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#The Islam Project

What is Shariah? Major Sources and Principles of Islamic Law

Overview: The purpose of this lesson is to familiarize students with the basic outlines of Islamic law, to explain its religious and historical importance in Muslim societies, and to describe the elements of the Shari’ah system of reaching a decision and the role of the Muslim jurist in the process and outcome.

Objectives:

The student will:

• identify Islamic law as a religious and historical system of determining right action for Muslims
• identify the primary sources of Islamic law as the Qur’an and Sunnah (example of Muhammad)
• describe several major principles involved in reaching an Islamic legal decision
• define terms related to Islamic law, such as Shari’ah, fiqh, ijtihad, and fatwa
• explain the qualifications of a Muslim jurist in terms of his or her authority, personal and social responsibility, and the branches of knowledge they are required to master
• explain the appearance and significance of the major schools of law in Muslim society

Procedure:

1. As a pre-lesson activity, ask students what they know about religious and other legal systems in various faiths and countries. Students may mention Roman law, Justinian law, Napoleonic Law, English Common Law, as well as Canon Law and Jewish law. Ask them what they know about Islamic law, especially any terminology that they may have heard, such as Shari’ah, fatwa, or mufti. Ask who they think makes Islamic law, and what authority those persons have. The purpose of this pre-lesson activity is to find out what background knowledge, prejudices, or impressions they bring to the study of this complex subject. It might be useful to ask if anyone has a relative in the law or studying law, and what impressions they have about the difficulty of the subject.
2. Read Handout 1a: "What Is Islamic Law and How Does It Work?" Have students answer the questions at the end of the reading, then discuss them as a class.
3. Use Handout 1b to review the terminology discussed in the reading, matching the phrases with their meanings and placing them in the correct categories.
4. Distribute Handout 1c: "How Does a Muslim Jurist Reach an Opinion?" and follow the directions on the handout. The purpose of the chart is to reinforce the information on Islamic law in terms of the sources, the jurist, the process and the product, and to identify these parts.

Sources:

Irshad Abdal Haqq. "Islamic Law: An Overview of Its Origin and Elements," The Journal of Islamic Law and Culture, 7:1 (Spring/Summer 2002), pp. 27-82.

Khalid Blankinship, "Politics, Law and the Military" in Douglass, S.L. ed. Rise and Spread of Islam: 622-1500 CE. Farmington, MA: Gale, 2002.

N. J. Coulson. A History of Islamic Law. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1964.

Vincent Cornell, "Religion and Philosophy," in Douglass, S.L. ed. Rise and Spread of Islam: 622-1500 CE. Farmington, MA: Gale, 2002.

Handout 1a: What is Islamic Law and How Does It Work?

Shari’ah, or Islamic law. is the "centerpiece and backbone of the religion of Islam." It is based on the Qur’an, which Muslims believe is the revealed book of God given to Muhammad over 23 years, ending in 632 CE, and the Sunnah, or example of the Prophet Muhammad, whom Muslims believe was divinely guided. The Hadith, which are sayings of Muhammad and provide information about the Sunnah, were recorded in the two centuries after Muhammad’s death in authenticated hadith collections. Islamic law prescribes Muslim behavior in every aspect of life from private matters between the individual and God to relationships with others from the family or the widest community. The Shari’ah contains categories and subjects of Islamic law called the branches of fiqh (literally, "understanding"). They include Islamic worship, Family relations, Inheritance, Commerce, Property law, Civil (tort) law, Criminal law, Administration, Taxation, Constitution, International Relations, War and Ethics, and other categories.

What are a Muslim jurist’s qualifications and authority? Muslim jurists have been known by different titles. Fuqaha are the class of Muslim scholars who dealt in theoretical Islamic law, or fiqh. As for practicing or implementing the law, a judge (qadi ) serves in a court, while a mufti gives legal responses (fatwa ) to people’s questions.

The basis for respecting a judgment in Islamic law is the jurist’s ability to carefully apply knowledge to theory and practice. In order to be qualified to interpret the sources of law, a jurist had to master many branches of knowledge. A Muslim jurist had to know the Qur’an and the hadith, and how to interpret these sources. This required a thorough knowledge of the Arabic language and its grammar. Other disciplines such as logic, history and general knowledge as well as specialized areas like commerce or international relations might be important in deciding specific cases. Knowing the history of the law and the schools of law, their differences and legal precedents (decisions of other jurists in the past) are just a few of the many areas that a jurist had to know about.

Muslim jurists were scholars with specialized professional training, but their authority was very limited. There is no clergy or priesthood in Islam, and no central authority hands out final judgments. The source of a Muslim jurist’s authority comes only from their recognized knowledge—not from the government, not from a central religious authority, and certainly not from a claim to divine right. Any Muslim consulting a jurist on some matter is responsible for following his or her own conscience in deciding on a course of action based on the jurist’s advice. The jurist is also responsible to his own conscience and bears a large responsibility because people respect his knowledge. Of course, a Muslim judge appointed to a position in an official court of law does bear the authority of office. Such a judge makes legally binding decisions, which might be appealed to higher courts. Such judges’ rulings, however, are not the foundation of Islamic law, but only its application to specific cases.

How does a jurist reach a decision? An Islamic legal decision is called a hukm. or ruling, such as a judge would make. A jurist’s response to a question from an individual or group is called a fatwa (legal opinion). In order to reach a decision, the jurist goes through a careful process of reasoning. The decision places a given course of action on a spectrum ranging from forbidden to obligatory, as shown in the chart below.