 years together so I'm here you're here and you're here and we're all studying together so how now do we get different

interpretations so I I mean that baffled me for years I I have an understanding which I don't know I arrived at but it is my it is the way I look at it I can't say it is the definitive answer but I believe that part of the reason there was I mean there was the angle that um for example Imam Malik was was responding at times to people in accordance to their needs that's common sense so if a particular Imam or sorry particular student had a particular need he may be responding to him in that

need I also believe I mean there's multiple factors here I believe one factor one angle is that he was also responding in accordance with the tendency of that student so some students had a particular tendency and because Imam Malik saw that the scholars before him in Medina all had these diverse tendency so it was all from the tradition of Medina so for example to be very hadithi hadithi like Abu who was in Madina was

very in fact when questions him on the meaning of the Hadith he gets annoyed says you know when um when he tells him that oh you're not allowed to you must do W from anything the Hadith says You must do W from anything which fire has touched and what the Hadith meant was if you've eaten anything cooked you had to do wo in in the early days of Islam but the point is in that say but we believe this to be abated says to him okay so what would you say if you heated that water for woodoo with fire do you have to do woodoo from that

woodoo this was saying that Abu gets very very angry says and you say this a tendency not too strange to us actually in this day and age but the point is that we have a precedent as the dean is also about trying to understand it's not about belittling it's about trying to get around understanding things so Imam Malik believed there was a precedent for all of this so there were some students like wahab very hady hady so Imam Malik at times may have

given him that understanding he may have said to Imam Malik look listen you know like don't you think here we have this this had and you would yeah you're right we do roll with it it's good because it's at the end of the day this is also the understanding another factor and I think this is an interesting one I think Imam Malik was conveying the school of Medina as it was being transmitted at times he may have personally disagreed but still transmitted it as what was being transmitted so for example I'm teaching

to you let's say a text right now I'm just teaching the text so if the text says this I'm teaching this but then somebody may ask me what do you think about that though and I say well you know personally on that thing I think we you know you could do this so there is one the imams and this was something which I personally kind of have to like I said for years struggling with this this is what I kind of became comfortable with that I think this may have played a key role in the multiple Transmissions that there was the Transmissions the Imam was giving from Medina as in he was just conveying as a school as in what was being passed down

and there were at times his own understanding which may have you know with some he may have just disagreed and kind of therefore told some students you know personally I think you know it's not so much of a big deal if you do it like this that is one way of reconciling another another thing is the Maliki is really big on Mas on welfare so you can derogate that means you can turn away from the at times based on you can do what they call make exceptions based onak he describes it perhaps the best I

mean I've seen people trying to Define you know this mus thing and to be honest with you I mean I I don't I don't know I don't like the way they've done it but they use words and they do this and they do that and they're not just you know and you understand it okay because you've gone through the whole thing but you think that you could have said this in such an in a much easier way who is a legend by the way he says that he says and he calls it and this is what im Malik is talking about nine T of knowledge

says and that is what the IM Malik and IM Abu hanif both took he says however Imam Abu hanifah where Imam Abu hanifah would sometimes derogate like he would turn make exceptions to the rulings based on what you would say weaker opinions if the situation demanded that like let's say there was an opinion oh I know that this sahabi had this opinion but we don't normally act according to it however here we have you know uh we have the need so let's act according to that

weaker transmission based on the need or like thisas is coming out weak we ain't going to follow that analogy however because of the situation we'll take thatas he says where Imam Abu did that IM Malik did the same but just with masl he said what so that he would do make an exception based on okay so this and you see this becoming so manifest in the school of

Medina as it trans as it continues to flourish so places like Al andalus were amazing examples of stuff like this where they used mus with so you'll see some of the fatawa for example I give you an example example like let's say when you're doing W and you've got a ring and IM Malik was asked that does a person have to remove the ring and he says no and the person says but in one re say uh I believe it's abam that what if it's tight meaning that water may not he says no that based on the mus so you have these type of fwa within

and just because by the way just because they agree on the principle doesn't mean they agree on all of its applications just as we agree upon kasas as a principle the analogy but we don't agree on all the examples don't say all all the analogies that are done we all agree on them just because we agree on the principle so the same thing with Mas so there is the masah of I'm just giving you a few examples like where they've said oh and this is typically transmitted that we a like if there's a wedding and they mention and this is historic actually it's not not now but it's transmitted till now in the books that a woman has spent so much amount of money doing her hair and doing all this

type of stuff this was historically and now if she was to wash her here it would just go to waste so they say like if she need to take H she doesn't have to wash they make an exception based on the Mas that is transmitted in all the books of the Malik so like this you will see several cases where mus is at Play so the in fact this whole maid what we hear now you know what's trending nowadays this maid is a Maliki thing nowadays everybody's jumped on board but their M actually doesn't doesn't speak of they don't have this type of because maid is actually based

on it's based on you making exceptions based on because of the now the other Ms initi apart from the humble did have it right but the other mabs didn't in fact Imam Shafi was the most harshest against this he said you you guys are just making your own Dean that's why his answer was to this he said whoever does this might might as well just have his own Dean in other words the had it but not like the Malik not based on so you can see how large and this would have been and this is where you

see sometimes some some wo some f within the m and where is it coming from it's coming from this angle of this ties into our last question why the school of Medina for us that was first of all why the school this these were this was the personality behind it this and prior to that what the school was but why today why for us and that's not so lengthy of a response first of all you are allowed to choose any school that you please and expands upon that in his

explaining a person can follow any school of law he pleases and he can even just follow it based on the fact that he likes that IM there's no you don't have to like somebody say first of all let me learn this maab learn all the reasoning then I'm going to learn that one then I'll make a comparison what on Earth are you on about I mean that doesn't even make sense what you're saying that's like somebody saying should I become a lawyer should I become a doctor I know first of all let me become a lawyer and then I'll become a doctor and then I'll choose that doesn't even make sense what you're saying like so the thing is you can you can make these choices based on anything however what stands

out and makes this relevant is the fact that How Deeply rooted the maab is in Sunnah how the maab is the school of Medina with that transmission how the maab has been so key so big on Mas on welfare the maab has also been one of the most emphatic Ms on on custom and Convention on that is that he plays a role and the other don't get me I mean the other mabs accept that as well but one of the most emphatic mabs on that has been the

malikia so when you see all of this and then the diversity it has been in fact in my understanding the only school of law that has had so many sub schools which have totally not only not tolerated welcomed each other and the diversity so for example you will have multiple opinions in the maab and the maab is cool on people although it does for obviously historically for for strategic purposes it would teach a particular way but it would honor all the descents it wasn't about shunning them if a person chose that they chose

it it wasn't a control freak maab at all because people sometimes times need Liberty they need that type of Freedom they don't want to be and you know like oh they don't want to feel like incarcerated or feel like the and that's what this me did and one of the greatest things as well for us it has had European precedent for almost seven centuries and I know the Hani maab as well in Eastern Europe however the people of al-andalus it was much more integrated Within the indigenous context

so it was very like you know harmonious with its with its type of settings with with the non-muslims that were with them with this whole thing and alus is an awesome um I mean it's just such a resource for us whether it's its history or its lessons or it's F so all of these things I would say make it very key for us today it helps us tackle issues like issues of identity it helps us tackle things like issues of perspective and rights whether you know we're in a day and age where people are uh you know they're attacking Islam Islam doesn't recognize human rights Islam doesn't

recognize what is it rights for women rights for the elderly rights for this rights for that we find that this maab is much more malleable it's much more agile and flexible in catering other MBS I mean they're not like complet they're not like disempowered either but they more rigid on certain things so this is why I feel for us today it so when people ask me sometimes and people have said look why are you so why are you overdoing it with this this whole you know School of Medina thing right like somebody said to me once you know if you call people to Islam as

opposed to calling them to this uh you know so many more people would be Muslim today because you managed to to take this m to so many people you have taken the dean you see the thing is this is that outlook on The Dean this is the dean once this is the dean actually presentable to people as it should be presented remember because we don't have nobody has a monopoly of the dean the dean when it came to places like India and Pakistan it didn't come as that Arabian type of thing that people of India Pakistan had an IND indigenous type of

culture people in Pakistan we sh they don't wear THS walk around in thls don't walk around with that Saudi type of thing on or this type I'm not saying there's a problem with that but they don't do that they had their indigenous type of thing they've kept their culture till today they're very strong on it wherever this went if you look at the masjids in China that were built hundreds of years they look like pagodas if you look at the andalusi masjids that were built they resemble almost the churches

people were very if you you know these paintings of the old um andeli Kings see how some of them used to dress you'd be shocked actually you think it was like resembling like a Christian monk of that era because that was the way that they saw I don't know their type of style to be for royalty or whatever if you look at them in the mugal of India they dressed like the Persians and had that whole obviously spoke Persian they believed to be of that descent so the thing is Islam has this about it so if if somebody is presenting a very harsh view of Islam to

people or a particular View and because of that people are leaving Islam then you are doing Islam a service by presenting this perspective which is not only a more pure and pristine perspective as as fair enough as maybe I or we believe but because it also so is palatable to the people the prophet said talk to people in accordance with their intellect do you want Allah and his Messenger to be denied people today say you know what I can't be look they see this as a light

switch effect either on or off can I look like that mie over there I can't look like that so okay so clearly I can't be practicing it's an unof effect we are in a day and age where image is everything image is everything in our day and AG just as language was everything in the time of the Prophet Sall alhi wasallam and his surroundings image is everything we have a pathetic image and we're all part of it but I mean I'm not saying this in a as a criticism but as a critique as in something to reflect

upon people when they look at something they look at its image and let's face it people don't want just certain people as their leaders they feel embarrassed thereby they distance themselves from the message all of a sudden somebody wants to hear something on Islam we get a budbud uncle gets on the you know but people what the hell is this does he represent you uh uh damn doesn't represent me so do you see this this point somebody come and they're so

you know I don't know so out of shape and they so like this and it's so bloody you know just out of it and they know whether it's going to be just little basic etiquette of presentability well the smallest of things that breath could sting to the God knows what what these type of things have a huge impact why did the prophet Ali wasam emphasize so many things about etiquette it was for a reason the miswak with every Salah that this the that I'm just saying perfume why the prophet emphasized this there was a reason that these things have a role they have an impact way you talk to people impact people sometimes we have an array of

opinions to go with we have this opinion in Islam this opinion this opin and we have this within sometimes the Maliki M we have so the point is sometimes some opinions will be more compatible with your context this isn't a disloyalty to Islam that is embracing Islam some people no I'm going to be stubborn I'm going to take that opinion I don't care you you don't want it don't take the dean then oh that isn't your call to make you don't own the dean you can't say to people oh you better take this so you you don't take the dean then you if you know it are just in

interested to transmit it now if you cannot see in your wisdom to transmit something which is more palatable and and you see this from the Sunnah that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would do he would engage with people on their level like kind of give them things which would kind of suit them sometimes so you see that the prophet Sall alaihi wasallam is giving an example he's saying okay when he's speaking about the this is Haram this is Haram you can't appro to plant you can't do this you can't do this somebody says you know but we we we use the AR we use this type of plan for says

except that you see in the H perhap somebody comes oh you know I I you know I I forgot to Stone before I stoned I ended up doing the somebody said no I I did the stoning the pelting before I did the the sacrifice somebody you do that don't worry about it don't worry about it don't you this this is what the this is what the Hadith says like in other words is like don't worry about so the point is all of this why is the prophet here comes a Here Comes This Woman to complain to the prophet Sall alaihi wasallam about her husband right mainly disu here today so oh I've got some women otherwise

wouldn't be able to get away with this one but she no she comes to complain and she says oh you know he does this does this and and you know what and you know it's interesting even back then see because even when people want to pull one over the other person they get all religious isn't it you know what it is doesn't even do his you know like this when does that you know I'm not trying to be obviously it's very important as a Muslim but when does it really bother people the way people kind of they make the dean the the what they're going to gain leverage with oh you know what is this person is not very Islamic that that didn't bother you before you know the point is that look so all of a sudden this new type of you

know frustration so anyway this woman comes and she says oh you know you doesn't do this doesn't let me doesn't let me fast doesn't let me do oh and it doesn't even wake up for sub tells the this is saf this she says Prophet summons him calls him says Ah you know you say this and he says yeah because of this and he answers there three complaints he says she says you don't wake up for the pro and look he says to the prophet Sall alai wasallam he says

says says we are a people we don't get up till after sunrise Prophet Sall alaih wasallam looks at him and he says when you wake up then pray he could have said that which is between us and Them is Salah whoever leaves has committed he could have said to him that oh oh when you sleep and then the shaan urinates in your ear and this and this he could have said that he could have said but he responds to saying

look when you wake up pray that is prophetic wisdom that is the true sunah in being able to understand your situation because do not ever let the message be compromised over what is like a string of the fabric like and I'm not and I don't mean in any way to undermine in case anybody takes that context undermine Salah what I'm trying to say is that you can't sometimes get a masah somebody you know like and I've had this on a few occasions where people have said look I can never accept this musine F oh I

can't accept had some people say i' once oh you know I can't accept this I'm really questioning Islam now I don't know I can't really be a Muslim like this so okay you don't accept the Fig don't accept it then I like so let me get this right you're saying now because this musah don't make sense that the world doesn't have a Creator you got to remember M are based on the interpretation of men like you and me great men but still men it's not sometimes we're not talking about you know constitutional things like Allah is one and stuff like that we're talking about M somebody says oh

why is this like this oh and and you get a lot of around or stuff like this or some especially on and people you tell look you teach it but where people struggle you have to recognize nobody's perfect we all have our problems anywhere and this is one of the great things really about in my understanding what the school of Medina reflects this Spirit of the sun with that people inshah I'll conclude I think we can take some questions we