Sharia Law

Sharia Law:
Definition: (Arabic: ‫ )شريعة‬is the body of Islamic law. The term means "way" or "path";
it is the legal framework within which the public and some private aspects of life are
regulated for those living in a legal system based on Islam.
Sharia deals with all aspects of day-to-day life, including politics, economics, banking
law, contract law, sexuality, and social issues. It also includes religious, civil, moral,
cultural, and commercial rulings. It governs personal, family, national, and
international relations. All of these are included under the title of "Sharia Law".
There is not a strictly codified uniform set of laws that can be called Sharia. It is more
like a system of several laws, based on the Qur’an, Hadith and centuries of debates,
interpretations and precedent.
Islamic shariah is not implemented in any country of the world; most Muslim
countries have their own laws and chosen only few of laws from Islamic shariah.
(1)
Many religions have legal codes that offer ethical and moral guidelines for practitioners
of the faith ― from the canon law of the Catholic Church to Jewish religious rules
and practices, called Halakhah (which, like Sharia, also means “the path that one
walks.”) And just as opinions about these laws vary greatly within each of these
traditions, Muslims around the world fall on a vast spectrum when it comes to how to
interpret Sharia.
Resources of Sharia Law: Can reach up to10 resources but all are driven from the
main two resources the Quran and Sunnah:
1- The Qur’an, which Muslims believe was verbally revealed by Allah to Muhammad
(pbuh) through the angel Gabriel (Jibril).
2- The actions, words, and approval of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), which is called
the Sunnah.
3- Consensus from the community by achieving recurrence
4- Qiyas or legal reasoning (2)

Sharia law is divided into two main sections:
 The acts of worship, or al-ibadat, called the 5 pillars of Islam:
-Affirmation (Shahadah): there is no god except Allah and Muhammad is His messenger.
However, Allah is the same God who spoke to Abraham Moses and Jesus.
-Prayers (Salat): five times a day
-Fasts (Sawm during Ramadan)
-Charities (Zakat)
-Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)
 Human interaction, or al-mu'amalat, which includes:
-Financial transactions
-Endowments
-Laws of inheritance
-Marriage, divorce, and child custody
-Foods and drinks (including ritual slaughtering and hunting)
-Penal punishments
-Warfare and peace
-Judicial matters (including witnesses and forms of evidence) (3)
Schools of sharia law:
There are 5 schools of thoughts in Islam, four major schools of Sunni sharia law (Hanafi,Maliki
Shafi'i and Hanbali), and one major Shia sharia law (Jafari). The sharia (law) between these
schools is same for topics covered in Quran, but in matters that is not covered explicitly in
Quran, they sometimes differ from each other
Some of Laws and practices under Sharia: …… Marriage,
-A Muslim woman can only marry a Muslim man and a Muslim man can only marry a Muslim or
(Ahl-Alkitab) a Christian or Jew. S/he cannot marry an atheist, agnostic or polytheist.
-A Muslim minor girl's father or guardian needs her consent when arranging a marriage for her.
-A marriage is a contract that requires the man to pay, or promise to pay some of the wedding
and provisions the wife needs. This is known as the dowry.
-A Muslim man may be married to up to four women at a time, although the Qur'an has
emphasized that this is a permission, and not a rule. The Qur'an has stated that to marry one is
best if you fear you cannot do justice between your wives and respective families. This means
that he must be able to house each wife and her children in a different house, he should not give
preferential treatment to one wife over another. (4)

Crime and punishment:
Sharia recognizes three categories of crime:
-Hu’dud: refers to the crimes determined by Allah beyond which physical punishment is
required.
-Qi’sas: is the element of recompense, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
-Ta’zir: punishments that are not specified in the first two resources of Sharia and are
open to Ijtihad (creative thought).
Hudud crimes are seven: theft, highway robbery, Zina (illicit sex), homosexuality, sexual
slander (false accusation of adultery), drinking alcohol, and apostasy.
Sharia requires that there be four adult male Muslim witnesses to a hudud crime or a
confession repeated four times, before someone can be punished for a Hudud crime
of adultery for example. Murder, bodily injury and property damage - intentional or
unintentional - is considered a civil dispute under sharia law. The victim, victim's heir(s)
or guardian is given the option to forgive the murderer, demand Qisas (equal
retaliation) or accept a compensation (Diyya) in lieu of the murder, bodily injury or
property damage. Under sharia law, the Diyya compensation received by the victim or
victim's family is in cash. (5)
The penalty for theft: Theft (stealing) is a hudud crime in sharia, with a fixed
punishment. If the accused meets the 19 conditions of his act of thievery, his/her
hands or feet will be cut off.
The penalty for zina (adultery):

Sharia law states that if either an unmarried man or an unmarried woman has pre-
marital sex, the punishment should be 100 lashes. There are some requirements
that need to be met before this punishment can happen. For example, the
punishment cannot happen unless the person confesses, or unless four
eyewitnesses each saw, at the same time, the man and the woman in the action of
illicit sex. Those who accuse someone of illicit sex but fail to produce four
eyewitnesses are guilty of false accusation and their punishment is 80
lashes. Maliki school of sharia considers pregnancy in an unmarried woman as
sufficient evidence that she committed the hudud (limit) crime of zina
(adultry). The Hadiths consider homosexuality as a kind of adultry.
The penalty for apostasy: The punishment for apostasy is thought to be death by
several schools of Muslim thought. (6)
Festivals:
There are two festivals that are considered Sunnah. Eid ul-Fitr- Eid ul-Adha
During these festivals, specific rituals are accompanied:
-Sadaqa (charity) before Eid ul-Fitr prayer.
-The Prayer and the Sermon on Eid day.
- Takbirs (glorifying God) during the days of Eid.
-Sacrifice of unflawed, four-legged grazing animal of appropriate age after the prayer of Eid
ul-Adha. The meat must be consumed and distributed to needies.
Dietary laws:
Islamic law lists only some specific foods and drinks that are not allowed:
-Pork, blood, and scavenged meat are not allowed. People are also not allowed to eat
animals that were slaughtered in the name of someone other than Allah.
-Intoxicants (like alcoholic drinks and drugs) are not allowed generally.
-While Islamic law prohibits dead meat, this does not apply to fish and locusts.
-Also, Sunnah literature prohibits beasts having sharp canine teeth, birds having claws and
tentacles in their feet, tamed donkeys, and any piece cut from a living animal. (7)
Sacrifice:
There are some specific rules regarding the killing of animals in
Islam.
-The animal must be killed in the most humane way: by swiftly
cutting the throat (?).
-The animal must not be diseased.
-The animal must not have been exposed to feces, worms, and
other impurities.
-All blood must drain from the animal before being packaged.
(8)

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Sharia Law:

main two resources the Quran and Sunnah:

(pbuh) through the angel Gabriel (Jibril).

3- Consensus from the community by achieving recurrence

4- Qiyas or legal reasoning (2)

Quran, they sometimes differ from each other

Some of Laws and practices under Sharia: …… Marriage,

(Ahl-Alkitab) a Christian or Jew. S/he cannot marry an atheist, agnostic or polytheist.

and provisions the wife needs. This is known as the dowry.

preferential treatment to one wife over another. (4)

The penalty for zina (adultery):

During these festivals, specific rituals are accompanied:

-Sadaqa (charity) before Eid ul-Fitr prayer.

-The Prayer and the Sermon on Eid day.

- Takbirs (glorifying God) during the days of Eid.

ul-Adha. The meat must be consumed and distributed to needies.

There are some specific rules regarding the killing of animals in

-The animal must be killed in the most humane way: by swiftly

cutting the throat (?).

-The animal must not be diseased.

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