For other commentaries, see Sharh al-Muwatta.
Part of a series on Hadith collections
Sunni six major collections (Al-Kutub al-Sittah): Shi'a collections:
Ibadi collections:
The Al-Muwatta (الموطأ) is an early collection of hadith of Muhammad that form the basis for the jurisprudence of Islam. It was compiled and edited by Imam Malik. The Maliki school is popular in North Africa. The book covers rituals, rites, customs, traditions, norms and laws of the time of Muhammad. The bulk of the book pertains to non-legal areas like Hajj, sacrifice, intercourse etc. This makes it valuable beyond law, for studying historical sociology of Arabs, for example.

Sahih al-Bukhari Sahih Muslim al-Sunan al-Sughra Sunan Abi Dawood Sunan al-Tirmidhi Sunan Ibn Maja/Al-Muwatta
Nahj al-Balagha
"The Four Books" (Al-Kutub Al-Arb'ah)
Kitab al-Kafi of Kulainy Man la yahduruhu al-Faqih of Shaikh Saduq Tahdhib al-Ahkam by Shaikh Tusi al-Istibsar by Shaykh Tusi al-Jami' as-Sahih by al-Rabi' ibn Habib
Tartib al-Musnad by al-Warijlani
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal — 780-855 Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah — 923
Sahih Ibn Hibbaan — 965
Al-Mustadrak alaa al-Sahihain — 1014 Mawdu'at al-Kubra— 1128-1217 Riyadh as-Saaliheen — 1233 - 1278 Mishkat al-Masabih - 1340
Talkhis al-Mustadrak — 1274-1348 Majma al-Zawa'id — 1335-1405 Bulugh al-Maram — 1372-1449 Kanz al-Ummal — 1500th Zujajat al-Masabih - 1960
Minhaj us Sawi — 2003
The book of Sulaym ibn Qays — 600th Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya — 678-713 Wasael ush-Shia — 1600s Bihar al-Anwar — 1600s Haqq al-Yaqeen — 1600s Sharh Usul al-Kafi — ?-1081 Nahj with comments — ?-1258
Authenticity
Due to the importance of the Al-Muwatta to Muslims it has often been accompanied by commentaries, mostly by followers of the Maliki school but not exclusively.
A Sheikh from Egypt he wrote a commentary in 4 volumes on the Al-Muwatta that is extremely popular due to its simplicity. it is considered to be based on three other explanations of the Al-Muwatta; The Al-Tamhid and Al-Istidhkar of Yusuf ibn Abdul Bar, as well as the Al-Muntaqa of Abu Al-Walid Al-Baji (another famous Maliki scholar of Spain).
A famous scholar of Hadith and a Maliki jurist from Andalusisa. He wrote 2 commentaries upon the Al-Muwatta each running into over 20 volumes. The first was named Al-Tamhid, and was organized according to the narrators which Malik narrates from, and includes extensive biographical information about each narrator in the chain. The second was entitled Al-Istidhkar and was more of a legal exegis on the hadith contained in the book than a critical hadith study as was the case with the former. It is said that Al-Istidhkar was written after Al-Tamhid, as Ibn abd al Bar himself alludes to in the introduction. However, through close examination it is apparent that the author made revisions to both after their completion due to the cross referencing found in both.
Yusuf ibn Abdul Bar also wrote a number of other important works such as the Kitab al-Kafi in Maliki jurisprudence and the 'Jami bayan al-Ilm' on the classification of knowledge.
A famous Sheikh from Egypt who although followed the Shafi school wrote a small commentary to the Al-Muwatta.

Sharh al-Muwatta
Al-Jaza al-Masalik by Muḥammad Zakarīyā al-Kāndahlawī
Sharh al-Muwatta al-Malik by Muhammad al-Zurqani.
Abu Al-Walid Al-Baji (mentioned above)
Yusuf ibn Abd-al-Barr
Imam as-Suyuti