Historically, in the general context, the lands of al-Maghrib after the introduction of Islām, were in agreement with the methodology of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah, with the exception of the Khawārij insurrection in the second century Hijrī. The Mʾutazilah movement soon followed this and then the proselytizing of the Shīʿah, which were all connected to the respective existing political situations. However, it is observed that throughout this time the general ideological disposition of the Islamic al-Maghrib, because of its adherence to the Mālikī madhhab was characterized by its following (the Sunnah [Prophetic traditions]) and the absence of religious innovations. This is due to the fact that the majority of the people of the Islamic al-Maghrib practised Islām consistent with the madhhab of Imām Mālik, which was the madhhab of the Salaf as it relates to their affirmation of the evident meaning of the religious texts; especially those related to the Attributes of Allāh without making taʾwīl (distortions), or removing them from the framework of their linguistic connotations. At the same time, they avoided making any likeness between Him and His creation or attributing to Him attributes befitting to the creation. This is the madhhab of Mālik and the madhhab of the Māliki Imāms and it is the madhhab of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah in regards to the Tawḥīd (Oneness) of Allāh’s Names and Attributes.[1]
[1] Masāʾil al-ʿAqadīyah allatī Khālafa fīhā Fuqahāʾ al-Mālikīyah Aʾimmati al-Madhhab al-Mutaqaddimūn, (pg.34), Muqqdimah Qānūn al-Taʾwīl, Muḥammad Ibn ʿAbdillāh Ibn al-ʿArabī, (pg.37)
