Anas Ibn Malik

Died circa 700

Companion of the prophet

Source

Servant to the Prophet . With Aisha and Abu Huraira, Anas Ibn Malik was one of the most prolific transmitters of hadiths. When Anas was ten, his mother placed him in the care of the Prophet Muhammad as a servant. At Madinah he lived in close proximity to the Prophet and later passed on to historians much information about daily life in Muhammad’s household, including details such as the household implements and furnishings he had, the clothing he wore, and the food he ate. Anas was present at the Battle of Badr in 624, but, because of his young age, he took no part in the combat. He remained in Muhammad’s service until the Prophet’s death in 632.

Later Life . Anas Ibn Malik later served in the military during the expansion of Islam. He became imam at Basrah, Iraq, a center of hadith transmission, and was involved to some extent in the First Fitna, or civil war (656-661). He died at Basrah around the year of 700, when he was perhaps more than one hundred years old. Since he was close to the Prophet Muhammad and then lived for many years in Basrah, where scholars were actively recording and collecting hadiths, it is natural that many of the traditions Anas related were preserved and passed on. It is also understandable that false traditions were attributed to one so respected as an authority. Hadiths passed on by Anas appear in many hadith collections. Al-Bukhari and Muslim recorded 278 traditions attributed to Anas, and 128 of them appear in both collections; 80 other were recorded only by al-Bukhari, and 70 more only by Muslim.

Source

“Anas Ibn Malik,” in The Alim for Windows, Multimedia Edition, Release 4.5 (Baltimore: ISL Software, 1996).