Shariah Law - Process of Development
A mindmap looking at the different componants that make up how Islamic Law was decided
- Created by: JMitch
- Created on: 30-05-13 11:49
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- How is the Shar'ah Law developed?
- Sunnah
- Sira - Actions of Muhammad
- Hadiths - sayings of Muhammad
- Sahih - Sound Hadiths which fits into orthodox belief with complete Insad (Chain of communication)
- Hasan - Good Hadiths - may be missing one or two authorities
- Dai'if - weak Hadiths - Incomplete insad and with contents that is questionable
- Only for personal use, not for legal decisions
- Shi'a Muslims only accept Hadiths with an Insad through Ali
- Shi'as also accept the Hadiths of Ali
- 'The Sunnah and Hadiths were vital when considering the Shari'ah in the 9th Century' (Radio 4)
- Qur'an
- 'Embodies the Word of Allah' (Mawdudi)
- Holds ultimate authority for Muslims
- God can't directly communicate with us - 'We sent inspiration to thee ... (the Qur'an doth) guide you to the straight way' (Sura 42:51)
- Sunnis believe it is eternal and there is a copy in Heaven (Bayt-al-Izza)
- Tsafirs (Commentaries) provide context to the revelation
- Should only be read in arabic to avoid mistakes
- Ijma
- Consensus of the comunity
- Involves looking at what happened in the first Ummah of Medina
- Could also include looking at any precedents
- Qiyas
- Legal analogy used when there are no direct sources on a particular issue to look at similarities
- Very important with modern technology and developments
- Law Schools
- The process of discovering the Shrai'ah (Fiqh) was codified by the 9th Century into 4 Law schools
- Hanafiyya
- Malakiyya
- Shafiyya
- Hanbaliyya
- Main school in Saudi Arabia - preaches literal injunctions of the Sharaih
- Connected to Wahabism and Fundamentalist Islam
- Main school in Saudi Arabia - preaches literal injunctions of the Sharaih
- 'Different Schools of Law have more in common than in dispute' (Sandy)
- Modern Day Issues are looked at and considered by the Law Schools who make decisions for Muslims
- Decisions are known as Fatwas
- Ijtihad
- Sunnis believe this is generally closed following the dispensation to the Law Schools and from the 10th Century
- AL Ghazali was believed to be the closure of the door of Ijtihad - he had memorised 300,000 Hadiths - No one has the authority to take part in it effectivey
- Independent decisions based on your own legal analysis of the sources
- Shias believe that Ijtihad is still open because the Qur'an is not final
- Imams could interpret the Qur'an but because they are not accessable Shia scholars and leaders have a duty to discover Allahs laws instead
- Would help in Modern Day Islam - Also in west - for example it could be said to be ijtihad whether you wear a headscarf or not
- Sunnah
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