This is a research on the importance of Shari`ah law to Muslims and would be grateful for any assistance with the following questions:
Why is Shari`ah law so important to Muslims, both today and throughout history?
How important is it that Shari`ah law is adapted to new situations?
Could Shari`ah be described as central to the Islamic way of life?
First, lets start by saying that in modern times Shari`ah was inaccurately translated as “Islamic Law”. This portrayed Shari`ah as merely a collection of laws and regulations. Perceiving Shari`ah as such has produced great confusion in regards to its importance in Islam. The importance of Shari`ah can be seen through the meaning of the concept. The word shari`ah literally means a waterway that leads to a main stream, a drinking place, and a road or the right path. From this meaning, the word shari`ah was used to refer to a path or a passage that leads to an intended place, or to a certain goal. The importance of Shari`ah is evident in the denotations of the literal meaning. Water is life for everything, Shari`ah is life for the Muslims’ souls and a way of life for them. On the other hand, Shari`ah, conceptually, refers to a set of rules, regulations, teachings, and values governing the lives of Muslims. However, these rules and regulations, contrary to how they are often described by many non-Muslims, cover every aspect of life. Shari`ah embraces worship, morals and conduct, as well as it embraces the political, social and economic as well as other sphares.
Muslims believe that the purpose of their creation in nothing but servitude [being servants to the creator of mankind]. They also believe that without the guidance of Allah (God) no one will meet this purpose. Therefore Allah sent messengers and prophets with teachings, values, rules and regulations to guide mankind to His way, the right way. The first step in the fulfillment of the servitude mission is the complete submission to Allah, which is Islam. The second step is following the guidance of Allah, which is the Shari`ah. In other words, accepting Islam as a religion and the adherence to the Shari`ah as the guidance. Hence, the importance of the Shari`ah is its central role in guiding Man to the right way, whereby the mission of creation can be fulfilled. The Shari`ah, therefore, is a path - set by Allah for those who accept Him - to follow, in order to attain success both in the worldly life and in the hereafter. Thus, to live in Islam is to live according to the Shari`ah, and ignoring the Shari`ah or even any part of it, deliberately, is ignoring Islam itself. Muslims have to adhere to the Shari`ah and observe its teachings throughout their lives. In regards to the second part of your question, concerning the Shari`ah’s adaptation to new situations, this particular issue is related to a major characteristic of Islam, which is its validity in every time and space. This characteristic is due to the fact that Islam is the final message and Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, is the seal of prophethood. Thus, in order to guide mankind to the path of Allah, the Shari`ah has to be applicable in every place and in every time.
Many non-Muslims, however, think that the Shari`ah is mainly a collection of fixed ancient laws that belong to a time other than ours. On the contrary, Muslim scholars agreed on the fact that applying the Shari`ah requires two essential types of understanding.
These two types are; understanding the sources from which the rules are derived, the Qur’an and the Sunnah (the traditions of the prophet), and understanding the reality in which these rules are applicable. Hence, the application of the Shari`ah is not in a vacuum; rather it is in a reality that is changeable due to time and space
Dear Muslims who have been completely brainwashed by Western ideas and dogmas. In his response to the posed question, the eminent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, states the following: “The important matter that I would like to stress here in this context is that we should not give those who are irreligious any chance to violate the boundaries regarding certain religious matters that are firmly established in Islam such as penalties. Those well-established matters are considered the core of the practical, intellectual and creedal unity of the whole Muslim Ummah. They also act as a safety valve for the whole Ummah, in the sense that they protect the Ummah from being led astray and roaming about aimlessly in the darkness.
Hence, it is not allowed for us Muslims to show any leniency towards those who tend to turn that which is well-established and certain into a mere possibility, who tend to alter that which is clearly-defined into a doubtful matter. The aim of those irreligious people is to bend religion in a way that serves their own whims and according to what their Satan dictates. Those people have gone to extremes to the extent that they blatantly criticize the fixed Islamic rulings such as male and female shares of inheritance. Those misguided people cudgel their brains in finding out lame arguments that tend to give both males and females equal shares of inheritance. This clearly indicates that those people labor under the handicaps of ignorance which makes them unaware of the fact that it’s the nature of woman to be maintained and cared for by man, even if she is a career woman. She is also maintained by her son, husband, brother, father, etc., irrespective of whether she is poor or rich. Man also has to bear certain financial burdens that are not levied on women such as paying the nuptial gift or mahr, catering for female relatives, while women in return get married and take the nuptial gift, and have to be maintained by a male member even if she is very rich. Those misguided people press forward in their erring track claiming that the pigs, whose meat is strictly prohibited, according to the Qur’an, are poorly-nourished pigs. On the contrary, today’s pigs are duly cared for, and hence there is a far cry between the two. Following the same vein, those misguided people tend to subject religion to a certain form that best suit people’s whims but not vice versa.
Allah Almighty says: “And if the Truth had followed their desires, verily the heavens and the earth and whosoever is therein had been corrupted. Nay, We have brought them their Reminder, but from their Reminder they now turn away.” (Al-Mu’minun: 71) There is a final word we would like to direct to those who stand full square behind absolute progress, and want Islam to adopt everything man deems as progress. Why don’t you Islamize that progress instead of urging Islam to literally adopt your line of action?! It stands to reason that Islam was revealed to rule and not to be ruled, to guide and not to be guided. How come do you equate between the ruler and the ruled, the guide and the follower? Allah Almighty says: “Is it a judgment of the time of (pagan) ignorance that they are seeking? Who is better than Allah for judgment to a people who have certainty (in their belief)?” (Al-Ma’dah: 50)” Shedding more light on this issue, we'd like to cite for you the following: “The Shari`ah is for all times to come, equally valid under all circumstances.
The Muslim insistence on the immutability of the Shari`ah is highly puzzling to many people, but any other view would be inconsistent with its basic concept. Those who advise bringing it into line with current thinking recognize this difficulty. Hence they recommend to Muslims that the ‘legal’ provisions in the Qur’an and the concept of the Prophet as law-giver and ruler should be ‘downgraded’. But, as the manifestation of Allah’s infinite mercy, knowledge and wisdom, the Shari`ah cannot be amended to conform to changing human values and standards, rather, it is the absolute norm to which all human values and conduct must conform; it is the frame to which they must be referred; it is the scale on which they must be weighed. Categorization of Precepts: As we have already seen, the claim that the Shari`ah is eternal and all-embracing does not in any way imply that every issue for all times to come has been decided.
The mechanism through which the Shari`ah solves a problem posed by an unspecified, new or changing situation can be best understood in the framework of the categorization of its norms and rules and the role it gives to human reason in the form of Ijtihad (personal reasoning).
The code of behavior and conduct laid down by the Shari`ah divides human acts of heart and body into the following five categories:
1- expressly prohibited (Haram);
2- expressly enjoined (Wajib or Fard);
3- disliked but not prohibited (Makruh), hence permissible under certain circumstances;
4- recommended but not enjoined (Mandub), hence no obligation to comply;
5- simply without any injunction or opinion, and hence permitted through silence (Mubah).
It is not commonly realized what a great blessing has been imparted to the Shari`ah by this categorization: it enables the Shari`ah to accord a vast expanse and degree of latitude to individual choice, freedom and initiative under varying human circumstances. Things which are prohibited or enjoined are few and a major part of man’s day-to-day life falls in the mubah category. Still more important and revolutionary is the principle that, in matters of worship, in a narrow sense, only what has been expressly enjoined or recommended, and nothing else, is obligatory or desirable; while, in matters of day-to-day life, whatever is not prohibited is permissible. This closes the door for any religious vested interests to impose upon Allah’s servants additional burdens and duties in the name of Allah as has so often been done in history; but at the same time it keeps wide open the options for resolving new problems. Permanence and Change: The role of human reason in the Shari`ah, exercised through understanding and interpretation, ijtihad and consensus, provides it with a built-in mechanism to meet the demands of any changed human situation. The complexities of life and the novelty of the situations which the Muslims faced within fifty years of the Prophet’s death bore no comparison to the simple life in Madinah.
Yet the Shari`ah successfully coped with all the situations, not only in that period, but for more than a thousand years afterwards, indeed, till the Muslims fell under the political subjugation of the Western powers. This in itself is living testimony to its vitality and inherent capability to face any challenge. What is important to understand is that none of what is stable and permanent in the Shari`ah is of a nature as to need change. Where changes are necessary due to newly-emerging situations the Shari`ah has laid down broad principles only and left its adherent to work out the details. Where it has chosen to be specific there is in reality no need for change. Again, it is only the changed human situations which the Shari`ah caters for, and not for changes in primary and essential values and standards:
the divinely-given values and standard are final.” Excerpted, with slight modifications, May Allah guide all of us to the straight path and direct us all to that which pleases Him, Ameen.
How can one deduct the basis of the aspired harmony between the Shari`ah and modern legislation in a way that goes in line with the current structure of modern civilization and modern society?
Dearbrothers and sisrers, , i implore Allah Almighty to help us serve His cause and render my work for His Sake.
The Qur’an, which is the main source of Islamic legislation, contains the most important rules of international law concerning peace, war and treaties. In addition, one of the basic features of Islamic Shari`ah is that it is flexible and suitable for all times and places.In an attempt to furnish you with the answer to your question, we would like to cite for you the following fatwa issued by the late Sheikh Jad Al-Haqq `Ali Jad Al-Haqq, former Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, in which he states the following:
There is no doubt that the main sources of the Shari`ah are the Qur'an and the Sunnah in addition to the consensus of Muslim scholars (’ijma`) and the personal judgment of Muslim scholars in conformity with the prescriptions of the Qur’an and the Sunnah (ijtihad). There are different types of religious texts: General definitive texts such as Allah's saying: (O ye who believe! Fulfill your undertakings) (Al-Ma'idah 5: 1), (…and (He Almighty) hath not laid upon you in religion any hardship) (Al-Hajj 21: 78), (Squander not your wealth among yourselves in vanity) (An-Nisaa' 4: 29), special definitive texts such as the verses stating the regulations of inheritance and those prohibiting riba (usury), adultery, drinking alcohol drinks and gambling. There are also other types of sources such as the consensus of Muslim scholars on such matters as the annulment of the marriage of a Muslim woman to a non-Muslim and the responsibility of the husband for his wife's maintenance.
Moreover, the prescriptions of the Sunnah are also considered religious texts such as the saying "prohibition by fosterage is tantamount to prohibition by lineage".In this framework, rulings governing life activities, administrative, economic, commercial and criminal codification are all derived from the previous sources as long as they abide by the general rules of the Islamic legislation. However, there is not a chance now to cite the verses of the Qur'an that state or refer to legal rules in various branches of law.The Glorious Qur’an contains the most important rules of international law concerning peace, war and treaties. For instance, it contains the rule of reciprocity in addition to the rules governing the POWs and the necessity of declaring the annulment of a treaty even if it is unjustified. In this respect, a Muslim jurist says, "Honoring commitments without deception is better than reciprocal deception".In the Glorious Qur'an, there is a call for peace and for reconciling disputing parties as well as deterring aggressors. Moreover, there is a call for equality and resorting to reason, evidence and amicable debate in order.
Moreover, the prescriptions of the Sunnah are also considered religious texts such as the saying "prohibition by fosterage is tantamount to prohibition by lineage".In this framework, rulings governing life activities, administrative, economic, commercial and criminal codification are all derived from the previous sources as long as they abide by the general rules of the Islamic legislation. However, there is not a chance now to cite the verses of the Qur'an that state or refer to legal rules in various branches of law.The Glorious Qur’an contains the most important rules of international law concerning peace, war and treaties. For instance, it contains the rule of reciprocity in addition to the rules governing the POWs and the necessity of declaring the annulment of a treaty even if it is unjustified. In this respect, a Muslim jurist says, "Honoring commitments without deception is better than reciprocal deception".In the Glorious Qur'an, there is a call for peace and for reconciling disputing parties as well as deterring aggressors. Moreover, there is a call for equality and resorting to reason, evidence and amicable debate in order to arrive at what is right.
The Qur'an also states that men and women are equal concerning competence and preserves a woman’s right to freedom of expression in addition to preserving her individual liberty so that it does not dissolve to her husband's custody as it is the case in most Western laws which we unfortunately try to imitate. The Qur'an also contains general rules of civil transactions, the codes of civil and criminal evidence, the rules governing marriage and divorce. It also settles the matters related to the rights of the spouses both during marital life and in case of divorce, in addition to stating the rights of offspring, parents and relatives. The Glorious Qur'an also gives definitive penalties for crimes threatening the state security, while there are other crimes in which those in charge have discretion to set down penalties, these are actually open to ijtihad (personal judgment) and are liable to amendment and alteration according to the advancement of time. That is what is meant by the famous saying that Shari`ah is suitable for all times and places. That is because its flexibility makes it vivid .Moreover, there is no objection whatsoever to resorting to custom and traditions provided that they do not contradict a definitive text in the Qur'an or Sunnah or a previous consensus of Muslim scholars concerning a certain matter.
For instance, when the Islamic state expanded, `Umar ibn Al-Khattab made use of the experience of the Persian and Roman as regards secretarial works in addition to their system of levying taxes. He even employed them to carry out these tasks and to train Muslims to do them. Therefore, we can copy things that do not contradict the principles of Islam.In fact, the authoritative books on fiqh or Islamic jurisprudence, with the opinion of all the renowned jurists, deal with the problems of our society in a way that goes in line with the spirit of our age without any harshness or violation of the general and special Islamic definitive rules. These rules must be the main reference for all codifiers and reformers instead of importing foreign rules alien to our traditions. If we really do so, we will find that our Islamic legislation is compatible with the contemporary civilization and guides the society safely towards peace and security and preserves our religion and traditions so that Allah may be pleased with us, for He made us the best nation on earth when He says, (Ye are the best community that hath been raised up for mankind; ye enjoin right conduct and forbid indecency, and ye believe in Allah.) (Aal `Imran 3: 110)
Dear muslims, As-Salamu `alaykum waramatullahi wabarakatuh. I would be very glad if you kindly respond to this sensitive issue: It relates to the ongoing accusations levied by the west against Islam and the Shari`ah. In western modern culture Islam is presented as a particularly violent and cruel religion, its law is termed as barbaric. That’s why we hear many uproars being stirred nowadays by the western media against Islam. I would like you scholars to enlighten us on the significance of Islamic criminal justice, especially the aspect of punishment.
Dear muslims, we’d like to voice our appreciation for your forwarding this interesting question to us. We pray to Almighty Allah to make our humble efforts, exerted solely for His sake, come up to your expectation. As regard your question, we want to make it clear that human history is plunged into persistent theme of tragedy and ruin due to man’s pursuit of justice without recourse to divine help, refusing to grasp the light of guidance lit for him by the Merciful Lord, Who clearly understands the nature of man, and, thus, has revealed to him the just laws and teachings that will regulate his life and perfect his affairs. However, man will be deprived of this guidance as long as he refuses to obey the Source of guidance, Almighty Allah; man will never find justice no matter how fervently he pursues it, as long as he keeps deviating away from the straight path set for him by the Creator of the Universe. So justice simply lies in man’s obeying Allah by doing what He has laid down as ‘right’ and avoiding what He has laid down as ‘wrong’. It is only Allah who can establish, in perfect manner, mutual rights and obligations and consequent rewards and punishments on the basis of absolute standards of justice.
What is about the way Shari`ah or Islam is perceived by the West is not something eerie or strange, for it reflects the belief held by most Westerners that they are the bulwark of civilization and democracy, and anything beside their ideologies and dogmas are matters of old ages that can no longer be applied in our recent world, even if that matters happen to be laid down by Allah. But it’s our duty as Muslims not to give in to such beliefs, for we are a nation of a unique culture; we are supposed to be leaders, not subordinates; our voices should be raised high, clarifying to the world the true nature of our religion. In this regard, we would like to cite for you the following:
The Qur’an most certainly does prescribe corporal punishment for certain serious social crimes and it does lay down the principle of retribution, or qisas it is very emphatic, too, about the crucial role of the family in human society and therefore insists on assigning different well-defined roles to men and women; and it does lay down many other regulations and laws and expects Muslims to obey the eternally valid injunctions of Allah and His Prophet. But will these and similar provisions of the Shari’ah really plunge society back into darkness?
Are they inhuman and barbaric?
Are they an indicator of Islam’s inability to keep pace with the demands of human progress?
The issues need to be examined seriously to determine the place and values of the Shari’ah and its provisions in the ultimate order of human civilization and happiness. The need for this examination is especially acute in the view of the dogmatic position adopted by the West on these questions. A host of Western writers have said it, and the media continue to harp on the same theme: unless Islam is prepared to relent on these and other legal provisions of the Shari’ah ‘there can and will be no accommodation; only a continuation of Western rejection of Islam’ No apologies or excuses are needed to explain or make acceptable to the West what has been so clearly laid down by the Qur’an and the Prophet in this regard and what has been so consistently accepted and adhered to by Muslims. There should be no place in dialogue with the West for such tortuous, self-deprecating arguments as: ‘Corporal punishment is prescribed but hedged in with such unworkable requirements of evidence that it is virtually impossible to carry it out. Or, at least, it cannot be carried out unless an "ideal" just society is established, when it will in any case become unnecessary’. Why those who advance this specious logic should think that Allah would lay down things which were impossible to practice is not made clear. As if He does not know how to say what He means, and say it clearly! Such excuses are unfair to the Qur’an and the Prophet, and an affront to their wisdom, and at the same time illogical and implausible to the unconvinced. PUNISHMENT: Punishments have always been considered an integral part of the concept of justice. Indeed, a common man would find it hard to think of justice as something very different or separate from rewarding or punishing people according to how well or badly they observe the body of the mutual rights and obligations obtaining in their society.
But if the concept of punishment is universal, the controversies surrounding it are nonetheless intense. We shall now look at some basic Islamic principles concerning punishments. Repentance and Punishment: Punishment in Islam has nothing to do with the notions of atonement, expiation or wiping away of sin. A crime is essentially an act of injustice to one’s own self, a sin against Allah. It can be wiped away only by Allah, and that He does when a person turns to Him, truly repentant and seeking forgiveness. Between man and Allah, therefore, the total emphasis is on repentance, and punishment can be no substitute for it. But a crime is also an act against the social order and in this sphere mere repentance cannot be a substitute for punishment which is a means of protecting and strengthening the society. Part of a Whole: Most importantly, punishments are only a part of a vastly larger integrated whole. They can neither be properly understood, nor successfully or justifiably implemented in isolation. First, law is not the main, or even major, vehicle in the total framework for the reinforcement of morality; it is the individual’s belief, his Allah-consciousness and taqwa - that inherent and innate quality which makes him want to refrain from what displeases Allah and do what pleases Him. Second, justice is a positive ideal which permeates and dominates the entire community life; it is not merely an institutionalized means of inflicting punishment. Third, and consequently, a whole environment is established where to do right is encouraged, facilitated and found easy and to do wrong is discouraged, inhibited and found difficult. All men and women are enjoined, as their foremost duty, to aid, exhort and commend each other to do good and to avoid evil. Functional Nature: Penalties in Islam are more of a functional nature, to regulate and deter. Allah has laid down a body of mutual rights and obligations which are the true embodiment of justice. He has also laid down certain bounds and limits to be observed and maintained for this very purpose. If men and nations desire to move in peace and safety on the highways of life, they must stick to the ‘traffic lanes’ demarcated for them and observe all the ‘signposts’ erected along their routes. If they do not, they not only put themselves in danger, but endanger others. They therefore naturally make themselves liable to penalties –not in vengeful retribution – but to regulate the orderly exchanges in man’s life in accordance with justice. It is a significant contribution of Islam that these penalties are called hudud (literally referred to as ‘boundaries’) and not punishments: they are liabilities incurred as a result of crossing the boundary set by Allah.
An important consequence of these hudud having been laid down by Allah, and not by man, is that it is beyond human authority to reduce or supercede them out of a sense of mercy greater than that of Allah; nor can a tyrant or autocrat add to them out of a greater sense of strict justice, for no one can be more merciful or wiser or more just than Allah himself. Another important function which these punishments serve is educative, and thus preventive and deterrent. The Qu’ran alludes to this aspect when it describes them, (as exemplary punishment from Allah…) (Al-Ma’idah 5:38). Punishments are thus designed to keep the sense of justice alive in the community by a public repudiation of the acts violating the limits set by Allah. They are expected to build up in the society a deep feeling of abhorrence for transgression against fellow human beings, and therefore against Allah - a transgression which, according to the Qur’an, is the root cause of all disorders and corruption in human life.
RETRIBUTION (QISAS): Apart from punishments for transgressions like extra-marital sex, theft, libel and drinking, the Qur’an also provides for the principle of qisas – retribution. When a person causes physical injury or harm to a fellow human being, Islam gives the injured party the right of equal requital – the well-known principle of ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’. This procedure is persistently labeled by critics as primitive and uncivilized. In the Islamic view of history, it is worth pointing out, what is primitive has never been necessarily uncivilized. The first man was given all necessary knowledge and guidance, and though he may have been technologically backward compared to the twentieth century, he definitely was not humanly backward. Uncivilized is what man thinks and does in deviating from the divine order. In the eyes of the Qur’an ‘in retribution (qisas) lies the source of life for you’. The reasons are obvious. First, the right of retribution belongs to individuals, not society or the state; this simple shift in responsibility results in a profound and far reaching change in the whole system of implementing justice. The state does not have to intervene every time two human beings are involved in a dispute. Thus, instead of starting an irreversible process of trial and punishment, it leaves the ground open for settlement between individuals, without interference by impersonal bureaucratic machinery, though under no circumstances can the individual take the law into his own hands. The injured person in his turn may forgo his right to retribution by forgiving, or may agree to accept a monetary or token recompense instead. The Qu’ran, in fact, highly recommends the act of forgiving. Thus, under qisas punishment is avoidable without burdening the executive or judiciary with the dilemma of whether to exercise mercy. As against a court which must act according to law once a case is brought before it, an individual is free to act as he wishes. Justice has to be blind, but an individual may take circumstances into account, and suspend judgment in the hope of being forgiven by Allah in the hereafter. Very few realize hat the principle of qisas even allows capital punishment to be avoided.
MERCY AND LENIENCY: Having prescribed punishments and imposed strict and meticulous, though not impossible, conditions of evidence, Islam has built in a whole range of principles and precepts which reflect not a frenzied desire to flog and stone but a compassionate urge to avoid and eschew. Islam does not allow either the state or individuals to spy upon people unless well-founded suspicion exists that a crime is being committed or a fellow human being’s rights or interests are in jeopardy. Nor is it obligatory to report every crime. Where possible, settlements outside court are preferred. The punishment is swiftly over; the guilty man and his family do not have to live with the kind of lengthy public stigma that they would have had to endure in the case of a prison sentence at the end of a trial. The imposition of divinely prescribed hudud enhance, and not diminish, the individual’s dignity and stature in society and before Allah.
ALLEGED CRUELTY: As to the alleged cruelty of physical penalties, one wonders if to deprive a man of his freedom -- his most precious and valuable possession – and his right to act and continue to make moral choices , to live with his family, to work and support them is not more cruel. Indeed, a prison term can inflict untold misery on innocent people whose lives are intertwined with the life of the prisoner. Prison becomes a school for hardening criminal behavior and a breeding ground for recidivism. Why should it be considered more cruel for a man found drug trafficking to be given ten lashes than to be sent to languish in prison for, say, ten years.
REFORM SYNDROME: Why does Islam want to punish and not reform? The question is fallacious, for in Islam every institution of society is value oriented and owes a responsibility towards the moral development of every person from the cradle to the grave. Reform is therefore a pre-crime responsibility and not a post-crime syndrome and nightmare. Islam makes every effort to ensure that inducement to commit crime is minimal. Once the crime is committed, the best place for reform is in the family and in society, where a criminal is to live after punishment, and not in a prison where every inmate is a criminal; unless of course a society considers itself to be more corrupt and less competent to effect reform than a jail! Against this, the ‘modern, enlightened’ approach is to provide every inducement to crime by building a society based on conspicuous consumption; to make society, education and every other institution ‘value – free’ and then to try to reform a criminal by segregating him and keeping him in a prison.
CONCLUSION: The Shari’ah is an integrated homogenous whole. Once one understands its basic concepts, objectives and framework, one cannot but conclude that it is capable of creating the most human and just society, a peace and blessing for mankind. Difficulties only arise when critics try to measure the ocean of divine knowledge, wisdom and justice with their own thimble of pedestrian criteria and standards. Today’s Muslim societies are not model societies — they are infested with ills and evils – yet the comparatively stable family life, absence of delinquency, low crime rates, much greater freedom from drugs and alcoholism, warmth of brotherhood, generosity and mutual aid and help.
