Introduction

The Islamic Legal System is the Sharia Law. The Sharia Law merely derives from both the Koran, Islam's
central text and fatwas which are the rulings of Islamic scholars. Linguistically speaking, the word sharia
has two meanings. The first is “a source of flowing water meant for drinking” and Secondly “the clear,
well-trodden path to water.”

Sharia law acts as a code for living that all Muslims should adhere to, including prayers, fasting and
donations to the poor. According to Frank Heart, It aims to help Muslims understand how they should
lead every aspect of their lives according to God's wishes. Unlike Canon law or kirchenrecht (church
law) does not simply represent religious laws but covers a wide range of secular laws and ordinance. He
continues to state the diverse are that are toned by the Sharia law namely; international Commercial
law, criminal law, constitutional and administrative law, humanitarian and human law. Researchers
listed in the world fact-book shown that Sharia is the most wide spread religious legal system and is the
sole system of the law for countries including Iran, the Maldives and Saudi Arab.

Historical Background of Islamic legal system

Author Noel James Coulson stated that the first Muslim community was established under the
leadership of the prophet Muhammad at Medina in 66 AD and also the Quranic revelations laid down
were basic standards of conduct. On this point the author noted that the Quran is a comprehensive legal
code as only 10%deals with legal issues. Noel presented Prophet Muhammad as a supreme Judge of
society which helped resolve legal problems as they arose by interpreting , explaining the general
provisions of the Quran thereby a creation of a legal tradition that would continue after his death.
Author noted that as the prophet Muhammad’s Quranic revelation expand through his political
successor’s, the Muslim polity became administratively more complex, also came in contact with laws
and institution governing the Muslim. According to Noel appointed judge (qadis) to various provinces
and a well-organized judiciary came to be. Most importantly Noel mentioned that depending on the
discretion of the individual qadi, judicial decisions were based on the rule of the Quran where these
were relevant but mostly the sharp focus in the Quranic law were held in the Medina period was lost
with the expanding horizon. He pointed out that creation of the written legal literature was a result of
oral transmission and Muslim jurisprudence devoted to exploring the substance of the law and proper
methodology for its derivation and justification. He also stated that through this medieval period, the
basic doctrine was elaborated and systematized in a large number of commentaries and voluminous
literature hence produced constitutes the traditional textual authority of Sharia law.
1

1
www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-facctbook
Jurisprudence science or philosophy and it may be dived in 3 branches; analytical, sociology and theoretically.
Noel James Coulson professor of oriental laws, University of London, 1997-86. Author of a history of Islamic law,
Sharia. Alternative titles; Syariah laws.
Canon law regulates the internal ordering of the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the
Anglican Communion. It is not a divine law as such because it is not found in revelation.
 It was after the death of Prophet Muhammad that the second caliph ‘Umar b. al-Khattab (Umar I) who
came after Abu Bakr instituted both military expansion and administrative organization. The Arab
conquests was by no means limited to material or territorial gain. The Islamic “cause” was as much of a
driving force as any purely military objective. The new Muslims saw themselves as promulgators of a
religion whose cornerstone was the command of God, a command embedded in, and given expression
by the revealed Book. Under Umar’s I rule, where there happened to be a Muslim population a mosque
was erected. The sermons that took place in these mosque’s played an important role in the
propagation of Islamic ethic, included extensive passages from the Quran and other messages that were
relevant.

Umar I’s aim was to promote Islamic and particularly Quranic values as the basis of communal life. Umar
I insisted forcefully on adherence to the Quran in matters of ritual and worship, this policy brought
together a set of practices and beliefs that became instrumental in shaping the new Muslim identity and
that later became integral to the law. In these early periods of the Muslim regime, the Quran’s
injunctions represented the modification to the customary laws prevailing among the Pensular Arabs.

A large portion of pre-Islamic Arabian laws and customs remained applicable and survived into the
Muslim legal culture although the new Quranic laws created their own juristic problems that rendered
many of the old customary laws irrelevant. Whatever “law” existed during the first few decades after
Prophet Muhammad’s death was restricted in application to the garrison towns of the Arab conquerors
and to the sedentary towns and agricultural oases of the Hejaz.

Sources of Islamic legal system

According to the UKessay Article the primary sources of law are accepted universally by all Muslims are
the Quran and the Sunnah. It is also noted out the secondary sources which are to be used thus the
Ijima (consensus of opinion of scholar) and the Qiyas (laws derived through analogical deduction -
analogy). The author noted a difference in legal approach which arose amongst Islamic thinkers in two
prevailing school of thoughts namely the traditionalist (aha al-hadith) which solely relied on the Quran
also the Sunnah which are traditions of the prophet .The non-traditional approach (ahl al-ray) which
relied on the free use of reasoning and opinion in the absence of reliable a hadith heralded in Iraq. 2
3
Sharia Law has to aspects: Spiritual aspect and the practical aspect, to further elaborate these aspects
Sharia Law has the following categories ‘Adab’ (behaviour, morals and manners), ‘Ibadah’ (ritual
worship), ‘I’tiqadat’ (beliefs), ‘mu’malat’ (transactions and contracts) and ‘uqubat (punishments). The
spiritual aspect is essentially purely for Muslims to observe. The practical however transcends to
everyone under the Islamic jurisdiction. Quran 2:256 and Quran 5:44/45 proves the two assertions

Quran

2
All Answers ltd, 'The Four Main Sources Of Islamic Law Religion Essay' (businessteacher.org, November 2020)
<https://www.ukessays.com/essays/religion/the-four-main-sources-of-islamic-law-religion-essay.php?vref=1>
accessed 16 Nov2020ember
3
Wael B. Hallaq, The Origins and Evolution of Islamic law, Cambridge University Press 2005
Muhammad Alashari, ‘Everything You Need to Know about Sharia Law’ [2005]
The UKessay define the word Quran as an Arabic word which is derived from the root “quara’a” which
means “to read” or “to recite”. The definition involves it seen as a holy book of Islam , a religious text
and a book that Muslim believe that is the final revelation of Allah (literal word of God )revealed to the
prophet Muhammad . this was support with that the Quran was written and preserved during the life of
Muhammad ,compiled soon after his death which consists of 114 surah’s (chapters)with over 6,000ayat,
(verse) however the exact number of ayat is disputed due to the methods of counting. According to
UKessay the holy book which is the Quran is the first and most important source of Islamic law as these
scriptures specifies the moral, philosophical, social, political and economic basis on which a society
should be constructed. Lastly the author stated that the main foundations of Islamic law was derived
from verses from the Quran.

Sunnah

the UKessay define the Sunnah as an Arabic word which means “method “which was applied by prophet
Muhammad as legal term to represent what he said , did and agreed to ( chapter 1.2 unit ) . He
showed this as its authority is derived from the text of the Quran which say” for you the life of the
prophet is a model of behaviour” (Al –Quran 33:22). Finally the author simplified as he explains it as the
instructions of the Quran as the Quranic injunction is sometimes implicit while the Sunnah makes it
explicit by providing essential ingredients. Sahih Al Bukhari, author of the translation of the meanings of
Islam define Sunnah as a roughly translated to men, the tradition and practices of the prophet
Muhammad. According to Sahih Al Bukhari there are 3 types of Sunnah. He continues by stating them
as; first is the saying of the prophet (Sunnah Qawliyyah / Hadith), second is the action of prophet
(Sunnah Al Filiyya) and lastly the is the practices prevailing during Muhammad’s time which he did not
oppose (Sunnah Taqririyyah).

Ijima and Qiyas

As a third source of law, UKessay define the Ijima and Qiyas (analogy) as dependent sources as they
derive their value or authority from Quran and the Sunnah(chapter 1.3 unit). Technically the author
defines the Ijima as the consensus of the jurist of a certain period over a religious matter. It shows the
importance of delegated legislation. Ijima is an outstanding enough evidences of proof for action
because the prophet Muhammad who said “Muslim will never agree on a wrong matter” The Qiyas or
analogical reason is the fourth source of Sharia for the majority of Sunni jurisprudence. It aims to draw
analogies to a previously accepted decision. Shiites do not accept analogy, but replace it with reason
among Sunnis, the Hanbalites have traditionally been reluctant to accept analogy while the Zahirites
don't accept it at all. Analogical reason in Islam is the process of legal deduction according to which the
jurist, confronted with an unprecedented case, bases his or her argument on the logic used in the
Qur'an and Sunnah. Legally sound analogy must not be based on arbitrary judgment, but rather be
firmly rooted in the primary sources.4

4
The translation of the meaings of Sahih Al –Bukhari by Muhammad muhsinkhan.Boatwright circulating ,
Richmonds law library
Legal Reasoning

Legal reasoning (ijtihād) is an untransmitted source of Islamic Law, whose emergence is due to the fact
that Islamic jurists could not always interpret the language of the Quran and that of the Sunnah in the
same way arriving at the same legal result, rather they frequently differ in their interpretations of
certain Qur’anic verses and particular Prophetic traditions, reaching different legal rulings. This is owing
to the fact that the law-giver has deliberately set out a number of legal rulings in these two revealed
legal sources, and formulated them in such a way that makes them open to reasoning and juristic
interpretation so that the law becomes legally valid on a permanent basis and is susceptible to
development as new legal issues emerge.

Public interest (istiṣlāḥ) is another legal practice which is contained within legal reasoning. The reasoning
of public interest does not seem to be founded on the Quran. Public interest, however, plays an
undeniably crucial role in the determination of the ratio’s suitability peculiar to analogy. This strong
connection between the ratio and suitability has resulted in considering public interest by some jurists
an extension to analogy.

Preference

Preference (istiḥsān) is a particular legal practice exercised by jurists, which regions within the sphere of
legal reasoning. It is deemed an inference made on the basis of a revealed text, though gives rise to a
different legal result from that arrived at by analogy. The main difference between analogy and
preference may lie in the fact that while the reasoning behind analogy falls chiefly within the large body
of the law with no exception allowed, the reasoning underpinning preference, on the other hand, is to
find a particular exception through the jurist’s selection of a revealed text that allows this very
exception5

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-27307249#:~:text=Sharia%20law%20is%20Islam's%20legal,%2Dtrodden
%20path%20to%20water%22.
https://lawresearchguides.cwru.edu/c.php?g=819978&p=5851791
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sources_of_Sharia
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11196-016-9473-