Ma Rawahu al-Akabir an Malik li Muhammad ibn Makhlad
- Author died
- 331 AH
- Editions
- Mu’assasat al-Rayyān
Ma Rawahu al-Akabir ‘an Malik (What Senior Figures Narrated from Malik) is a specialized hadith tract compiled by the Baghdadi hadith scholar Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Makhlad al-Attar (d. 331 AH / 943 CE), collecting traditions transmitted from Imam Malik ibn Anas by elders, peers, and prominent contemporaries .
Subject and Content
The work belongs to the genre of hadith literature concerning transmissions of elders and seniors from younger or contemporary scholars (riwāyat al-akābir ‘an al-aṣāghir) . Ibn Makhlad collected transmissions where figures of senior standing or generational priority related reports on the authority of Malik ibn Anas . Among the transmitters represented in the tract are Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, Sufyan al-Thawri, Hammad ibn Zayd, Ibrahim ibn Tahman, Warqa', Abd Allah ibn Wahb, Ashhab ibn Abd al-Aziz, and Hammad ibn Abi Hanifa .
Methodology and Critical Reception
In his assessment of the work, the hadith scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Mu'allimi noted that Ibn Makhlad did not make authentic transmission (ṣiḥḥah) a strict prerequisite for inclusion in this tract, but rather recorded what had reached him through available narrations . Al-Mu'allimi addressed controversies regarding certain chains within the book—such as the chain through Hammad ibn Abi Hanifa from Malik—analyzing defects and textual variants in the transmission and highlighting that inclusion among senior transmitters does not by itself establish the reliability of a narrator .
Transmission and Modern Editions
Manuscripts of the tract are preserved in Damascus at the Zahiriyya Library (including collection no. 98 and a second codex), bearing multiple historical audition certificates (tasmi‘āt) and notes in the hands of hadith transmitters .
The work has been published in modern editions, including:
- An edition edited by Awwad al-Khalaf, published by Mu’assasat al-Rayyan in Beirut in 1416 AH in a single volume .
- An edition edited by Ibrahim ibn Sharif al-Mayli, published by Dar al-Saqqa in Damascus in 1416 AH / 1996 CE .
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