Sharia

How it is used

Also spelled shari'a or shariah. Scholars distinguish sharia, the ideal divine law, from fiqh, the human science of jurisprudence that interprets it. Most of its content concerns worship, family life, contracts and ethics. Academic texts avoid reducing it to criminal punishments.

Example sentences

1. Muslim jurists developed detailed methods for deriving rulings of sharia from the sources.

2. Most of the sharia literature deals with worship, family life and contracts rather than criminal law.

Common collocations

• Islamic law and sharia
• rulings of sharia
• sharia and fiqh
• principles of sharia

Related terms

• fatwaA formal, usually non-binding legal opinion given by a qualified Islamic scholar, a mufti, in answer to a question about religious law or practice.
• hadithA report of the words, actions or approval of the Prophet Muhammad, passed down through a chain of narrators; hadith are a major source of Islamic law and practice.
• IslamA monotheistic religion that began in seventh-century Arabia with the Prophet Muhammad; Muslims regard the Qur'an as God's word and follow practices such as the Five Pillars.
• halakhaJewish religious law, based on the Torah and developed in the Talmud and later legal codes, which guides daily life, worship, food and family matters.
• canon lawThe body of laws and regulations made by church authorities to govern a Christian church, especially the Catholic Church, its clergy and its members.

More terms: Religious Ethics and Law

• sin
• almsgiving
• religious freedom