Al-Muwatta of Imam Malik

by Translated by Aisha Bewley and Ya'qub Johnson

Imam Malik lived about 100 years after Muhammad, in the 8th century CE. Perhaps his most well-known book is the Muwatta, which means ‘the well-trodden path’. It’s like survival-kit Islam, if you like – this is the essentials, this is what you have to know. And so you’d find all the great people of knowledge of that time would know both the Qur’an and the Muwatta by heart. It’s not just a collection of sayings, it’s also about action, about behaviour: often he says, ‘This is what the people of knowledge (in Madina) do.’