The meaning and scope of Sunnah according to Imam Malik and the practice of the people of Medina

Abstract

There is no dispute that Malik was an Imam in hadith and fiqh and a transmitter of the first rank and a fakih with insight into fatwas and deduction of judgments. It is also well-known that Sunnah and the practice of people of Medina have occupied an important place in Maliki judicial school. The reason for this is that some early and contemporary scholars have criticised Malik inasmuch as he used sunnah in different ways. My concern here therefore, is the terms used by Malik to express the meaning of sunnah and its scope. Particularly, I shall focus on the Muwatta' to scrutinize these terms which were used by Malik by referring to several examples for every usage because in the Muwatta' there are some references to old authorities which describe the Medinese doctrine as sunnah and its meaning. In so doing I shall take Schacht and G.H.A. Juynboll's arguments into consideration as well. Since according to them hadiths are the products of schools of thought which put theirs doctrines under the authority of the Companions. In this paper I shall also study the argument of Schacht that "Old Arabian customary law appears in Malik sometimes as sunnah "use and wont" sometimes it is concealed under the Medina ijma which he ascertains with great care".