KYB: Benchmark in the Hadith tradition: Imām Mālik and his Muwattā.

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About the Class

Islam in one word is ibādat and ibādat is nothing except action with sincerity for Allah in accordance with what the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has brought, that is, the Sunnat. The study of Sunnat is associated with the past and therefore, in contrast to popular Muslim culture, Islam is not about ideas or ideology or emotions or mood but primarily an exercise in learning history (of the Prophet and his successors) accurately and acting based on that.

Today most Muslims try to learn history through one lens, that is, political, but they fail to realise that their ibādat and ākhirat depend more on studying history intellectually and through a faith based lens. That’s why after completing the Forty Hadith of Imām Nawawi by Allah’s grace the School of Hadith at ICN Academy is announcing a unique, comprehensive and critical introduction to the first well organised Hadith work, the Muwattā of Imām Mālik (rahmatullahi ‘alayhi).

This class would take us into the first generation of Islam and introduce us to the beginning of studying the Prophetic Hadith out of deep love for him and his Sunnat. It was done first by his Sahāba and then by their successors and Imām Mālik was the one who preserved this tradition in his magnum opus, the Muwattā. This work did not just preserve its past but impacted every Hadith work that came after it including the great Sahih al-Bukhāri and Sahih Muslim!

The 4 day class will cover the following major themes:

• The field of Hadith in the first century Hijri;
• The city of Madina in contrast to Kūfa and Basra in the first century of Islam;
• Imām Mālik’s position in Muslim history;
• Imām Mālik’s life, family, teachers and students;
• The position of Muwattā in the Islamic tradition;
• Muwattā in comparison to other Hadith works;
• Introduction to the Muwattā as a work that preserves the ‘amal of Madina;
• Imām Mālik’s methodology and the structure of his Muwattā;
• How did Imām Mālik acquire Hadith narrated by Sahāba like ibn ‘Umar, Aisha, Abu Hurayra, Anas (ridwānullahi ‘alayhim);
• The Fiqh of Imām Mālik;
• Muwattā through a critical lens;
• Muwattā and it’s sources in Sahih al-Bukhāri, Sahih Muslim Sunan Abu Dawud and others;

A good part of the class will be based on a detailed study of major narrators frequently occurring in Hadith chains (asānīd) in the Muwattā to prep participants for more advanced Isnād analysis in future classes in sha Allah.

Note: Access to recordings will be provided for 2 weeks after each class. Participants are also requested to install the Telegram app for receiving all the class related resources.