ABSTRACT
It will be apparent from many examples in the previous chapters that the work of Qurʾanic interpretation was seen by Mālik as a continuing process: it had been begun by the Prophet and continued by the Companions and their Successors, and was still operative in his own time, since not only were new situations always arising, but so too were they always changing, however subtly, and even well accepted judgements might need to be revised in the light of new circumstances. Thus we find Mālik commenting that the verse li-yastaʾdhinkumu lladhīna malakat aymānukum wa-lladhīna lam yablughū l-ḥuluma minkum thalātha marrātin … (‘Let those whom your right hands possess and those among you who have not reached puberty ask you for permission [to enter] at three times …’) (Q 24: 58) no longer applies in the same way as it did before people began using doors and curtains, the implication being that when there were no doors and/or curtains there was no sign of whether or not the occupant of a room wanted to remain undisturbed and slaves and minors (who could normally come and go freely) would have to ask permission before entering at these three times, whereas once doors and curtains began to be used, a closed door or a let down curtain was sufficient indication that no one was to enter without permission. 1 Mālik’s comment must therefore mean not that these people no longer had to ask permission before entering at these three times, but that with the use of doors and curtains there was no longer the same need to ask as there had been before. 2 Nevertheless, as will already be obvious from the discussions on Madinan ʿamal above, the overwhelming tendency in Mālik’s case (and, indeed, the intention behind the Muwaṭṭaʾ) is to preserve the traditional picture with all its peculiarities rather than to try to change, adapt or systematise it in any way.
