Sources

Al-Muwatta

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Al-Muwatta." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://www.divinityatlas.com/sources/al-muwatta.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Al-Muwatta. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://www.divinityatlas.com/sources/al-muwatta

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-al-muwatta,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Al-Muwatta},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://www.divinityatlas.com/sources/al-muwatta},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Al-Muwatta, compiled by the eighth century jurist Malik ibn Anas around 795, is the earliest surviving compilation of Maliki legal tradition, combining transmitted hadith with the settled legal practice of the city of Medina as Malik himself observed and taught it. Its strength is that it is both an early hadith collection and a primary statement of legal method from the founder of one of the four major Sunni schools of law, making it a foundational text for Maliki jurisprudence specifically. Its limit is that it represents one school's early formation and one scholar's judgment about which practices carried authority, so a claim about Islamic law generally, rather than the Maliki position specifically, needs a source that compares it against the Hanafi, Shafi'i and Hanbali traditions rather than treating Malik's compilation as speaking for Sunni law as a whole.

Facts

Assessment

Reliability Tier

Malik ibn Anas's own foundational hadith and legal collection, with no modern publisher of record; the tradition's own primary text rather than a modern critical scholarly edition, hence the tradition's-own-account tier.

Notes

The earliest surviving Maliki compilation, combining hadith with the settled practice of Medina. Cited for the Maliki position.

Citation

Author

Malik ibn Anas

Publication Year

795

Source Type

primary-text

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Sunni

This source names Sunni directly: "the founder of one of the four major Sunni schools of law, making it a foundational text for Maliki jurisprudence specifically."

Source Al-MuwattaMalik ibn Anas

Claims Backed By This Source (38 claims)

This source backs 38 claims across the atlas. As facts: 20 well-attested. As cited relationships: 6 holds, 1 connected, 3 held Differently. Plus 8 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.

Disposition By Topic

Scriptures & Texts, 11 claims: 7 well-attested, 3 holds, 1 general references.
Articles, 9 claims: 6 well-attested, 1 connected, 2 general references.
Sources, 7 claims: 6 well-attested, 1 holds.
Schools of Religious Law, 5 claims: 1 holds, 3 held Differently, 1 general references.
Rituals, 3 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 holds, 1 general references.
Cities, 1 claims: 1 general references.
Hymns & Liturgical Texts, 1 claims: 1 general references.
Practices, 1 claims: 1 general references.