Sharia

"Islamic law" redirects here. For other uses, see Islamic law (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Saria, Shara, Shariyah, or Shahriyar.
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Sharia,[a] Sharī'ah, Shari'a, Shariah or Syariah (Arabic: شريعة, lit. 'path (to water)') is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition[1][2][3] based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith.[1] In Islamic terminology sharīʿah refers to immutable, intangible divine law; contrary to fiqh, which refers to its interpretations by Islamic scholars.[4][5][6]

Sharia, or fiqh as traditionally known, has always been used alongside customary law from the very beginning in Islamic history;[7][8] has been elaborated and developed over the centuries by legal opinions issued by qualified jurists -reflecting the tendencies of different schools- and integrated and with various economic, penal and administrative laws issued by Muslim rulers; and implemented for centuries by judges in the courts[4][6] until recent times, when secularism was widely adopted in Islamic societies.

Traditional theory of Islamic jurisprudence recognizes four sources for Ahkam al-sharia: the Qur'an, sunnah (or authentic ahadith), ijma (lit. consensus) (may be understood as ijma al-ummah (Arabic: إجماع الأمة) – a whole Islamic community consensus, or ijma al-aimmah (Arabic: إجماع الائـمـة) – a consensus by religious authorities[9]), and analogical reasoning.[note 1][12] Four legal schools of Sunni Islam — Hanafi, Maliki, Shafiʽi and Hanbali — developed methodologies for deriving rulings from scriptural sources using a process known as ijtihad (lit. mental effort).[4][5] Traditional jurisprudence distinguishes two principal branches of law, rituals and social dealings; subsections family law, relationships (commercial, political / administrative) and criminal law, in a wide range of topics.[4][6] Its rulings are concerned with ethical standards as much as legal norms,[13][14] assigning actions to one of five categories: mandatory, recommended, neutral, abhorred, and prohibited.[4][5][6]

Over time with the necessities brought by sociological changes, on the basis of mentioned interpretative studies legal schools have emerged, reflecting the preferences of particular societies and governments, as well as Islamic scholars or imams on theoretical and practical applications of laws and regulations. Although sharia is presented as a form of governance[15] in addition to its other aspects (especially by the contemporary Islamist understanding), some researchers see the early history of Islam, which has been modelled and exalted by most Muslims,[note 2] not as a period when sharia was dominant, but a kind of "secular Arabic expansion".[17][18]

Approaches to sharia in the 21st century vary widely, and the role and mutability of sharia[19] in a changing world has become an increasingly debated topic in Islam.[5] Beyond sectarian differences, fundamentalists advocate the complete and uncompromising implementation of "exact/pure sharia" without modifications,[2][20] while modernists argue that it can/should be brought into line with human rights and other contemporary issues such as democracy, minority rights, freedom of thought, women's rights and banking by new jurisprudences.[21][22][23] In Muslim majority countries, traditional laws have been widely used with[5][24] or changed by European models. Judicial procedures and legal education have been brought in line with European practice likewise.[5] While the constitutions of most Muslim-majority states contain references to sharia, its rules are largely retained only in family law[5] and penalties in some. The Islamic revival of the late 20th century brought calls by Islamic movements for full implementation of sharia, including hudud corporal punishments, such as stoning[5][25] through various propaganda methods ranging from civilian activities to terrorism.


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  1. ^ a b Bassiouni, M. Cherif (2014) [2013]. "The Sharīa, Sunni Islamic Law (Fiqh), and Legal Methods (Ilm Uṣūl al-Fiqh)". In Bassiouni, M. Cherif (ed.). The Shari'a and Islamic Criminal Justice in Time of War and Peace. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 18–87. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139629249.003. ISBN 9781139629249. LCCN 2013019592. Archived from the original on 17 October 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  2. ^ a b "British & World English: sharia". Oxford: Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  3. ^ Dahlén 2003, chpt. 2a.
  4. ^ a b c d e John L. Esposito, ed. (2014). "Islamic Law". The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Vikør 2014.
  6. ^ a b c d Calder 2009.
  7. ^ "Customary law has also been an important part of Islamic law. It was used to resolve disputes that were not covered by sharia, and it also helped to adapt sharia to the needs of men in different societies and cultures." Islamic Law: An Introduction by John Esposito (2019) Esposito, John. Islamic Law: An Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2019. Page 31
  8. ^ "Another key principle that the early Islamic jurists developed was the concept of urf, or customary law. Urf is the customary practices of a particular community. The early jurists recognized that urf could be used to supplement or complement Islamic law. For example, if there was no clear ruling on a particular issue in the Quran or hadith, the jurists could look to urf for guidance." The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Law; Emon, Anver M., and Rumee Ahmed, editors. The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Law. Oxford University Press, 2018. p. 25.
  9. ^ Corinna Standke (30 August 2008). Sharia - The Islamic Law. GRIN Verlag. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-3-640-14967-4. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  10. ^ Dahlén 2003, chpt. 4c.
  11. ^ Schneider 2014.
  12. ^ John L. Esposito, Natana J. DeLong-Bas (2001), Women in Muslim family law Archived 19 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine, p. 2. Syracuse University Press, ISBN 978-0815629085. Quote: "... by the ninth century, the classical theory of law fixed the sources of Islamic law at four: the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet, qiyas (analogical reasoning), and ijma (consensus)."
  13. ^ Coulson & El Shamsy 2019.
  14. ^ Hallaq 2010, p. 145.
  15. ^ "The System of Rule in Islam". 20 June 2010. Archived from the original on 8 November 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  16. ^ Sowerwine 2010, p. 5.
  17. ^ Robert G. Hoyland: In God's Path. The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire (2015)
  18. ^ Patricia Crone / Martin Hinds: God's Caliph: Religious Authority in the First Centuries of Islam (1986)
  19. ^ https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/1699430 [bare URL]
  20. ^ Amanat 2009: "Muslim fundamentalists [...] claim that Shari'a and its sources [...] constitute a divine law that regulates all aspects of Muslim life, as well as Muslim societies and Muslim states [...]. Muslim modernists, [...] on the other hand, criticize the old approaches to Shari'a by traditional Muslim jurists as obsolete and instead advocate innovative approaches to Shari'a that accommodate more pluralist and relativist views within a democratic framework."
  21. ^ An-Na'im, Abdullahi A (1996). "Islamic Foundations of Religious Human Rights". In Witte, John; van der Vyver, Johan D. (eds.). Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective: Religious Perspectives. BRILL. pp. 337–59. ISBN 978-9041101792.
  22. ^ Hajjar, Lisa (2004). "Religion, State Power, and Domestic Violence in Muslim Societies: A Framework for Comparative Analysis". Law & Social Inquiry. 29 (1): 1–38. doi:10.1111/j.1747-4469.2004.tb00329.x. ISSN 0897-6546. JSTOR 4092696. S2CID 145681085.
  23. ^ Al-Suwaidi, J. (1995). Arab and western conceptions of democracy; in Democracy, war, and peace in the Middle East (Editors: David Garnham, Mark A. Tessler), Indiana University Press, see Chapters 5 and 6; ISBN 978-0253209399[page needed]
  24. ^ Otto 2008, p. 19.
  25. ^ Mayer 2009.


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