What Is Sharia Law?

Sharia is the name Muslims use for the path they treat as God’s law. Britannica calls fiqh the science of ascertaining the precise terms of that law, and it says the law is considered divine and immutable while fiqh, the human effort to know it, is imperfect and changeable. The Qur’an speaks of an ordained way and of a law and a method. It does not print one statute book that every country applies in the same words.

Key Points

• Britannica on fiqh says sharia is considered divine and immutable, and that fiqh, the human effort to know it, is imperfect and changeable.
• Qur’an 45:18CloseThen We put you, [O Muḥammad], on an ordained way concerning the matter [of religion]; so follow it and do not follow the inclinations of those who do not know.Qur’an 45:18 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source (Saheeh International) puts Muhammad on an ordained way concerning religion. This English does not print the word sharia. Muslims use that word for the path.
• Qur’an 5:48CloseAnd We have revealed to you, [O Muḥammad], the Book [i.e., the Qur’ān] in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as a criterion over it. So judge between them by what Allāh has revealed and do not follow their inclinations away from what has come to you of the truth. To each of you We prescribed a law and a method. Had Allāh willed, He would have made you one nation [united in religion], but [He intended] to test you in what He has given you; so race to [all that is] good. To Allāh is your return all together, and He will [then] inform you concerning that over which you used to differ.Qur’an 5:48 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says that to each community God prescribed a law and a method.
• Qur’an 42:13CloseHe has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you, [O Muḥammad], and what We enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus - to establish the religion and not be divided therein. Difficult for those who associate others with Allāh is that to which you invite them. Allāh chooses for Himself whom He wills and guides to Himself whoever turns back [to Him].Qur’an 42:13 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says God ordained for the hearers the religion he enjoined on Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus: to establish the religion and not be divided.
• Sunni schools of law are named on What Do Sunni Muslims Believe?: Hanafi, Shafi‘i, Maliki, and Hanbali, from a Pew portrait. Shia use of the imams’ reports is What Do Shia Muslims Believe?.
• Matthew 5:17CloseThink not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.Matthew 5:17 · King James VersionOpen source has Jesus say he came to fulfil the law and the prophets. Hebrews 8:13CloseIn that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.Hebrews 8:13 · King James VersionOpen source calls the first covenant old. What Does Jihad Mean in the Qur’an and Hadith? is Qur’an 9:29 and the jizya.

Divine Law and Human Fiqh

Britannica says:

While Sharīʿah is considered to be divine and immutable, fiqh, the human effort to know the Sharīʿah, is imperfect and changeable.

The same article calls fiqh Muslim jurisprudence, the science of ascertaining the precise terms of the sharia, or Islamic law. It calls the collective sources of that jurisprudence by an Arabic name that means the roots of jurisprudence. It does not, on this page, list those roots one by one. This article does not add a list Britannica’s paragraph does not give.

Qur’an 45:18CloseThen We put you, [O Muḥammad], on an ordained way concerning the matter [of religion]; so follow it and do not follow the inclinations of those who do not know.Qur’an 45:18 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source (Saheeh International) says God put Muhammad on an ordained way concerning the matter of religion, and tells him to follow it and not to follow the inclinations of those who do not know. Qur’an 5:48CloseAnd We have revealed to you, [O Muḥammad], the Book [i.e., the Qur’ān] in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as a criterion over it. So judge between them by what Allāh has revealed and do not follow their inclinations away from what has come to you of the truth. To each of you We prescribed a law and a method. Had Allāh willed, He would have made you one nation [united in religion], but [He intended] to test you in what He has given you; so race to [all that is] good. To Allāh is your return all together, and He will [then] inform you concerning that over which you used to differ.Qur’an 5:48 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says God prescribed to each a law and a method, and that if God had willed he would have made people one nation. Qur’an 42:13CloseHe has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you, [O Muḥammad], and what We enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus - to establish the religion and not be divided therein. Difficult for those who associate others with Allāh is that to which you invite them. Allāh chooses for Himself whom He wills and guides to Himself whoever turns back [to Him].Qur’an 42:13 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says what was ordained is the religion enjoined on Noah and revealed to Muhammad, and enjoined on Abraham, Moses, and Jesus: establish the religion and do not be divided in it. Christians read the Gospel’s Jesus as God the Son, not as a prophet inside that list. Was Jesus a Muslim? The Trinity

Schools of Law

What Do Sunni Muslims Believe? cites Pew’s 2009 portrait, which names four Sunni law schools: Hanafi, Shafi‘i, Maliki, and Hanbali, and mentions Wahhabi and Salafi currents inside the Sunni world. Those are schools and movements inside one branch. They are not four religions, and they are not one identical code. Sunni Islam

What Do Shia Muslims Believe? is the other branch’s use of the imams’ reports. This page does not invent a school name that article does not use. Which Muslims Accept Which Hadith? is who treats Bukhari and the other collections as proof. A rule that rests only on a Sunni report is not, on that page, a rule every Shia reader accepts. The Qur’an sentences above are the shared text.

Biblical Law and the New Covenant

The law of Moses is the commands given to Israel: worship, the Sabbath, food, and the courts. Exodus 20:2CloseI am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.Exodus 20:2 · King James VersionOpen source opens the ten commandments. Leviticus 11:10CloseAnd all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:Leviticus 11:10 · King James VersionOpen source is one food rule, about water creatures without fins and scales. When Was Judaism Established?

Matthew 5:17CloseThink not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.Matthew 5:17 · King James VersionOpen source, King James Version:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Matthew 5:17 · King James Version

Matthew 26:28CloseFor this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.Matthew 26:28 · King James VersionOpen source has Jesus call the cup his blood of the new testament, shed for many for the remission of sins. Hebrews 8:13CloseIn that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.Hebrews 8:13 · King James VersionOpen source says that in speaking of a new covenant, he has made the first old, and that what decays and grows old is ready to vanish away. Christians read the moral weight of the commandments as still addressing them, and the temple sacrifices and food boundary as fulfilled in Christ. They do not treat fiqh as a second law beside that covenant.

Qur’an 5:47CloseAnd let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allāh has revealed therein. And whoever does not judge by what Allāh has revealed - then it is those who are the defiantly disobedient.Qur’an 5:47 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source tells the People of the Gospel to judge by what God revealed in it, and calls those who do not judge by what God revealed defiantly disobedient. What Does Jihad Mean in the Qur’an and Hadith? quotes Qur’an 9:29CloseFight against those who do not believe in Allāh or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allāh and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth [i.e., Islām] from those who were given the Scripture - [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.Qur’an 9:29 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source: fight those who were given the Scripture until they pay the jizya and feel themselves subdued. Both sentences are in the book. Christians do not accept either as a rule over the church. Jesus is God, and the gospel is the news of his death and resurrection, not a law code parallel to fiqh. The Resurrection of Jesus

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Sharia in Simple Words?

The path Muslims treat as God’s law. Britannica says that path is considered divine and unchanging, and that fiqh, the human work of stating its terms, can change. Qur’an 5:48CloseAnd We have revealed to you, [O Muḥammad], the Book [i.e., the Qur’ān] in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as a criterion over it. So judge between them by what Allāh has revealed and do not follow their inclinations away from what has come to you of the truth. To each of you We prescribed a law and a method. Had Allāh willed, He would have made you one nation [united in religion], but [He intended] to test you in what He has given you; so race to [all that is] good. To Allāh is your return all together, and He will [then] inform you concerning that over which you used to differ.Qur’an 5:48 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says each community was given a law and a method.

What Does the Word Mean in English?

Qur’an 45:18CloseThen We put you, [O Muḥammad], on an ordained way concerning the matter [of religion]; so follow it and do not follow the inclinations of those who do not know.Qur’an 45:18 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says “an ordained way concerning the matter of religion.” Britannica equates the later legal term with Islamic law. This page does not print the Arabic letters.

What Does the Qur’an Say About Christians and the Law?

Qur’an 5:47CloseAnd let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allāh has revealed therein. And whoever does not judge by what Allāh has revealed - then it is those who are the defiantly disobedient.Qur’an 5:47 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source tells the People of the Gospel to judge by the Gospel. Qur’an 9:29CloseFight against those who do not believe in Allāh or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allāh and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth [i.e., Islām] from those who were given the Scripture - [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.Qur’an 9:29 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source, on the jihad page, speaks of fighting the People of the Scripture until they pay the jizya. What Does Jihad Mean in the Qur’an and Hadith?

What Does the Qur’an Forbid?

This page does not print a full code. Qur’an 4:48CloseIndeed, Allāh does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allāh has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin.Qur’an 4:48 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source says God does not forgive association with him, and that he forgives what is less than that for whom he wills. It calls association a tremendous sin. Qur’an 5:3CloseProhibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allāh, and [those animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able to] slaughter [before its death], and those which are sacrificed on stone altars, and [prohibited is] that you seek decision through divining arrows. That is grave disobedience. This day those who disbelieve have despaired of [defeating] your religion; so fear them not, but fear Me. This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islām as religion. But whoever is forced by severe hunger with no inclination to sin - then indeed, Allāh is Forgiving and Merciful.Qur’an 5:3 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source prohibits, among other things, the flesh of swine and what is dedicated to other than God. Why Do Muslim Women Wear the Hijab? is the garment verses, which are not a punishment code.

Which Country Has No Muslims?

This page has no census, and it does not name a country as empty of Muslims.

What Are the Three Greatest Sins?

No numbered list of three was opened for this page. The verse in hand is Qur’an 4:48CloseIndeed, Allāh does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allāh has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin.Qur’an 4:48 · Saheeh InternationalOpen source: God does not forgive association with him, and that association is a tremendous sin.