Maliki school

The Sunnah and Hadith, or prophetic tradition in Islam, played lesser roles as Maliki jurists viewed both with suspicion, and few were well versed in either.

[15] The Almoravids eventually gave way to the predominantly-Zahiri Almohads, at which point Malikis were tolerated at times but lost official favor.

[citation needed] Although Al-Andalus was eventually lost, the Maliki has been able to retain its dominance throughout North and West Africa to this day.

[16] While the majority of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia follows Hanbali laws, the country's Eastern Province has been known as a Maliki stronghold for centuries.

[3] Although initially hostile to some mystical practices, Malikis eventually learned to coexist with Sufi customs as the latter became widespread throughout North and West Africa.

[17] The Maliki school's sources for Sharia are hierarchically prioritized as follows: Quran and then widely transmitted Hadiths (sayings, customs and actions of Muhammad); `Amal (customs and practices of the people of Medina), followed by Ahad Hadith, and then followed by consensus of the Sahabah (the companions of Muhammad), then individual opinion from the Sahabah, Qiyas (analogy), Istislah (interest and welfare of Islam and Muslims), and finally Urf (custom of people throughout the Muslim world if it did not contradict the hierarchically higher sources of Sharia).

This is because Mālik regarded the practices of Medina (the first three generations) to be a superior proof of the "living" sunnah than isolated, although sound, hadiths.

Mālik was particularly scrupulous about authenticating his sources when he did appeal to them, as well as his comparatively small collection of aḥādith, known as al-Muwaṭṭah (or, The Straight Path).

[2] The example of Maliki approach in using the opinion of Sahabah were recorded in Muwatta Imam Malik per ruling of cases regarding the law of consuming Gazelle meat.