What is Shari’ah?

What is Shari’ah?
Presented by
Mufti Abdul Waheed
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Course Content
1. Introduction
2. Definition of the Shari’ah
3. Branches of the Shari’ah
4. Shari’ah and Fiqh
5. Classifications of injunctions
6. Features of the Shari’ah
7. Sources of the Shari’ah
8. Maqāsid of Shari’ah
9. Misconceptions of the Shari’ah
10. Conclusion
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1. Introduction
What is there to fear about the Islāmic Shari’ah?
Islām is the most misunderstood religion
Orientalist academics mostly question the
historical development of the Islāmic Shari’ah
Law.
Shari’ah is a complete way of life, not just law
based. A heavenly divine, not man made
legislation
Context always matters
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Ibn al‐Qayyim al‐Jawziyyah states;
“Islām will always stand for justice and any path
that is taken towards justice is bound to be in
harmony with the Shari’ah and can never be
against it.”
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2. Definition of Shari’ah
 Literal:
‐Watering place, path, broad way, pathway to seek
salvation
Technical:
‐ What Allāh the Almighty has prescribed unto
mankind through the medium of the Qur'ān and the last
and final Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (saw).
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3. Branches of the Shari’ah
Belief
‐ Attributes of Allāh, Prophets, revelation, unseen & eschatological matters
Worship
‐ five pillars, spirituality, meditation, devotion, contemplation
Commercial Transaction
Social conduct
‐Family life, respect of parents, niebhours, society and so forth
 Moral conduct
Honesty, integrity, clemency, compassion, charitable, forgiveness and so on
Political Islām
‐ legal punishments, administration of land, protection of the boarders and so on.
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4. Shari’ah and Fiqh
Fiqh
‐ Literal: To understand and discernment
‐ Technical: a) Knowledge of the legal rules of the Shari’ah
pertaining to conduct with their detailed evidence.
‐ b) Knowledge of the practical rules of the Shari’ah
Distinction between Shari’ah and Fiqh
‐Shari’ah is divine and fiqh is corpus juris developed by jurists
‐ Shari’ah is infallible but fiqh is fallible
‐Shari’ah in immutable but fiqh is mutable
‐ Fiqh is guided by Shari’ah
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5. Classifications of Injunctions
Fardh – Obligation
‐ Fardh Ain: individual obligation e.g. Salah, Zakat and so on.
‐Fardh Kifayah: communal obligation e.g. funeral preparation, scholarship and so forth.
‐ Wajib: a status below Fardh
Sunnah
‐Emphasised and non‐emphasised
Optional
‐ Nafl and Mustahab
Mubah
Haram
Makrooh
‐Tahreemi and Tanzeehi
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6. Features of the Shari’ah
 Justice
‐ To place things in their rightful places where they
belong
‐ Justice is determined by Allāh the Almighty, not by
humans
‐ no discrimination between colour, racial background or
gender; all equal before the law
‐Ihsan and sincerity
Not individualistic or totalitarian
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Consideration of Public interest
‐ Gives priority to human welfare over human liberty
‐ The larger interests of society take precedence over the
interests of individual
‐ Secures and promotes benefit and dismisses hardship and
corruption
‐ A smaller harm is tolerated to avoid a bigger harm, not
vice‐versa
‐ A smaller benefit will be sacrificed to attain a larger
benefit, not vice versa
Not to over burden the Mukallaf (legally
commissioned person)
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The Qur'ān
‐ Also known as Hudā (guidance), Bayān (declaration),
Nur (light), Dhikr (reminder), Habl‐Allāh (rope of Allāh),
Balāgh (conveyer of message) and Shifā (remedy).
 Contains historical accounts, legal injunctions, signs for
contemplation, eschatological matters; paradise and Hell, day
of judgement and so on.
 500 verses relate to Ahkam.
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Renowned Mufassiroon
 Companions
‐ Abdullah ibn Abbas, Abdullah ibn Mas’ood, Ali ibn Abi
Talib, Ubayy ibn Ka’b, Zaid ibn Thabit, Abu Musa al‐
Ash’ari and Abdullah ibn Zubair.
Other Scholars of Tafseer
‐Mujahid ibn Jabs (d.94 A.H), Tawus ibn Kausan (d.106
A.H), Qatada as‐Sadusi (d.117 A.H), Isma’il as‐Suddi
(d.128 A.H) and as‐Zamakhshari.
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 Sunnah
‐ Literal: a way, a path
‐Technical: sayings, actions and tacit approvals of the
Prophet (saw).
 Serves as a supplementary and commentary for the
Qur'ān.
 Obedience to the Messenger is tantamount to the
obedience to the Creator
 The Messenger of Allāh (saw) was also a legislator.
 Classifications of reports
‐Tawatur, Mashoor and Khabr Wahid.
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The various manners of transmitting Hadeeth;
‐ Verbal teaching
‐Writing Hadeeth
‐Practical demonstration
Grading of Hadeeth was determined by a
critical assessment of each transmitter in the
chain.
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Prolific narrators amongst the companions;
‐Abu Hurairah, Abdullah ibn Abbas, Ummul Mu’mineen
A’isha, Abdullah ibn Umar, Anas ibn Malik, Abdullah
ibn Mas’ood and Abu Sa’eed al‐Khudhri
Scholars who rendered great service in
preservation of Hadeeth;
‐Sa’eed ibn Musayyab, Urwah ibn Zubair, Salim, Nafi, Ibn
Shihab az‐Zuhri, Abdullah ibn Mubarak and the authors
of the six canonical books of Hadeeth.
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 Ijma
‐ literal: determination and resolution
‐Technical: The consensus of Mujtahids from the Ummah
of the Holy Prophet (saw) after his death in a determined
period upon a legal ruling.
Consultation with knowledgeable people on legal
matters was initiated by Abu Bakar.
All of the legal schools accept Ijma as a Shar’ee
source though they differ in the conditions.
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Qiyas (Analogical deduction):
‐Literal: Estimation and measuring
‐Technical: Transferring of a ruling from the precedent to
the subsidiary (new case) on the basis of a common
underlying cause existing between them both Asl & Far’a
The Messenger of Allāh (saw) himself enacted
Qiyas when necessary and so did the
companions after him.
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Conditions for the validity of Qiyas;
‐Only to be resorted when the legal ruling is not found
in the Qur'ān or Sunnah
‐It does not conflict with the Islāmic principles.
‐The underlying cause (llah) to be from the Qur'ān or
Sunnah.
The process of which the jurist exerts all his
intellectual ability to arrive to a legal ruling is
known as Ijtihad.
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Other disputed procedures of Ijtihad
‐Istihsan (juristic preference)
‐Istishab (presumption of continuity)
‐ Istislah (public interest)
‐Urf and Adat
‐ Sadd adh‐dhara’i (blocking the means)
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Imam Ghazali (ra) states;
“What we mean by Maslaha (Maqāsid) is the
preservation of the ends (and goals) of the
Shari’ah”
It is predicated upon securing the benefit for
the individual and community and averting
what is Harmful.
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 The three classifications of objectives;
1. Dharoorat (Absolute Essential)
‐ preservation of the five absolute essentials i.e. religion, life,
intellect, progeny and wealth.
2. Hajiyyat (Necessity)
‐ seek to remove the hardship ensuring the smoothness of the
primary essentials. This category protects and facilitates the above
five essential
3. Tahsiniyyat (Embellishment)
‐It seeks to attain refinement and purification of the primary
essentials e.g. apply fragrance, to bath, dress well, optional charity
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a. Protection of Religion
Establish places of worship
Freedom of other faiths to practice their
religion and construct places of worship.
Permissibility to engage in healthy dialogues.
Allowing minority faiths to set up their court
systems
Permissibility of armed struggle to defend the
religion
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b. Protection of Life
Human sanctity [17:33]
Providing the basic living necessities
‐Food, shelter, clothing, medication.
Capital punishment
‐To deter murder and genocidal act [2:179]
‐ Overrules rehabilitation [5:32‐33]
‐ Victims family can forgive if they want to [2:178]
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c. Protection of Intellect
To seek knowledge is a religious obligation
‐Able to distinguish between right from wrong
‐ Studying to become a religious scholar is Fardh ul‐kifayah
(communal obligation)
Muslims’ invaluable contribution towards
civilization
Prohibition of anything that clouds or
damages the mind e.g. intoxication [5:90]
‐ Legal punishment to preserve the mind
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d. Preservation of the Progeny
Family unit is the foundation for a healthy
society.
‐Marriage serves an integral aspect in Islām [4:3]
‐ Compassion, affection, love and mercy in marital
relationship [30:21]
‐ Moral upbringing of children
Punishment prescribed for the fornicator to
preserve the progeny [24:2]
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e. Protection of Wealth and Property
Business made permissible [2:275], in order to
earn a lawful living.
To spend on lawful things
To give in charity to support the destitute
people
Prohibition of cheating, exploitation and
deceiving.
Punishment of theft and misappropriation of
other people’s wealth
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f. Preservation of Honour
Every human is sanctified By Allāh [17:70]
Presumption of innocence until proven guilty
with evidence
Prohibition of slandering, backbiting and verbal
abuse
Preserving the integrity of all humans
Punishment of false accusation
‐ e.g. falsely accusing an innocent woman of
adultery [24:4]
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a. Penal Laws
 Shari’ah entails all aspects of human life
It aims to preserve all human essentials and
integrity.
Spiritual reformation
Everyone is accountable to Allāh the Almighty
Stringent rules are applied before enacting the
punishment
Strives to primarily remove the crime
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b. Islām is Outdated
Islām is a pure natural faith [30:30]
‐ Nature of a human never changes
Allāh the Almighty is the Absolute Legislator and
Benefactor
 Not all old things are bad
‐ e.g. natural resources
Juridical implications aims to facilitate human
living that acknowledges the needs and change of
the time, hence subject to change to suit human
needs.
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10: Conclusion
Shari’ah is a source of Mercy
Shari’ah is a holistic and a monolithic religion
dealing with every facet of human life
Criticism are mainly related to penal laws,
historical events and misapplication.
Shari’ah aims to protect all human essentials
(human rights)
Shari’ah is predicated on Justice
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What is Shari’ah?

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