Sources of Law in Medieval India

History 2.2
.

Submitted by

AYUSH DWIVEDI

UID- SM0116012

1st year, 2nd semester

Submitted to

Mrs. Namrata Gogoi

National Law University and

judicial academy, Assam
 TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Introduction

1.1 Overview

1.2 Literature Review

1.3 Research Problem

1.4 Scope and Objective

1.5 Research Questions

1.6 Research Methodology

2. Different sources of law in medieval india

2.1 Quran

2.2 Sunna

2.3 Ijma

2.4 Qiyas

3. Shariah law
4. Islamic jurisprudence or Fiqh
5. Schools of law
5.1 The Hanafi school
5.2 The Shafii school
5.3 The Maliki school
5.4 The Hanbali school
6. The Shiah doctorine of imamate
7. Conclusion
8. Bibliography

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 1. Introduction
Muslim law was one of the major important legal systems of the medieval world. It had
enriched society by giving new structured political, social and cultural ideas. In structuring
the Indian administrative and judicial system, Islamic law played a significant role. Although
few writers ignore this idea since some historians tried to postulate the Delhi sultanate as the
‘Dark Age’ which is not true. Islamic jurisprudence use various sources of Islamic law to
elucidate the sharia, the body of Islamic law. The Quran, Sunnah, Ijma and Qiyas are the four
primary sources of Islamic law.
The Quran is considered to be a sacred and central religious text of islam, which muslims
believe to be revelation from god on the other hand Sunnah consists of the religious actions
and quotations of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and narrated through his companions and
shia imams. The third source of muslim law is Ijma which liteally means unanimous
agreement while the comparison of the teachings of Hadith and Quran in order to make an
analogy with a known injunction to a new injunction through the process of analogical
reasoning is called Qiyas.1

2. Research Problem
In the present paper the researcher tried to study and analyse the various sources of law in the
medieval India. The researcher will also do a study of schools of Islamic jurisprudence.

3. Scope and Objectives

The scope of this project is limited to study the various sources of law in medieval India.
Objectives:
1. To study and various primary and secondary sources of law in medieval India.
2. To study and analyse the Islamic jurisprudence or Fiqh.
3. To study various schools of Islamic jurisprudence.

4. Research Questions
1. What are the different sources of law in medieval India?
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1 https://kanwarn.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/sources-of-muslim-law/ accessed on 8 th april 2017 at 9:20 am

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 2. How ismalic jurisprudence played a significant role in the administrative and judicial
reforms in medieval India?
3. What is the significane of Islamic jurisprudene in today’s context?

5. Research methodology

. Researcher conducted Doctrinal type of research to collect proper data and gather appropriate
information. The use of library sources and internet sources has greatly supplemented the
research. Various books pertaining to the subject have been immensely helpful in guiding the
research.Researcher also conducted the Empirical research for collecting the data of daily time
spending on social networking sites.

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 2.1 Quran

The term Quran is derived from Arabic word ‘Qurra’ and refers to ‘ what ought to be read’. The
first revelation ( wahi) came to the prophet in 609 A.D. They last for 23 years. These revelation
were the messages of God by Angel Gabriel.

Salient features of Quran:

1.) Divine Origin: The Quran has a divine origin. The text of Quran is considered tobe the
words of God himself and prophet only uttered these words. The Quran is the Al- Furqan,
the one that shows the truth from falsehood and the right from the wrong.
2.) First Source: The Quran is considered to be the first and fundamental source of
muslim law.
3.) Structure: The Quran is in the form of verses nad each verse id called an ‘Ayat’. There
are 114 chapters, each called ‘Sura’ containing 6237 ayats. This religious book is
arranged topic wise with respective titles. The first chapter deals with the praise of God.
Other chapters include various laws relating to the women houselife and divorce.
4.) Different forms of legal rules: The Quran has various provisions regarding the
removal of evil like child infanticide, gambling etc. It also create specifics so as to solve
daily life legal problems.
5.) Unchangeable: This sacred book can be in no way changed. Even the courts of law do
not have authority to change the apparent meaning of the verses because it does not
contain earthly origin.
6.) Incompleteness: The Quran has 200 verses of law in which only approximately 80
deal with personal law. So, it can not be a complete source or code of muslim personal
law. It merely has basic principles.2

2.2 Sunna
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https://kanwarn.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/sources-of-muslim-law/ accessed on 8th april 2017 at 11:12 am

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Sunna is the second major source of law in the medieval india of Islamic law. The word sunna
means ‘practice’, ‘tradition’, or ‘precedent’. This derives from the stories that are related to the
behavior of the prophet Muhhamad and of companions. Individually these stories known as
‘Hadith’ (plural is ‘Ahadith’). These stories contains the details of the how prophet and his
companions sought to live their lives in accordance with the newly promulgatef religious order
propounded by the Quran. The behavior and manner of living of prophet served as a pattern for
that of all muslims. The Ahadith were recalled, recited at first orally and later codified. These
collection of Ahadith form the basis of sunna. These collection are much broader the Quran. The
reason for this is that, while the text of Quran was finalized very soon after the death of prophet
in the reign of third caliph ( who ordered to suppress all contradictory text and an authoritative
recession to be drawn up), the the collection of Ahadith was incomplete in the form of a book
atleast a century after this.

According to Majid Khadduni, an eminent Islamic scholar, ‘ the suuna is the pre Islamic law of
Arabia embodied in a system of customary law, containing legal and moral principles. The origin
of suuna is from the customs of the forefathers and its enforcement by practice established its
legal validity. The sunna ist he storehouse of principles for the life of the muslims. During his
lifetime, prophet decided many questions and his word and silent approval were reduced to
writing and later known as ‘sunna’. These traditions gradually laid down the foundation of islam.
It is to the tradition rather to the Quran that we must refer for mohammadan law.3

2.3 Ijma

3
Khan, A.D. A History of the Sadarat in Medieval India, vol. I, Cpre-Mughal Period, Idarah-iAdabiyat -i- Delhi, 1998,
pp vii-xi.

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Ijma is the third source of Islamic law which means ‘consensus’. The technical term ijma comes
from a root jama’a, signifyning ‘the totality’, ‘everybody’. Literally ijma means ‘unanimous
agreement’ or ‘complete consensus’. Consensus on the rules of law claimed to be derived from
either the Suuna or Quran, also fall under the purview of Ijma. There are two connotation of the
ijma.

The first connotation is “ijma al unna” which means “consensus of the people”. This connotation
is based on the cases where a customary rule is adopted through common consent even though
the rule is not to be found either in the Quran or in the Sunna.

The second connotation is “ijma-al-ulana” which means “consensus of the scholars”. This type
of connotation is rarely unanimous in practice. It really consists of an agreement to abide by the
majority view.

In the words of Al- Shafii “ Ijma is the view held by the majority of the muslims and use it as a
secondary source of elucidation on questions which can not be decided from the Quran and the
Sunna”. After some time, Ijma was defined as the agreement of the mujtahids of the people (i.e.
those having virtue of knowledge and form a judgment of their own) after the death of prophet.
Hence, Ijma does not signify the opinion of masses.

2.4 Qiyas

Qiyas, the system of logical reasoning is the fourth source of Islamic law. The derivation of rules
of law by deductive reasoning with earlier ruling of Quran or Sunna is known as Qiyas. Al-Shafii
says in his book named Risala that Qiyas is the source which deals with those cases that are not
dealt in the Quran, Sunna and Ijma. All such cases come in the ambit of Qiyas. He regards Qiyas
is of two kinds one is Qiyas-i-jali or evident and another is Qiyas-i-khafi or hidden.

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 3.Shariah law
In Arabic, Islamic law is known as shariah. Word shariah meanthe right path or guide.
Joseph Sachacht said that “shariah is the core and kernel of islam itself”. Shariah is a god
given lawwhich is immutable and a large section of it can be found in the works of
Islamic jurists. Each and every aspect of life is covered by shariah. Shariah also cover
international, constitutional, administrative, criminal, civil, family, personal and religious
laws. Shariah is derived from the two important sources of Islamic law: Quran and
Sunna. On one hand muslims believe that shariah is agod given law but on other hand
they differ as to what exactly it entails. Different modernists, traditionalists, countries and
culture define shariah in their own way. Shariah enjoys its official status when it is
applied by Islamic judges. Imams perform their responsibilities using the interpretation of

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shariah. Though there are different opinions but there is consensus among muslims
stressing that shariah is a reflection of God’s will for humankind. The evolution and
refining of shariah is an effort to establish its validity and God’s will firmly.

4. Islamic jurisprudence or Fiqh

The term fiqh stands for intelligence or knowledge. The term Islamic jurisprudence
covers all aspects of civic, political and religious life. Regulation regarding

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 administration of state and conduct of war i.e. criminal law also come under the purview
of Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an Arabic word which implies positive law. In the words
of Joseph Sachacht “ Islamic law is the epitome of Islamic thought and the most typical
manifestation of the Islamic way of life, the core and kernel of islam itself. This word
denotes the devotion early islam towards knowledge. Although there are different views
regarding fiqh but the researcher will suffice with one comprehensive definition which is
common to all.

“ The practical laws of shariah that are derived from specific and detailed evidences is
Fiqh”.
From the definition given above ethical issues i.e. hatred, anger, pride, sincerityand laws
regarding belief are not included.

Importance of Fiqh: Allah created human beings to serve him. So it is necessary for every
muslim to live his/her life in accordance to the Allah’s wishes and orders. Indeed every action,
word or movement that a pubescent person does or utters, has a ruling set by Allah on it. It could
be an obligation, a Sunnah or something desirable, disliked or forbidden. So, based on the above,
we know the importance and necessity of Fiqh.

The scholars state that it is not permissible for any pubescent person to perform an action unless
he knows the ruling of Allah about it. That is why Allah ordered us to seek knowledge before
undertaking any action.

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 5. Schools of Law
5.1 The Hanafi School

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