ABSTRACT
Malik b. Anas (c. 94/716-179/795) Mālik's full name was Abū 'Abd Allah Malik b. Anas. He gave his name to the Malikī School of law whose real founders, strictly speaking, were Malik's disciples. He is regarded as one of the great jurists of mediaeval Islam. He knew Abū Hanīfa (q.v.) and also wrote what is considered to be the first major book of law in Islam, The Smoothed Path (al-Muwatta'). Malik is often called the Imam (q.v.) of Medina (q.v.) since he lived, died and spent most of his life there. Malik exercised his own 'opinion' (ra'y (q.v.)) and championed the 'practice' ('amal) of Medina. (See Mālikīs.)
Mālikīs Adherents of one of the four main law schools (madhāhib) of Sunnī (q.v.) Islam, named after Mālik b. Anas (q.v.). The Malikī School of law had its origins in the early Medinan school. The Mālikīs, like the Hanafis (q.v.), recognized supplementary sources of law. Thus the Mālikīs espoused the principle of Istislāh (q.v.). Mālikī law gained a dominance in North Africa as well as the West and Centre of that continent. (See Fiqh; Hanbalīs; Madhhab; Shāfi'īs; Sharī'a.)
Mamlūks Major dynasty of late mediaeval Islam which flour ished between 648/1250 and 922/1517 in Egypt. The Arabic word mamlūk means 'one who is owned', 'a slave', and reflected the origins of the dynasty in Circassian and Turkish slave soldiers. The Mamlūks defeated the Mongols (q.v.) at the Battle of 'Ayn Jālūt. Their rule in Egypt ushered in a golden age of Egyptian Islamic art and architecture. It is commonly divided into two principal parts: the rule of the Bahrī Mamlūks (so-called because of the military quarters on an island in the Nile, this last word being rendered in Arabic as Bahr al-Nīl) from 648/1250 to
al-Ma'mūn
784/1382; and the rule of the Burjī Mamlūks (so-called because the first, Barqūq, belonged to a military regiment housed in the Cairo citadel (al-Burj) ) from 784/1382 to 922/1517. The last really notable Mamlūk sultan, al-Ghawiī (reg. 906/1501-922/ 1516) was overthrown by the Ottomans (q.v.) during their conquest of Syria in 922/1516 at the Battle of Marj Dābiq. Egypt fell to the Ottomans soon afterwards. However, this did not mean the extermination of the Mamlūks: they remained as local beys, rulers and princes under Ottoman suzerainty, fought and were defeated by Napoleon at the Battle of the Pyramids in 1213/1798 and their power base was only definitively and fatally undermined by Muhammad 'Alī (q.v.) in 1226/1811. For a survey of the early period, see Irwin's The Middle East in the Middle Ages: The Early Mamluk Sultanate 1250-1382. For a fictional account of what the last days of the Mamlūks might have been like, before the coming of the Ottomans, see the brilliant novel entitled Zayni Barakat by Gamal al-Ghitani (see back of the Dictionary for full bibliographical details). (See also Art and Architecture, Islamic; 'Ayn Jālūt, Battle of)
al-Ma'mūn (170/786-218/833) The 7th caliph of the dynasty of the 'Abbāsids (q.v.); he ruled from 198/813, taking power after a bloody civil war. He is of particular interest in the development of Arabic and Islamic thought because of his foundation in Baghdad (q.v.) of a philosophy and translation 'House of Wisdom' (Bayt al-Hikma (q.v.)). Al-Ma'mūn also espoused the doctrines of the Mu'tazila (q.v.) and instituted a mihna (q.v.) to ensure public official adherence to the doctrine of a created Qur'ān. (See Ahmad b. Hanbal; Hārūn al-Rashīd.)
Manāf Pre-Islamic deity in ancient Arabia. Quraysh (q.v.), and other tribes like Tamīm (q.v.), had a great devotion to this goddess before the rise of Islam. One of the most notable in preIslam to be named after the goddess was 'Abd Manāf (q.v.).
