The true Shari'ah

Assalaamu alaikum [Peace be to you],

Alright, today I'd like to talk a little about one very important Islamic principle called Shari'ah:

What is Shari'ah?
الشريعة Shari'ah, or Islamic law, is the "centerpiece and backbone of Islam." It is based on:
- the holy Qur’an, the revealed word of the God given to his final prophet and messenger Mohammed -peace be upon him-,
- the Sunnah, or example of the life of Prophet Mohammed -peace be upon him- and the Hadith, which are sayings of Mohammed and provide information about the Sunnah, they were recorded in authenticated hadith collections.

But Shari'ah differs in one very important and significant way to the legal traditions of the Western world: Shari'ah prescribes Muslim behavior in every aspect of life from private matters between the individual and the God to relationships with others from the family or the widest community. Shari'ah includes worship, Family relations, Inheritance, Commerce, Property law, Civil law, Criminal law, Administration, Taxation, Constitution, International Relations, War and Ethics, and other categories... Shari'ah rulings have been developed to help Muslims understand how they should lead every aspect of their lives according to God's wishes.

the Arabic word Shari'ah literally means 'way of water' or 'source of water'– the source of life – and signifies the way to The God, as given by the God. It is the Way which encompasses the totality of man’s life. The Shari'ah is the source of life in that it contains both legal rules and ethical principles.


Human actions according to Shari'ah:
According to Shari'ah law, all human actions can be divided into the categories of:
فرض Fard or واجب Waajib - obligatory actions: those which a Muslim is required to perform; any action that you earn a reward for performing, and earn a punishment from abstaining from.
مستحب Mustahab- devotional and ethical virtues: those actions a Muslim is encouraged to perform, the non-observance of which, however, incurs no liability; any action that you earn a reward for performing, and earn nothing from abstaining from
مباح Mubah - permissible actions : those in which
a Muslim is given complete freedom of choice; any action you earn nothing from performing, and earn nothing from abstaining from.
مكروه Makrooh - abominable actions: those which are morally but not legally wrong; any action you earn nothing from performing, and earn a reward from abstaining from.
حرام Haram - prohibited actions: all those practices forbidden by Islam. any action you earn a punishment from performing, and earn a reward for abstaining from.


So how are rulings made?
Like any legal system, Shari'ah is complex. Scholars spend decades studying the Qur'an, the Sunnah and the law and, as with Western law, an expert on one aspect of Sharia is by no means the authority on another. Islamic jurists issue guidance and rulings. Guidance that is considered a formal legal ruling is called a Fatwah.
The recognized primary sources of Islamic law are the Qur’an and Sunnah. In matters that were not clearly spelled out in these sources, Muslim jurists developed other methods of finding a solution to a question:
إجماع IJma': or Unanimous consensus means that after making public a judgment about a matter of law, jurists found general agreement with it, and no jurist made sound legal arguments against the ruling.
قياس Qiyas: or Analogy means using logic and reasoning to apply a known law to a new situation not covered in the original law. As an example of analogy, Islam forbids Muslims to drink wine. Jurists have applied this prohibition by making an analogy to other intoxicating beverages like whiskey and beer, as well as drugs such as opium. They stated that the Islamic sources gave as the reason for prohibiting wine that it intoxicates. Thus, other intoxicating substances were also prohibited by analogy.


Purpose of Shari'ah:
The Islamic Shari'ah is not merely a collection of do's and don'ts, nor just a code of criminal laws prescribing punishments for certain crimes. Though it does contain both, its sweep is much broader and deeper, encompassing the totality of person's life.
Early Muslim scholars have looked at the question of why Allah revealed the Law. Some Muslim scholars of jurisprudence said that Allah revealed such a legislative system or Shari’ah in order to achieve Justice. Other jurists said it is for the purpose of achieving happiness. And still some others said it is only for the achievement and the realization of the very benefits of man on earth.
A closer look at these three approaches to Shari’ah shows that they complement each other: happiness of mankind cannot be achieved at large without justice, and justice is one of the essential benefits and interest of people on earth.



I hope this was beneficial for you


for more reading about Shari'ah:
The Islamic Sharia - An Overview [link]
SHARIAH: THE WAY OF JUSTICE [link]



Peace be to you