MALIKIYAH

also called Madhhab Malik, English Malikites in Islam, one of the four Sunni schools of law, formerly the ancient school of Medina. Founded in the 8th century and based on the teachings of the imam Malik ibn Anas, the Malikiyah stressed local Medinese community practice (sunnah), preferring traditional opinions (ra'y) and analogical reasoning (qiyas) to a strict reliance on Hadith (traditions concerning the Prophet's life and utterances) as a basis for legal judgment. Hadith, however, was always applied, though arbitrarily. The Maliki school currently prevails throughout northern and western Africa, in The Sudan, and in some of the Persian Gulf states.