in Islām, one of the four Sunnī schools of law, formerly the ancient school of Medina. Founded in the 8th century and based on the teachings of the imam Mālik ibn Anas, the Mālikīyah stressed local Medinese community practice (sunnah), preferring traditional opinions (raʾy) and analogical reasoning (qiyās (qiyas)) to a strict reliance on Ḥadīth (traditions concerning the Prophet's life and utterances) as a basis for legal judgment. Ḥadīth, however, was always applied, though arbitrarily. The Mālikī school currently prevails throughout northern and western Africa, in The Sudan, and in some of the Persian Gulf states.