# Why did Imam Malik never leave Madinah?

*Malik's love for the Prophet and for Madinah*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vhqvm47pns0/s/11/
- Date: 2023-03-10 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: The Legendary Imam Malik Ibn Anas | Mufti Abu Layth (46:44–49:58)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhqVM47pNS0&t=2804s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vhqvm47pns0/

**Topics:** Imam Malik; The Maliki school

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Out of love for the Prophet, Malik held Madinah above Makkah, never left it except once for Hajj, and would not wear shoes or ride near the Prophet's mosque.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the Maliki school holds Madinah to be more virtuous than Makkah, while the other schools disagree.

**Evidence, his words at 47:22:** “in the Maliki method we consider Medina to be more virtuous than Makkah the other methods disagree” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhqVM47pNS0&t=2842s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says Malik had a bewildering love for the Prophet and would not tolerate disrespect, reprimanding a man who joked about the Prophet's cloak. He says Malik declared Madinah, the Prophet's resting place, the most virtuous place on earth, above Makkah, a view the Maliki school holds while the other schools disagree. He says Malik left Madinah only once, for Hajj, trading through intermediaries because he wanted to die there. He says Malik walked barefoot and refused to ride in the streets near the mosque because the Prophet had walked there, which was his own love, not a ruling he imposed on others.

## Sources and names cited

- Imam Malik
- Madinah
- Makkah
- Maliki school

## Transcript (machine tier, 46:44–49:58)

[46:43] felt he felt once somebody cracked a joke about um something about the prophet's cloak an Imam Malik's reprimanded him that look don't this to us to he said this is the most beloved of people like why are you doing that how could you think that that would be funny to us he declared in Islam that Medina because it's the resting place of the Prophet salallahu alaihi it is the most of the little book it is the

[47:22] most virtuous place on Earth above Mecca that's and such it is in the Maliki method we consider Medina to be more virtuous than Makkah the other methods disagree but the multimeter beholds Medina to be the most virtuous place so and Imam Malik never left madinah ever he on one occasion he went for Hajj and that was it he said that I refuse to leave the city of the Prophet for anything even prayed he he had people working for him he had intermediaries that would bring goods and stock and and he would have it

[48:01] traded in Medina but he would never leave Medina he was asked about that and he said that he said that it's not that I haven't considered it but he says that I always think that I want Medina to be my final resting place and what if death is to reach me somewhere else Allah see that's another kind of love that he had for the prophet and this is why his his mother was the most strict when it came to matters of loving the prophet it was not about a kind of barbarism or anything like this

[48:39] there was just it was a love that's what it was Imam Malik himself never wore shoes in Medina you know in the streets of madin he there he he would wear it around his let's say in his own building in his home and things like this but around the Masjid and those places he would take his shoes off no I don't mean in The Mask I mean the the streets surrounding the area that vicinity and so on because that slightly built a bit more by Imam Malik's time so in those outskirt places fine but as he got closer the vicinity and the streets

[49:18] and the areas he said that this is certainly where the Prophet so he said that I find it just out of his love this is not an Islamic ruling he said that this that this is where the Prophet set foot so I find it just in myself unacceptable to wear shoes not that he he didn't he didn't object to people doing that he refused to ride any uh ride a horse or a you know a mule or a donkey or anything in those parts of Medina out of love for the prophet sallallahu

[49:57] you know this is why well when they tried to torture him they tried to punish him so later on Imam Malik gets into some not trouble but that well there's a Revolution going on and Muhammad enough zakiya's Revolution and we could speak about that another day and Imam Malik he's not fond of revolutions but he implicitly lends some support because people say well look

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment VhqVM47pNS0/s/11. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vhqvm47pns0/s/11/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.