Istilah al-Madhhab inda al-Malikiyya
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- Dar al-Buhuth li al-Dirasat al-Islamiyyah wa Ihya al-Turath
Istilah al-Madhhab inda al-Malikiyya (The Terminology of the School among the Malikis) is a specialized study on the historical and terminological development of the Maliki legal school by Muhammad Ibrahim Ali, former professor of fiqh and comparative jurisprudence at Umm al-Qura University in Mecca . The book examines the evolution of technical nomenclature, authoritative legal literature, and methods of juristic preference (tarjīḥ) from the inception of the school through its late codification .
Composition and Publication
The material of the book was initially composed and published in serial installments across several issues of the journal Majallat al-Buḥūth al-Fiqhiyya al-Mu‘āṣira: the first part on the formative era appeared in issue 15 (1413 AH), the second on the developmental era in issue 22 (1415 AH), and the third on the era of stability in issue 41 (1419 AH) . The author subsequently compiled and unified the three studies into a single volume published by Dār al-Buḥūth li-l-Dirāsāt al-Islāmiyya wa-Iḥyā’ al-Turāth in Dubai in 1421 AH / 2000 CE, followed by a second edition in 1423 AH .
Structure and Content
Drawing upon and synthesizing modern classifications of Maliki historiography—most notably the five-stage model articulated by Muhammad al-Fadil Ibn Ashur—the author organizes the school's historical and terminological trajectory into three principal chronological periods :
- The Inception Period (Dawr al-Nushū’): Encompasses the foundational stage (al-ta’ṣīl wa-l-ta’sīs) initiated by Malik ibn Anas and carried forward by his direct students up to the end of the third century AH . This phase concluded with figures such as Isma'il ibn Ishaq al-Qadi (d. 282 AH), author of al-Mabsūṭ, and was characterized by compiling Malik's transmissions (samā‘āt), opinions, and early compendia, with central focus on the al-Muwatta' and the al-Mudawwana .
- The Development Period (Dawr al-Taṭawwur): Spans from roughly the beginning of the fourth century AH to the end of the sixth or early seventh century AH, concluding with Ibn Shas (d. 610 or 616 AH), author of ‘Iqd al-Jawāhir al-Thamīna . This era covers the processes of deriving subsidiary rulings (tafrī‘), application (taṭbīq), and legal preference (tarjīḥ and tashhīr), wherein scholars systematically refined and organized earlier transmissions using rational and legal-theoretical methods .
- The Stability Period (Dawr al-Istiqrār): Commences in the early seventh century AH with works such as Jāmi‘ al-Ummahāt by Ibn al-Hajib and the Mukhtaṣar of Khalil ibn Ishaq, extending into the modern era . In this period, doctrine settled into authoritative legal manuals and concise reference texts, while legal reasoning operated primarily within established parameters, accommodating custom and emergent societal circumstances .
Methodological Features and Appendices
The work establishes the hierarchy of reliance for legal verdicts (fatwā) and doctrinal transmission across different eras, illustrating how precedence was accorded between the statements of Malik in the Muwaṭṭa’ and the Mudawwana, the transmitted views of Ibn al-Qasim, and other early authorities . The author appended a dedicated bibliography of primary sources to each historical section and included the didactic poem al-Ṭulayḥa by al-Nābigha al-Qalāwī as an appendix, due to its enumeration of authoritative (mu‘tamad) and non-authoritative books within the Maliki tradition based on al-Hilālī's Nūr al-Baṣar .
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