Campusalam

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Shari’a in Arabic means ‘the way’ or ‘the path’. It is God's will and the path to tread to implement it on earth. Once codified as law, Shari’a governs both the relationship of humanity to God, known as ibadat, which governs worship and religious or spiritual matters; but also pragmatic rules for the interactions and transactions between human beings, or mu’amalat (transactions). Its extent therefore is greater than many Western people might think when they imagine either ‘religious rules’ or ‘common law’; it is seen as the blueprint for the right ways to live. This gives Shari’a a more prominent place both in Muslim life and in Islamic scholarship than law has in some other faiths.

The word fiqh means 'profound understanding' and is now generally used for jurisprudence, the profound understanding of Islamic law. Fiqh is the human attempt to translate the divine will into law. The principles of jurisprudence, Usul-al-Fiqh, is the body of principles and methods through which rules are derived from the sources of Islamic law, and the interpretation of law.

In Sunni legal scholarship, the sources of Islamic jurisprudence are the Qur'an, the Sunnah (through the collections of hadith), ijma' (consensus, usually amongst scholars), and qiyas (analogical reasoning) although the Hanbali school places greater emphasis on tradition than qiyas. The Twelver Shi'a recognise the Qur'an, the Sunnah, ijma', but in place of qiyas they name 'aql (intellect).

The Qur'an does not primarily consist of laws; it lays down the overall moral guidance and direction for humanity. The Sunnah gives a wealth of examples of how this is translated into practical situations and needs. When the Qur'an and the Sunnah do not explicitly contain an answer to a given need, the use of analogy/qiyas or 'aql allows the derivation of a law; for example, that modern intoxicants like cocaine are forbidden as is alcohol, although cocaine was not mentioned in the Qur'an! Consensus or ijma allows a conclusion to be reached when there is a clear majority among scholars and indicates conformity with the divine will.

In Shari'a actions fall into one of five categories:

1. wajib - obligatory (e.g. daily prayer)
2. haram - forbidden (e.g. injustice, drinking alcohol)
3. mustahab - recommended or desirable, but it isn't a sin not to do it (e.g. praying in a mosque)
4. makruh - not recommended or undesirable, but doing it isn't a sin (e.g. chatting on wordly topics while in a mosque)
5. mubah - permissible, doing or not doing it are equal.

Note also 'halal', permitted. Some treat halal as equivalent to mubah, but some maintain a distinction between them: 'halal' means there is no clear prohibition against it; but 'mubah' means a choice has been explicitly given.