2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCHOOL AND ITS HISTORICAL

PHASES
The Maliki School of Thought went through numerous phases of development from the time of
its founding to its complete maturity. Each of these phases came with its own unique features
that distinguish it from the previous. We can summarize these into three main phases:

1. The Founding and Construction of the School

2. The Development and Expansion of the School
3. The Stability and Continuity of the School.1

2.1 The First Phase: The Founding and Construction of the School (110 - 300 AH)

The founding phase of this school started from the time Imam Malik b. Anas (may Allah have
mercy upon him) assumed his seat to issue Fatwa and gained public acceptance of his leadership,
and lasted until the end of the third century, during which many of Imam Malik’s students and
their students continued to serve the school. Among them was the great scholar of Iraq, Qadhi
Isma’il b. Ishaq (d.282 AH), author of al-Mabsoot, the last of the Maliki Fiqh works to be
authored in this stage.

This phase is distinguished by the verification, collation, and organisation and cataloging of
Imam Malik’s narrations and rulings as well as the juristic rulings of some of his students. The
most important works that were authored in this period, known as the four canonical works, are:

Al-Mudawwanah, al-Wadiha, al-‘Utbiyyah, and al-Mawwaziyah.2

2.2 The Second Phase: The Development of the School (301 - 600 AH)

This phase was overseen by some brilliant Maliki scholars who took the methodology of those
preceding them and drew up substantive laws, applied them, selected the most preferred
positions, and then contributed to them becoming widely known. We can therefore say, the
1
ABU ZAHRA MUHAMMAD, THE FOUR IMAMS- THEIR LIVES, WORKS AND SCHOOLS OF JURISPRUDENCE, p.89-93,
2010
2
HALLAQ WAEL B., A HISTORY OF ISLAMIC LEGAL THEORIES, Pg. 56-61, 1997
school developed in the full sense of the word, from its branching out to the selection and
application of the dominant or preferred positions within the school. This period started around
the beginning of the fourth century Hijrah, and ended towards the beginning of the seventh
century, with the passing away of Ibn Shaas in 610 or 616 AH.

The distinguishing factors of this phase are the importance and inclination put upon the
verification and redaction of the books, as well as compilation of narrations and opinions
preceding this period in time. These works underwent numerous stages of editing, authentication,
verification, evaluation, and summarization, before being arranged according to subject matter of
jurisprudence. In other words, this period represented a deep study and evaluation of the works
from the first phase of the school. Among the most notable summary works of this phase are al-
Tafree’ of Ibn al-Jallab (d. 378 AH) and Tahdheeb al-Mudawwanah of al-Baradhi’i (d. 438
AH).3

2.3 The Third Phase: The Stability and Continuity of the School (601 AH - present

This phase starts at the beginning of the seventh century with the completion of Mukhtasar Ibn
Hajib al-Far’i known as Jami’ al-Ummahat and it continues till the present day. It brought forth
the appearance of many epitomes, commentaries, and super-commentaries usually a sign that
appears when the scholars of a school reach a level of scholarly certainty. Therefore, the
principles and juristic rulings of the scholars preceding them leave no room for personal Ijtihad
(juristic exertion), rather only for the writing of summaries or commentaries.

This phase witnessed a blending of the scholarly opinions held by the independent sub-schools,
fusing into one melting pot. This in turn, resulted in the authoring of books that represented the
main school without prejudice to sub-schools. This consolidated the various scholarly opinions
and helped to dissolve the root differences, except those that came through the individual Ijtihad
of scholars, even within the same juristic school.4

3
SCHACHT JOSEPH, AN INTRODUCTION TO ISLAMIC LAW, p. 68-71 (1982)
4
GOULSON N.J, THE HISTORY OF ISLAMIC LAW , p.72-74, 2003