Malik Ibn Anas was a prominent Islamic scholar born in 711 CE in Medina. He is best known as the founder of the Maliki school of thought, one of the four major Sunni legal schools. His teachings emphasized the importance of the practices of the people of Medina as a source of Islamic law, alongside the Quran and Hadith. Malik was also a respected teacher and had many students, including the famous scholar Imam al-Shafi'i. His most notable work, the Muwatta, is one of the earliest collections of Hadith and legal opinions, reflecting his deep understanding of Islamic jurisprudence.