(a.), lit. a “group (of people)”, or a “host”, or a “crowd”, like d̲j̲amāʿa , ḳawm [q.vv.], nafar , rahṭ , and more generally, “the public”, and hence, fī malaʾ , fi ’l-malaʾ “publicly” (e.g. al-Buk̲h̲ārī, Ṣaḥīḥ , 9 vols., Cairo 1958, ix, 148 = kitāb 97, bāb 15). The word also denotes decisions taken as a result of collective consultation, as in the phrase ʿan [ g̲h̲ayri ] malaʾⁱⁿ minnā “[not] as a result of our consultation” (Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, Musnad , 6 vols., Cairo 1313/1895, repr. Beirut n.d., i, 463). Since collective decisions are usually taken by the leaders of the group, al-malaʾ very often…