The Shaykh’s clarification of Malik’s (may Allah have mercy on him) style in al-Muwatta’ regarding what he conveys by saying: “It was reported to me,” which is known as al-Balaaghat.

The Shaykh : Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) has a style in his book, al-Muwatta’, that he may have been unique in among the authors of the six books and others. This style is that in some hadiths he says: “It was reported to me.” The report may reach him directly from the Prophet (peace be upon him) without him mentioning any part of the chain of narration, or the report may reach him from a Companion, or from a Successor. He may say: “It was reported to me from the Prophet that he said such and such,” or “It was reported to me from Jabir, as in this hadith, that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said such and such,” or “It was reported to me, for example, from al-Zuhri that he said such and such.” The person to whom the report is linked may be from the generation of Imam Malik’s contemporaries, but because he did not hear it from him, he does not say: “I heard so-and-so” or “from so-and-so,” because that would imply a narration from him. However, he states it explicitly and clearly. This is part of Malik’s (may Allah have mercy on him) precision and trustworthiness in narrating hadiths from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He says what he has: “It was reported to me from so-and-so.” He does not have a chain of narration, only a report. So what is the ruling on the reports (balaaghat) of Imam Malik? There is much discussion among the scholars of hadith on this, including those who are extreme, those who are lax, and those who are moderate. Some say: All of Imam Malik’s reports are authentic, and this is a deviation. Some say: All of them, or most of them, are weak and not authentic. Some say: We have found chains of narration for all of them outside of al-Muwatta’, and they are established except for four hadiths. This is the middle position.