D - Sources and role of Sharia

Sources of Sharia (the way) - Quran; sunna (clear trodden path) and hadith (report); qiyas (analogy); Ijma (consensus)

What does Sharia mean, what is it?

• Sharia means the straight path or the way.

• The sharia first and foremost is God’s law.

• God’s law has absolute supremacy and timeless authority because its basis is the word of God and exemplified by the life of Muhammad.

• As God’s law it is a reminder that God is omnipotent and omniscient.

• God’s will must be obeyed.

• Sharia is based on the Qur’an, hadith and Sunna as primary sources, and consensus and analogy as secondary sources.

• Sharia is formed through the application of these sources and the principles contained within them to all aspects of human life.  

What does sharia lead to, what does it cover?

• Sharia leads to the straight path and humanity is rewarded for following the will of Allah.

• Sharia covers both the sacred and the secular.

• For some Muslims sharia is important as a guide to family matters, for others it is a political system of laws to run a society. 

What sources is sharia based on?

• The Quran. 

• Sunna (clear trodden path).

• Hadith (report). 

• Ijma (consensus).

• Qiyas (analogy). 

What is the Quran as a source of sharia?

• The Quran is the direct word of God but does not contain specific details that Muslims use to carry out their day-today practice.

• ‘‘This is the book, in it is guidance for sure without doubt, to those who fear Allah”

• The Quran as a source of authority and wisdom has already been covered in Year 12 and it’s the same reasons why it is the basis for sharia. 

What is the Sunna as a source of sharia?

• The Sunna is the way Muhammad did things e.g. how he ate, how he spoke, prayed, performed hajj etc.

• Since Muhammad is seen as a perfect example, his actions are a template to copy.

• The Quran itself tell Muslims to obey Muhammad thereby justifying the Sunna.

• "And whatever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatever he forbids you, leave it.”

• The life of a prophet is a beacon light for the rest of humanity and hence his example is a source of sharia. 

What is the hadith as a source of sharia?

• The next source of sharia law is the hadith, the reports of Prophet Muhammad because the Quran does not contain any details on how to carry out the day-to-day practices.

• For example, the Quran commands Muslims to pray - “Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times.”

• However, it hasn’t mentioned How to pray? When do pray? Expectations when praying?

• This is where a Muslim uses the Hadith – the Quran tells Muslims to pray, the Hadith will tell Muslims how to pray.

• One Hadith says: “Pray as you have seen me praying.” 

How is the definition of a hadith wider for Shias?

• For Shia Muslims, the definition of a Hadith is wider – it is something said by either Prophet Muhammad, his daughter Fatima or the 12 Imams. 

What happened after Muhammad’s death based on hadith, what did scholars do about this?

• After Muhammad’s death the people closest to him and companions often retold stories and sayings from the Prophet.

• Over time they were passed on by word of mouth to others.

• 200 hundred years after Muhammad’s death, arguments flared up about the sayings of the Prophet.

• Thousands of hadith were talked about.

• There was a fear some hadith were forged or inaccurate, based on someone’s opinion and not what the Prophet actually said.

• To clear up the confusion, several scholars set out to compile authentic or real hadith. 

What happened due to there being a wide range of hadith?

• Since there was a wide range of hadith these were categorised to work out which ones are the most reliable ones.

what was the 1st way in which hadith were compiled? - to work out if a hadith is correct or not?

• If the hadith contradicts the Quran, it is to be automatically rejected as false. 

• Quran says: “It is not for God to take a son unto Him.” 

• If a Hadith is found saying: “The Prophet said: ‘Jesus is the Son of God”. 

• It is automatically rejected as a fabrication / false narration.

• The Hadith needs verification (whereas the Quran doesn’t), the Quran is used as the way to measure it authenticity.

What was the 2nd way in which hadith were compiled? - to work out if a hadith is correct or not?

• An expert of Hadith looks at the chain of narrators and looks up the biography of each narrator.

• If all the narrators in the chain have good reputations, then the chain is strong and therefore the Hadith is believed to be correct.

• However, if there is someone in the chain whose biography shows he/she had a reputation for lying/was evil/was an enemy of Prophet Muhammad, then that Hadith is deemed as problematic.

• There might even be narrators in the chain who weren’t evil or liars, but were maybe very old at the time, and therefore forgetful, or in some cases maybe too young – after all, humans are fallible and innocent mistakes can be made.

• Many people made Hadiths up in exchange for money in order to tarnish the character of the Prophet and make others look good – this is why examination of the Hadith was very important. 

Who was one of the most famous collectors of hadith, what did he do?

Who became his student, wat did he go on to do?

How many major collections of hadith do Sunni Muslims regard as most reliable?

• Imam Bukhari was one of the most famous collectors of hadith.

• He went to Makkah, Medinah, Baghdad, Jerusalem and his tour took 16 years.

• Once a crowd in Baghdad decided to test Bukhari.

• They mixed up hadith and hadith narrators to see if they could catch Bukhari out.

• He spotted every single error.

• Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj became a student of Imam Bukhari and produced his own collection of hadith, drawing on the work of his master.

• Sunni Muslims regard six major collections of hadith to be the most reliable. 

What do Shia Muslims not accept in terms of hadith?

• Shi’a Muslims have different collections of hadith, though the content is similar.

• Shi’a Muslims do not accept hadith that were narrated by enemies of Caliph Ali.  

What does all of this mean for hadiths, what has this led to some Muslims following?

• All of this means that unlike the Quran, there is no single version of hadith that all Muslims agree on.

• This has led to some Muslims to follow Quranism, who do not accept any hadith at all and believe only the Quran should be used as a source of guidance and authority.

• A Sunni Muslim scholar Khaled Abou el Fadl refutes the ideas of Quranism by saying that hadith are essential for understanding the context of the revelations of the Quran.  

What are the different categoies of hadith?

Sahih hadith - reliable

• The best and most reliable hadith are sahih, which have been collected with a reliable chain of transmitters. 

Hasan hadith - good

• These are good hadith which are generally reliable except for a minor question mark here and there.  

Daif hadith - weak

• These are weak hadith which scholars have doubts about due to unreliable chain of transmitters and fabrication.  

Hadith qudsi

• Sayings of Muhammad that are thought to have been directly inspired by Allah.

How were the reliability/authenticity of hadith ensured?

Intense work was carried out by scholars about 1100 years ago to ensure the reliability/ authenticity of the hadith this included: 

• Any newly established hadith could not be accepted if it contradicted established hadith.   

• Hadith were rejected if they appeared to support a particular tribe or family. 

• Hadith which contradicted the Quran were rejected. 

• The reliability of the narrators/chain of transmitters.

What was required about the chain of narration/transmitters for hadith?

• The narrator of a hadith had to have a chain that linked back to a companion during Muhammad’s lifetime to ensure they knew exactly what was said.

• Plus, each person in the chain had to be regarded as honest, those known to lie, forget or spread rumours were rejected.  

In summary:

• The Hadiths are the words of Prophet Muhammad (+ his family if you’re a Shia Muslim). 

• Hadith are needed to explain the Quran. 

• Hadiths are narrated by the companions/family of Prophet Muhammad and were passed down until they were compiled by people into books. 

• Hadiths need to be checked whether they are true or not by measuring them against the Quran and then checking the narrators.

What sources do Muslims have to turn to due the vast amount of hadith?

• With the vast amount of hadith not all issues that Muslims face today are answered, therefore Muslims turn to two other sources of shari’a, ijma and qiyas.  

What principle is Ijma (consensus) based on?

• Ijma is based on the principle that not all Muslims can be wrong at the same time and the goal was for the consensus to be accepted by the whole Muslim community.

• ‘My ummah will never agree upon an error’ - (Prophet Muhammad) 

What does Ijma mean?

• Ijma means agreeing to a teaching by consensus of scholars or even the whole community which is not clearly answered by the Quran and hadith/Sunna.

• Ijma began after Muhammad passed away – the first time Ijma was used was when the Muslim community had to decide on the successor Abu Bakr or Ali - but it lead to a divide.

What has happened through the development of Ijma?

• Through the development of ijma religious practices have been implemented, for example, the two calls to prayer before Friday prayers, new churches or synagogues cannot be built on Muslim land, Ramadan Taraweeh prayers.

• Others consider ijma as relating to social issues, for example in the Quran it states that a Muslim man was not allowed to marry his daughters, mother or sisters.

• But what about the next generation? It was decided by ijma that it was also prohibited to marry granddaughters. 

What do Shias believe about Ijma?

• For Shia Muslims, they didn’t need to use Ijma after the death of Prophet Muhammad as their authority were the 12 Imams after Muhammad – what people thought didn’t matter because the Imams were present and only their consensus mattered.

• However, during the absence of the 12^th Imam, Shias use the ijma of high-ranking scholars and appointed imams.  

What are some criticisms of Ijma?

• There’s never going to be 100% agreement.

• biases.

• split decisions.

What is Qiyas?

• Qiyas is based on taking an original teaching in the Quran or hadith and applying it to a new situation.

• It uses analogies and comparisons to deduce Islamic rulings.

• It uses the reasoning behind one rule to make another rule.

• For example, smoking is not mentioned in the Quran and Hadith so qiyas is used to work out the permissibility of it. 

What would someone who used qiyas say about smoking?

Someone who uses qiyas would say: 

• Alcohol isn’t allowed in Islam because it says so in the scriptures.  

• Alcohol is bad for your health 

• Smoking is also bad for your health. 

• Therefore, smoking is not allowed. 

What is an example of Muhammad using qiyas?

• There are also examples when Prophet Muhammad used qiyas, for example a woman asked the Prophet:

• ‘‘My father vowed to perform Hajj, but he did not perform Hajj before he died; can I perform Hajj on his behalf?’’

• He said:

• “Yes, perform Hajj on his behalf. Don’t you think that if your father owed a debt, wouldn’t you pay it off? So pay off the debt owed to Allah, The debt owed to Allah is more deserving of being paid off. ”

What are criticisms of qiyas?

• It is based on speculation and not conviction - we can never really know why Allah allowed/didn’t allow something.

• We shouldn’t assume the reasons why a rule is made, unless it’s stated.

• In the smoking example, we have presumed why Allah banned alcohol rather than being certain of it.

• Qiyas is too subjective, and it will result in too many views.

• You can start allowing/ prohibiting many things.

Why do Shia Muslims completely reject using qiyas?

• Shia Muslims completely reject using qiyas to derive rulings as it can be used to form you own opinion.

• Shias argue that Satan was the first to use qiyas because he refused to bow to Adam when he said:

• “I am made from fire, Adam is made from earth – fire is more powerful than earth”.

• Instead, Shia Muslims follow the qiyas of those in the family line of Muhammad and the appointed imams. 

What is Fiqh?

• Fiqh is defined as interpretation or deeper understanding of sharia law.

• Sharia law is God’s law which Muslims do not fully understand and fiqh is required as a way to gain deep understanding of matters related to faith and practice. 

In Sunni Islam how many schools of law are there who applied fiqh within Islam?

• In Sunni Islam there are four schools of law who applied fiqh within Islam.

• These schools provide interpretations and guidance on how to apply sharia to various aspects of life. 

Who is Al-Shafi, what did he say about the order of sources of authority to be used in fiqh?

• Al-Shafi is known as one of the most influential Sunni Muslim scholars who developed the Shafi’i school of law.

Al-Shafi defined sources of authority to be used in fiqh in the following order:  

• The Quran. 

• The Sunna of Muhammad. 

• Ijma of the companions of Muhammad, as well as the opinions of the companions. 

• He rejected local customs and traditions as they might draw a Muslim away from the practice of Muhammad.  

• Qiyas. 

How are Al-Shafis influence on the development of sharia more than anyone else?

• Al-Shafi’s influence on the development of sharia was more than anyone else.

• He left behind him a fiqh which could be used in an organised way as a system of law.

• ‘‘True knowledge is not that which is memorised, it is that which benefits.’’(Al-Shafi).

• The contributions of Shafi’i in the field of fiqh were monumental.

• His ideas prevented the fraying of the study of fiqh into hundreds of different, competing schools by providing a general philosophy that should be adhered to. 

However what did it provide enough flexibility for?

• But it also provided enough flexibility for there to still be different interpretations, and thus schools as he did not leave guidance in many areas e.g. interfaith dialogue.

• Hence in Sunni Islam there are further major schools of law Hanifi, Maliki and Hanbali. 

What is the Hanifi school of law?

• Abu Hanifa developed the Hanifi school of law.

• He defined the Quran as the most important source of sharia, next came the hadith, followed by ijma and qiyas. 

 

• Abu Hanifa’a approach emphasised reasoning and independent judgement.

• He allowed flexibility in interpretation and adaptation to changing circumstances.  

 

• This school of law considers customs and public interest in legal ruling.

What is the Maliki school of law?

• Malik ibn Anas developed the Maliki school of law.

• He placed importance on the traditions and consensus of the people of Madinah as he felt these were directly handed down from the Prophet and likely to be closest to his Sunna.

What is the Hanbali school of law?

• Ahmad ibn Hanbal developed the Hanbali school law.

• During his lifetime, people were ordered to accept the position that the Quran was created by humans.  

 

• Hanbal refused this and as a consequence he opposed individuals making their own interpretations of the sharia and sharia should be interpreted by scholars under strict criteria. 

 

• This school of law is based on the Quran, hadith and practices of early Muslim community.

• Hanbali school rejects discretion or community customs as valid basis for deriving Islamic law.  

What are Shia schools of law sources?

Shi’a schools of law have also developed overtime and their sources are the: 

• Quran 

• Sunna 

• Hadith (for Shia Muslims, the definition of a Hadith is wider – it is something said by either Prophet Muhammad, his daughter Fatimah and the 12 Imams), 

• Ijma (consensus) 

• They reject qiyas and replace it with ijtihad meaning logical reasoning (sometimes known as aql - more on this later).