Malik's Muwatta ("the well-trodden path") is a collection of twoitems: The sayings and deeds of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) (also knownas the sunnah). The reports of the Prophet's sayings and deeds arecalled ahadith. The legal opinions and decisions of the Prophet'sCompanions, their successors, and some later authorities. Malik(full name Malik bin Anas bin Malik bin Abu Amir Al-Asbahi) wasborn in 93 A.H. and died in 179 A.H. He lived most of his life inMadinah, the city in which the Prophet (pbuh) settled in. He was apreeminent scholar of Islam, and is the originator of the Malikijudicial school of thought. He is reputed to have had over onethousand students. During Malik's lifetime, he steadily revised hisMuwatta, so it reflects over forty years of his learning andknowledge. It contains a few thousand hadith.