THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAMIC LAW:A CASE STUDY OF MĀLIKI’S RULES ON MUDĀRABAH*

This article examines the development of māliki’s rules on mudārabah between the period of second and seventh century hijri. the examination was executed by analysing five māliki’s legal texts namely al-muwattā’ of mālik (d.179), al-mudawwanah al-kubra of sahnun (d.240), al-kāfi fi fiqh ahl al-madinah of ibn ‘abd al-barr (d.463), bidayah al-mujtahid of ibn rushd (d.595) and al-dhakhirah of al-qarafi (d.684). it was discovered that the text of al-mudawwanah al-kubrā represented the most comprehensive discussion of maliki’s rules on the said subject. the māliki’s jurists after sahnūn did not produce significant new rules on mudārabah but organized the topic systematically. hence, the discussion concluded that islamic commercial law within the māliki’s school reaches its maturity since the third century hijri. the finding implies that the school has a complete legal text nearly two centuries earlier than the shāfi‘i’s.