4 – Ibn Abī Zayd, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh al-Qayrawānī al-Mālikī

The imām, erudite scholar, exemplar, jurist, and foremost authority of the Maghrib, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī—the Mālikī—who was popularly called “the junior Mālik.”

He was one of those who excelled in both knowledge and practice.

Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ said: “He combined leadership in both religious and worldly spheres; people travelled to him from distant regions; his students became distinguished, and the number of those who received knowledge from him was great. He is the one who produced a concise digest of the school and filled the land with his writings. He studied jurisprudence under the jurists of Qayrawān and relied primarily on Abū Bakr ibn al-Labbād.

“He also studied under Muḥammad ibn Masrūr the barber and al-ʿAssāl, and after performing ḥajj he heard ḥadiths from Abū Saʿīd ibn al-Aʿrābī, Muḥammad ibn al-Fatḥ, al-Ḥasan ibn Naṣr al-Sūsī, Darrās (1) ibn Ismāʿīl, and others.

“A great many people heard from him, among them: the jurist ʿAbd al-Raḥīm (2) ibn al-ʿAjūz al-Sabtī, the jurist ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ghālib al-Sabtī (3), and ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Walīd ibn Saʿd.”