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Shariah is Islamic law derived from the teachings of the Quran. It is not
a list of rules but rather a set of principles on aspects of life, including
marriage, divorce, finance and rituals such as fasting and prayer.
The essential elements of Shariah are the following: (1) Ilm; (2) Amal;
and (3) Iklas.
Objective of Shariah
The objective of Shariah is to lead man into a straight path. It aims to
construct human life on the basis of Marufat (virtues) and to cleanse it
of the Munkarat (vice).
Proof of Shariah
The most important difference between other laws and Islamic law is
the source of law.
In civil law systems, one has only to look at the appropriate code. In
common law systems one needs to look at legislation and at
jurisprudence. The source of Islamic law is revelation in Quran.
Fiqh defined
Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is often described as the human
understanding of the sharia, that is, human understanding of the divine
Islamic law as revealed in the Quran and the Sunnah (the teachings
and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad).
Development of Fiqh
Fiqh deals with the religious observances along with the transactions.
It covers all aspects of religious, political and civil life in addition to other
laws regulating ritual and religious observances as concerns
performance and abstinence. It includes a whole field of family law,
laws of inheritance and contracts providing all questions that arise in
social life (mu’aamalat). It also includes criminal law and procedures
and finally the constitutional law and the administration and regulation
of the state and the conduct of war and all aspects of public and
personal life and business.
Shariah stands for the normative order that Muslims have developed
as an Islamic way of life. It covers a wider range of meanings than “law”
usually does. Fiqh, the jurists’ law, is jurists’ interpretation of Shariah.
While Usul includes the theories and general properties of law, the
application of law to men’s actions through media of rights and
obligations, and the classification of legal concepts, the main object of
Usul is to discuss the rules relating to the interpretation of the texts of
Quran and the Hadith, the constitution of ijma, and analogical
extension of the laws established by these three sources to cases not
within the language of the texts, but coming within their intendment.
Division of Fiqh
The two divisions of Fiqh are Usul al-fiqh and Furu al fiqh.
Usul al-fiqh means the doctrines of the “roots”, the sources of law, and
the methodology of their application. Usul literally means intelligence,
knowledge, discernment. Usul is the plural of asl which means root,
origin, source, foundation.
On the other hand, Furu al-fiqh means the doctrines of branches i.e is
applied fiqh. It also means the systematic elaboration of the positive
law, their particular injunctions (akham), technically or the substantive
law, as we call it, which follow from the science of usul.
Sharia law follows Islamic doctrines, while civil law has no connections to
any religious belief.
3. Kindly state what do you believe are the weaknesses and advantages of
Shariah law as compared to Civil law