Ibn Saʿd said, “Mālik was trustworthy, firmly grounded, an authoritative proof, learned, and God-fearing.”

Ibn Wahb declared, “Had it not been for Mālik and al-Layth, we would have gone astray.”

Al-Shāfiʿī stated, “Nowhere on earth is there a book of knowledge more accurate than Mālik’s Muwaṭṭaʾ.”

I observe: He said this before the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections (of al-Bukhārī and Muslim) had been compiled.

Khalid ibn Nizzār al-Aylī reported: “When al-Manṣūr arrived in Medina, he summoned Mālik and said, ‘People in Iraq have differed; compile a book on which we can unite them.’ So Mālik produced the Muwaṭṭaʾ.”

ʿAbd al-Salām ibn ʿĀṣim said, “I asked Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, ‘A man wishes to memorize the hadith of one particular scholar—whose narrations should he learn?’ He replied, ‘Let him memorize the hadith of Mālik.’ I then asked, ‘And whose legal opinion should he adopt?’ He answered, ‘The opinion of Mālik.’ ”

Ibn Wahb narrated: “Mālik’s sister was asked, ‘What occupied Mālik when he was at home?’ She replied, ‘The Qur’an codex—recitation.’ ”

Abū Muṣʿab said: “People used to crowd at Mālik’s door until they fought from the crush, and when we were with him no one turned to anyone else; we sat with our heads bowed like this. The rulers themselves were in awe of him. He would simply say ‘No’ or ‘Yes,’ and no one dared ask him, ‘On what basis did you say that?’ ”

Abū Ḥātim al-Rāzī related: ʿAbd al-Mutaʿāl ibn Ṣāliḥ—one of Mālik’s companions—told us: “Someone said to Mālik, ‘You visit the ruler, yet they oppress and act unjustly!’ He replied, ‘May Allah have mercy on you; then where is the one who will speak the truth to them?’ ” (1)