LAW, The. The words used by Muslims to express “the law,” are ash-Sharīʿah (الشريعة) and ash-Sharʿ (الشرع), the meaning of which is “the way.” The compiler of the G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah defines it as “the way or road in the religion of Muḥammad, which God has established for the guidance of His people, both for the worship of God and for the duties of life.” The term ash-Sharīʿah occurs once in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah xlv. 17]: “We (God) put thee (Muḥammad) in the right way concerning the affair.” The term ash-Shirʿah is almost obsolete in books on Muslim theology, but it occurs once in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah v. 52]: “To every one have we given a right way.”
In the Traditions and theological works, the word ash-Sharʿ is generally used to express the law of Muḥammad. The Hebrew תּוֹרָה occurs in the Qurʾān as Taurāt, and is always used for the law of Moses. [[TAURAT].]
According to Muslim doctors, ash-Sharʿ, or “the Law,” may be divided into five sections: Iʿtiqādāt, “belief”; Ādāb, “moralities”; ʿIbādāt, “devotions”; Muʿāmalāt, “transactions”; and ʿUqūbāt, “punishments.”
(1) Iʿtiqādāt, embraces all that is contained in the six articles of the Muslim faith, namely, Belief in (a) God; (b) His angels; (c) His Books; (d) His Prophets; (e) The Day of Judgment; (f) The Decrees of God. This section of Muslim law is termed ʿIlmu ʾl-ʿAqāʾid, or, “The Science of the Articles of Belief,” and includes all branches of scholastic theology. The books chiefly consulted on this subject in the present work are the Sharḥu ʾl-Muwāqif, by Saiyid Sharīf-al-Jurjānī, and the Sharḥu ʾl-ʿAqāʾid, by Masʿūd Saʿdu ʾd-dīn at-Taftāzānī.
(2) Ādāb embraces the consideration of all those moral excellences which are enjoined in the Qurʾān and Traditions, as Ik͟hlāṣ, “sincerity”; Tawwakkul, “confidence in God”; Tawāz̤uʿ, “humility”; Tafwīẓ, “resignation”; Qaṣru ʾl-ʿAmal, “keeping down one’s expectation”; Zuhd fī ʾd-dunyā, “renunciation of the world”; Naṣīḥah, “giving good counsel and advice”; Qanāʿah, “contentment”; Sak͟hāwah, “liberality”; Ḥubb, “love to God and man”; Ṣabr, “patience”; &c. (See Majmaʿu ʾl-Biḥār, vol. ii. p. 422.)
(3) ʿIbādāt, includes all acts of devotion to God, such as are included in the five pillars of practice: (a) Recital of the Creed; (b) Prayer; (c) Zakāt, or “legal alms”; (d) Ṣaum, or “fasting”; (e) The pilgrimage to Makkah. It will also embrace such religious acts as Jihād, or warfare for the propagation of the religion of Islām.
(4) Muʿāmalāt, includes such duties as are required between man and man, and is divided into Muk͟hāṣamāt, “altercations”; Munākaḥāt, “nuptials”; Amānāt, “securities.” Under these three heads are embraced all the various sections of civil jurisprudence such as barter, sale, agency, larceny, marriage, divorce, dower, partnership, claims, &c.
(5) ʿUqūbāt, denotes the punishments instituted in the Qurʾān and Traditions, namely, (a) Qiṣāṣ, “retaliation”; (b) Ḥaddu ʾs-sariqah, punishment for theft by the loss of a hand; (c) Ḥaddu ʾz-zināʾ, punishment for fornication and adultery, stoning for a married person and one hundred lashes for an unmarried person; (e) Ḥaddu ʾl-qazf, or punishment of eighty lashes for slander; Ḥaddu ʾr-riddah, or punishment by death for apostasy; Ḥaddu ʾsh-shurb, or punishment with eighty lashes for wine-drinking.
The two common divisions of Muḥammadan law are ʿIlmu ʾl-Kalām, or ʿAqāʾid, embracing all matters of faith; and ʿIlmu ʾl-Fiqh, which includes all matters of practice as distinguished from articles of faith.
Muslim law is also divided into two great distinctions of Mashrūʿ, “lawful,” and G͟hairu ʾl-mashrūʿ, “unlawful,” or, as it is expressed in Persian, Rawā and Nārawā.