Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ said: This is the sound report from Sufyān. It was conveyed from him by Ibn Mahdī, Ibn Maʿīn, Dhuʾayb ibn ʿImāmah (1), Ibn al-Madīnī, al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār, and Isḥāq ibn Abī Isrāʾīl; all of them heard Sufyān interpret the ḥadith as referring to Mālik, or say, “I think it is,” “I suppose it is,” “I take it to be so,” or they themselves held that view (2).

Abū al-Mughīrah al-Makhzūmī remarked that its meaning is: so long as the Muslims continue to seek knowledge, they will find no one more learned than a scholar in Madinah. On this understanding, the scholar would first be Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, then after him those of Mālik’s teachers who survived, then Mālik himself, and after him whoever inherited his knowledge and proved the most learned of his companions.

I say: The scholar of Madinah in his respective era—after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his two Companions—was Zayd ibn Thābit and ʿĀʾishah; then Ibn ʿUmar; then Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib; then al-Zuhrī; then ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar; then Mālik.

Ibn ʿUyaynah said: “Mālik is the scholar of the people of the Ḥijāz, and he is the authoritative proof of his age.”

Al-Shāfiʿī—truthful and accurate—said: “When the scholars are mentioned, Mālik is the star.” (3)

Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār, commenting on the ḥadith “People will beat the flanks of their camels…”, reported that Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, whenever he narrated it during Mālik’s lifetime, used to say, “I take it to be Mālik.” He held that opinion for a time and then recanted, saying, “I take it to be ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-ʿUmari, the ascetic.”

Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr and more than one other scholar said: “Al-ʿUmari cannot be matched with Mālik in knowledge and jurisprudence, even though he was a noble, eminent worshipper.”