Ebrahim Al-Muzani mentions, “Once, I performed haj and came to the mubaarak city of Madinah Munawwarah. While I was there, Ismaa‘eel bin Ja’far Al-Khayyaat narrated the following incident to me. He said:

I was once in a situation and I needed to know the Islamic ruling in regard to that situation. I thus went to Imaam Maalik (rahimahullah) and asked him the ruling. Imaam Maalik (rahimahullah) responded, “Give me some time to think over the matter.” I thus departed from Imaam Maalik (rahimahullah) in the condition that I felt that Imaam Maalik (rahimahullah) did not have sufficient knowledge in regard to the mas’alah I had asked. I thought to myself, “This is the man to whom people travel from far and wide to seek shar’ee rulings, yet he is unable to give me an immediate answer to my mas’alah!”