Imaam Abu Malik (R.A)

Abu Abdullah, Malik bin Anas (R.A) was the Second Imaam of Fiqh.

He was born in Medina Shareef in the year 93 AH (715 AD). His ancestral home was in Yemen, but his grandfather settled in Medina after embracing Islam.

Imaam Malik's followers and disciples developed a Fiqh school based on his books which came to be known as the Maliki School of Thought.

Malikis are mostly found in North and West Africa, - Tunis, Algeria, Morocco and Egypt.

Imaam Malik (R.A) was a very pious man, of independent character. He gave unbiased decisions and never bowed to political authorities.

Imaam (R.A) spent 55 years in the study of Fiqh and Hadith. He was regarded as the most authentic scholar of Hadith and Hadith literature.

Imaam (R.A) once live on herbs and roots for 3 days, he had to sell the beams of his house in order to pay for his education.

He (R.A) used to say that “one cannot attain the heights of intellectual glory, unless faced with poverty. Poverty is the real test of man; it awakens in him the hidden energies and enables him to overcome all difficulties”.

Sheikh Suyuti (R.A) has given a list of ninety-five Sheikhs from whom Imaam Malik (R.A) learnt Hadith and Fiqh. He himself said: “I did not start to give lectures in Fiqh and Hadith until I was declared eligible to do so by seventy teachers of Hadith and Fiqh.”

Imaam Malik (R.A) Passed away in 179AH and is buried in Janath ul Baqi, Madina Shareef.