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The Shari’a: Summary
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J K Wilson
Heckmondwike
Grammar School
Muhammad: Seal of the
Prophets
Qur’an given by Allah
Contains everything about religion:
– Islam is submission to God
– Job of man as vice-regent is to
make earth what God wants it to
be
– There will be a Day of Judgement
when people will be judged.
Muhammad - Statesman
& Prophet
With the setting up of the Umma this
meant that from the start Islam was
concerned with rules & regulations.
No division between civil & religious law Sharia - the one & only law.
Sharia
– means
– “a clear straight path”
– “the way God wants men to walk”
– It sets out exactly what should
should not be done.
Removes the power of superstition and
protects man from evil.
Origins of the Shari’a
– Qur’an
– Secondary Sources:
To cover areas not in Qur’an
•
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Sunna
Hadith
Customs
Consensus
Opinion
Analogy
Qur’an
The Qur'an contains unassailable legal
rulings. In effect, these are the ultimate
set of "rules":
• Remember Allah,
• pray five times a day,
• fast during Ramadan,
• avoid alcohol and gambling, etc
Qur’an +
• The Qur'an tell s us to avoid alcohol, but
we know that not only is it haram to
drink alcohol, but also to associate with
those who drink it, to finance a business
that produces it, indeed, it is haram to
sell grapes to someone if it is known
that he will make wine out of it! Where
did these other "rules" come from?
Authority of Muhammad
• . The Qur'an says,
• "Whoever obeys the Prophet, has obeyed
Allah."
• Allah also says in the Qur'an,
• "Do whatever the Prophet commands you to
do, and abstain from that which he forbade us."
Sunna
– Based on Way of life of the prophet
Muhammad as the final prophet must be
the final example of how a perfect human
being should live.
– Recorded in the Hadith
– Always secondary to Qur’an
Hadith
– The sayings of the Prophet
If he was the final Prophet his advice would be
the closest we can get to God’s word.
– Which sayings are genuine?
Unlike the Qur’an there are variations. But
Muslims believe that Allah has helped to
preserve memories
– Hadith of Bukhari
– Isnad - guarantors who could say that Hadith
went back to a Companion of the Prophet.
Custom or Practice
– Especially as operated in Medina
– This was because Muhammad set up the
Umma at Medina.
Fiqh
• means knowledge, understanding and
comprehension. It refers to the legal
rulings of the Muslim scholars, based on
their knowledge of the shari`ah; and as
such is the third source of rulings.
The science of fiqh
• started in the second century after Hijrah,
several issues which were not explicitly
covered in the Qur'an and Sunnah of the
Prophet (saas).
• Rulings based on the unanimity of Muslim
scholars and direct analogy are binding.
The four Sunni schools of thought,
Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali, are
identical in approximately 75% of their
legal conclusions.
Consensus & Opinion
– Consensus
Decisions by lawyers that this is the way to
do things.
– Opinion
Decision by one lawyer based on matters
not covered in Qur’an, Sunna, or Hadith
– Analogy
– The idea that if something is not in Qur’an,
Sunna or Hadith then you should look for
analogy in Qur’an
Sunni Muslims
• About 680 million adherents. believe that the first
three caliphs were all legitimate successors of the
prophet Muhammad, and that guidance on belief and
life should come from the Qur’an and the Hadith, and
from the Shari'a, not from a human authority or
spiritual leader. Imams in Sunni Islam are educated
lay teachers of the faith and prayer leaders.
• The name derives from the Sunna, Arabic 'code of behaviour',
the body of traditional law evolved from the teaching and acts of
Muhammad
Shi'ite or Shiah
• Believe that Ali was Muhammad's first true
successor.
• are doctrinally opposed to the Sunni
Muslims. They developed their own law
differing only in minor directions, such as
inheritance and the status of women.
• In Shi'ism, the clergy are empowered to
intervene between God and humans,
Sunni Imam
– Islamic title whose most usual meaning is “the one
who leads the prayer”.
– It may also signify the head of a community or group
– founders of the four Sunnimadhhabs (schools of law).
– It is also one of the titles given to the head of the
Islamic community after the death of the Prophet,
and is often interchangeable with the title Khalifa
(caliph).
Sunni +
– Mainstream Muslims regard many of their
community's early caliphs (after the first
four) as usurpers and unworthy of
recognition as Imams.
– For Sunnis, the Imam is, at least in theory,
an ordinary man (although he must belong
to the tribe of Quraish) elected to office by
his peers by virtue of his outstanding piety
and religious knowledge.
Shiites Imam
– For Shiites, the Imam must be a
descendant of both the Prophet and Ali ibn
Abi Talib.
– For almost all Shiites too (excepting the
Zaydi Shiites), the Imam is the divinely
ordained leader of the world who succeeds
to the office by virtue of his being
designated by his predecessor (on God's
instructions).
Shiites +
the Imam possesses attributes which Sunnis
normally reserve solely for the prophets
– infallibility and divinely endowed
knowledge:
– his presence in the world is crucial for its
continued existence..