And people today, the world over, have settled upon five schools, the fifth being the Dawudi (Zahiri) school.

It is therefore a duty for the earnest student of knowledge to ascertain which of these is most deserving of imitation, so that he may adopt it as his own.

Here we shall demonstrate that Mālik—may Allah have mercy on him—is that scholar, for he united within himself all the requisites of leadership and was the most knowledgeable of his contemporaries.

The Qadi then set forth this claim, refined it, and adorned it; yet no follower of Abū Ḥanīfa, al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad, or Dāwūd would be unable to make the very same claim for his own imam. Indeed, that is what he holds in his heart even if he never utters it aloud.

Qadi ʿIyāḍ went on to say: “In our estimation—and praise be to Allah—every one of the imams just mentioned possesses merits that establish his right to the rank of leadership.”(1)

I reply: Yet this imam, who is the guiding star, dealt justly and spoke a decisive word when he said:

“Everyone’s statement may be taken or left, except that of the inhabitant of this grave”—may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

There is no doubt that anyone who senses within himself real jurisprudential skill, breadth of learning, and sincerity of purpose cannot confine himself to a single school in all that he says, for the soundness of another school’s position has become evident to him