What Are The Main Sources Of Islamic Law
Zulema Estabrooks
The sources recommended in this guide are only a sample of what's available in our collection on Islamic law. If you don't see what you need, contact us using the information to the left! We are available for quick questions or for private research consultation by appointment.
There are many authoritative translations in other languages available in our collection. Please consult the reference staff if you have a specific title or would like to inquire about translations in another language.
In addition to the web collections below, the Harvard University Libraries hold tremendous collections on the sources--in Arabic and English as well as Western European Languages. Please consult HOLLIS or a reference librarian for further assistance.
A good place to start is the Harvard online public catalogue called Hollis. General books dealing with Islamic law are catalogued under Islamic Law. Other topics are catalogued with the topic--marriage for example and Islamic law. To find the application of Islamic law in a specific country, search for Islamic Law and a particular country like Egypt. At Harvard, most materials on Islamic law will be found in HLSL, Widener and Andover-Harvard Theological Library.
If you are interested in knowing about books at other libraries, WorldCat is an excellent resource. Here you will access to the collections at major research libraries all over the world. Search terms are the same as for Hollis.
Legal periodical indexes generally only allow you to search the title, citation, abstract, keywords (sometimes author-supplied), and subject terms given to a journal article, rather than the full text. A benefit to using a legal periodical index is that it will include all issues and volumes of a given journal, without any gaps in coverage, back to a certain date. (For example, Legaltrac's contents go back to 1980. Full text databases can have gaps in coverage, sometimes many years' worth, for an individual journal.
This tab includes the sources on opinions, judgments and finding aids such as digests or indexes from the various states with Islamic law component (historical and/or contemporary). Most of the compilations include domestic relations cases in the vernacular and English translations, if available.
Various sources of Islamic Laws are used by Islamic jurisprudence to elaborate the body of Islamic law.[1] In Sunni Islam, the scriptural sources of traditional jurisprudence are the Holy Qur'an, believed by Muslims to be the direct and unaltered word of God, and the Sunnah, consisting of words and actions attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the hadith literature. In Shi'ite jurisprudence, the notion of Sunnah is extended to include traditions of the Imams. [1]
Since legally relevant material found in Islamic scriptures did not directly address all the questions pertaining to Sharia that arose in Muslim communities, Islamic jurists developed additional methods for deriving legal rulings.[1] According to Sunni schools of law, secondary sources of Islamic law are consensus, the exact nature of which bears no consensus itself; analogical reason; seeking the public interest; juristic discretion; the rulings of the first generation of Muslims; and local customs.[2] Hanafi school frequently relies on analogical deduction and independent reasoning, and Maliki and Hanbali generally use the Hadith instead. Shafi'i school uses Sunnah more than Hanafi and analogy more than two others.[1][3][better source needed] Among Shia, Usuli school of Ja'fari jurisprudence uses four sources, which are Qur'an, Sunnah, consensus and the intellect. They use consensus under special conditions and rely on the intellect to find general principles based on the Qur'an and Sunnah, and use the principles of jurisprudence as a methodology to interpret the Qur'an and Sunnah in different circumstances. Akhbari Ja'faris rely more on scriptural sources and reject ijtihad.[1][4] According to Momen, despite considerable differences in the principles of jurisprudence between Shia and the four Sunni schools of law, there are fewer differences in the practical application of jurisprudence to ritual observances and social transactions.[5]
The Qur'an is the first and most important source of Islamic law. Believed to be the direct word of God as revealed to Muhammad through angel Gabriel in Mecca and Medina, the scripture specifies the moral, philosophical, social, political and economic basis on which a society should be constructed. The verses revealed in Mecca deal with philosophical and theological issues, whereas those revealed in Medina are concerned with socio-economic laws. The Qur'an was written and preserved during the life of Muhammad, and compiled soon after his death.[6]
The verses of the Qur'an are categorized into three fields: "science of speculative theology", "ethical principles" and "rules of human conduct". The third category is directly concerned with Islamic legal matters which contains about five hundred verses or one thirteenth of it. The task of interpreting the Qur'an has led to various opinions and judgments. The interpretations of the verses by Muhammad's companions for Sunnis and Imams for Shias are considered the most authentic, since they knew why, where and on what occasion each verse was revealed.[1][6]
The Sunnah is the next important source, and is commonly defined as "the traditions and customs of Muhammad" or "the words, actions and silent assertions of him". It includes the everyday sayings and utterances of Muhammad, his acts, his tacit consent, and acknowledgments of statements and activities. According to Shi'ite jurists, the sunnah also includes the words, deeds and acknowledgments of the twelve Imams and Fatimah, Muhammad's daughter, who are believed to be infallible.[1][7]
Justification for using the Sunnah as a source of law can be found in the Qur'an. The Qur'an commands Muslims to follow Muhammad.[8] During his lifetime, Muhammad made it clear that his traditions (along with the Qur'an) should be followed after his death.[9] The overwhelming majority of Muslims consider the sunnah to be essential supplements to and clarifications of the Qur'an. In Islamic jurisprudence, the Qur'an contains many rules for the behavior expected of Muslims but there are no specific Qur'anic rules on many religious and practical matters. Muslims believe that they can look at the way of life, or sunnah, of Muhammad and his companions to discover what to imitate and what to avoid.
Much of the sunnah is recorded in the Hadith. Initially, Muhammad had instructed his followers not to write down his acts, so they may not confuse it with the Qur'an. However, he did ask his followers to disseminate his sayings orally. As long as he was alive, any doubtful record could be confirmed as true or false by simply asking him. His death, however, gave rise to confusion over Muhammad's conduct. Thus the Hadith were established.[7] Due to problems of authenticity, the science of Hadith (Arabic: 'Ulum al-hadith) is established. It is a method of textual criticism developed by early Muslim scholars in determining the veracity of reports attributed to Muhammad. This is achieved by analyzing the text of the report, the scale of the report's transmission, the routes through which the report was transmitted, and the individual narrators involved in its transmission. On the basis of these criteria, various Hadith classifications developed.[10]
To establish the authenticity of a particular Hadith or report, it had to be checked by following the chain of transmission (isnad). Thus the reporters had to cite their reference, and their references reference back to Muhammad. All the references in the chain had to have a reputation for honesty and possessing a good retentive memory.[7] Thus biographical analysis ('ilm al-rijāl, lit. "science of people"), which contains details about the transmitter are scrutinized. This includes analyzing their date and place of birth; familial connections; teachers and students; religiosity; moral behaviour; literary output; their travels; as well as their date of death. Based upon these criteria, the reliability (thiqāt) of the transmitter is assessed. Also determined is whether the individual was actually able to transmit the report, which is deduced from their contemporaneity and geographical proximity with the other transmitters in the chain.[11] Examples of biographical dictionaries include Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's "Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb" or al-Dhahabi's "Tadhkirat al-huffāz."[12]
All medieval Muslim jurists rejected arbitrary opinion, and instead developed various secondary sources, also known as juristic principles or doctrines[clarification needed], to follow in case the primary sources (i.e. the Qur'an and Sunnah) are silent on the issue.[13]
The ijma' , or consensus amongst Muslim jurists on a particular legal issue, constitutes the third source of Islamic law. Muslim jurists provide many verses of the Qur'an that legitimize ijma' as a source of legislation.[14][15] Muhammad himself said:
In history, it has been the most important factor in defining the meaning of the other sources and thus in formulating the doctrine and practice of the Muslim community.[17] This is so because ijma' represents the unanimous agreement of Muslims on a regulation or law at any given time.[18]
There are various views on ijma' among Muslims. Sunni jurists consider ijma' as a source, in matters of legislation, as important as the Qur'an and Sunnah. Shiite jurists, however, consider ijma' as source of secondary importance, and a source that is, unlike the Qur'an and Sunnah, not free from error.[19] Ijma' was always used to refer to agreement reached in the past, either remote or near.[17] Amongst the Sunni jurists there is diversity on who is eligible to participate in ijma' , as shown in the following table:
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