, and Ibn Sīrīn, al-Shaʿbī, Ibrāhīm, then al-Ḥakam, Qatādah, Manṣūr, Abū Isḥāq, and Ibn ʿAwn; next Misʿar, Shuʿbah, Sufyān, the two Ḥammāds, and multitudes many times their number—may Allah have mercy on them all.

This account was transmitted by al-Ḥākim, from al-Najjād, from Hilāl b. al-ʿAlāʾ, from al-Ṣaydalānī.

The Appearance of Imām Mālik

ʿĪsā b. ʿUmar said, “I have never seen a lovelier whiteness or redness than that of Mālik’s face, nor a garment more brilliantly white than his.”

More than one narrator (1) reported that he was tall, powerfully built, broad-headed, fair-skinned, with hair and beard of gleaming white; his beard was full and he was balding. He did not shave his moustache closely (2), deeming that a form of disfigurement.

It is also said that he had blue eyes; part of this was related by Ibn Saʿd from Mutarrif b. ʿAbd Allah.

Muḥammad b. al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Ḥizāmī said, “Mālik’s clothes were spotlessly clean and finely woven, and he changed them frequently.”

Al-Walīd b. Muslim said, “Mālik used to wear white, and I saw him and al-Awzāʿī both wearing sījān cloaks (3).”

ʿAshhab said, “When Mālik wound his turban, he would pass part of it under his chin and let its end hang between his shoulders.”