Ahmad b. Masʿūd al-Maqdisī narrated: Ishāq b. Ibrāhīm al-Ḥunaynī told us that Mālik used to say, “By Allah, whenever I was admitted to one of these rulers—before I even reached him—Allah would have already removed his awe from my heart.”

Harmalah reported: Ibn Wahb narrated to us: I heard Mālik remark, “I know that it is a terrible corruption for a person to repeat everything he hears.”

Hārūn b. Mūsā al-Farwī said: I heard Muṣʿab al-Zubayrī relate that Hārūn al-Rashīd once asked Mālik—while the Imām was in his house and his sons were present—to read to them. Mālik replied, “For a long time I have not read to anyone; people read to me.” The caliph said, “Then dismiss the others so that I may read to you myself.” Mālik responded, “When something intended for the public is withheld for the sake of a select few, even the select will not benefit.” So he ordered Maʿn b. ʿĪsā to recite, and Maʿn read to Mālik.

Ismāʿīl b. Abī Uways said, “I asked my uncle Mālik about an issue. He told me, ‘Sit for a moment,’ then performed ablution, sat on the couch, and said, la ḥawla wa la quwwata illā billāh (there is no might nor power except with Allah). He would not issue a legal opinion until he had uttered that supplication.”

Ibn Wahb said: I heard Mālik declare, “I acquired knowledge only for myself; I did not learn so that people would need me—and that is how people before us were.”

Ismāʿīl the judge said: I heard Abū Muṣʿab say, “Mālik did not attend the congregational prayer for twenty-five years. When he was asked, ‘What keeps you from it?’ he replied, ‘I fear that I might see something objectionable and feel obliged to correct it.’”

Ibrāhīm al-Ḥizāmī narrated to me from Muṭarrif b. ʿAbd Allāh: Mālik once asked me, “What are people saying about me?” I answered, “Friends praise you, but enemies find fault.” He said, “What…"