[1] In 178 AH he traveled to Egypt to study under other pupils of Malik, who died before Sahnun had the financial means to reach them.
Later on he continued to Medina and studied under other prominent scholars, returning to North Africa in 191 AH.
The Encyclopedia of Islam states:Hitherto, in the multiple circles of scholarship, representatives of all tendencies were able to express themselves freely in the Great Mosque of Kairouan.
In a process amounting to a purging of the community of scholars there, Sahnun put an end to this "scandal".
Sahnun was one of the greatest architects of the exclusive supremacy of Sunnism in its Maliki form throughout the Muslim West.