Makki al-Qaysi (1) composed a book collecting all that has been transmitted from Mālik on Qur’ānic exegesis and the meanings of the Qur’an. Abū ʿAmr al-Dānī (2) mentions him in Tabaqāt al-Qurrāʾ, adding that he had recited the Qur’an to Nāfiʿ ibn Abī Nuʿaym.
Buhlūl ibn Rāshid (3) said, “I never saw anyone more adept at citing a verse than Mālik, in addition to his mastery of what is sound and what is weak.”
I read to Isḥāq ibn Ṭāriq, who related to us Ibn Khalīl, who related to us Abū al-Makārim al-Taymī—and Ibn Salāmah also transmitted to me from Abū al-Makārim—who said: Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥaddād informed us; Abū Nuʿaym the ḥāfiẓ informed us; Abū Muḥammad ibn Ḥayyān narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAmr narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Kulayb narrated to us, from al-Faḍl ibn Ziyād:
“I asked Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, ‘Who had Mālik beaten?’ He answered, ‘One of the governors, over the question of ṭalāq al-mukrah (a divorce pronounced under duress); Mālik did not consider it valid, so the governor had him flogged for that.’” (4)
With this same chain Abū Nuʿaym said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī narrated to us; al-Mufaḍḍal al-Janadī narrated to us