'I will send it to the horizons and compel them to observe it.' See also: Qadi Iyad, Tarteeb al-Madarik, vol. 2, p. 71. Regardless of the variant readings, the meaning remains the same: Imam Malik ibn Anas asked the Commander of the Faithful—in each version—not to oblige people to follow his Muwatta'. Although reports differ on whether it was Abu Ja‘far or Harun al-Rashid who resolved to impose Malik’s Muwatta', one may reconcile them by noting that the idea was first conceived by Abu Ja‘far but clarified and confirmed under Harun al-Rashid, the foremost of the Abbasid caliphs. He intended to implement it in order to unite the Ummah on a single codification of the Sunnah, but Malik declined out of scrupulousness and fear of losing the many hadith transmitted by the great multitude of the Prophet’s companions—peace be upon him—who were dispersed throughout the lands proclaiming tawhid (monotheism) and spreading Islam. (1) His biography was given above on p. 155. (2) His translation was given above on p. 134. (3) Abu Ibrahim Ismaʿil ibn Yahya ibn ʿAmr ibn Muslim al-Muzani (d. 264 AH), a Shafi‘i jurist from the Muzayna branch of the Kilab tribe, was a learned theologian and debater of high repute. He authored numerous works, notably al-Mukhtasar, later explained by Abu Ishaq al-Marwazi, Abu al-ʿAbbas ibn Suraij, and others listed by Fuat Sezgin in The History of Arabic Literature, vol. 1, pt. 3 (Jurisprudence), p. 159. See also: Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Intiqa, p. 110; and Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-Aʿyan.