The first substantial and carefully sifted collection of had…
The first substantial and carefully sifted collection of hadith was made by Malik Ibn Anas, who lived in Umayyad times and worked mostly in Medina. His name is given to the school of jurisprudence that he founded, the Mâliki school. Malik was a descendant of a companion of the Prophet and was in a good position to preserve authentic materials from Muhammad’s time. His greatest work is the Muwatta’ (“beaten path”), which contains traditions of the Prophet, legal decisions of the early Muslim jurists, and reports of the companions.