# What Is Sharia Law? > Muslims use sharia for the path they treat as God’s law. Britannica says that law is considered divine and immutable, and that fiqh, the human effort to state it, is changeable. The Qur’an speaks of an ordained way and of a law and a method. - Canonical: https://apologetics.wiki/islam/what-is-sharia-law - Religions: Islam - Denominations: none - Beliefs: none - Tags: islam, sharia, quran - Updated: 2026-10-11 - Author: [Paul Ambrose](https://apologetics.wiki/author/hi-its-paul) ([GitHub](https://github.com/hi-its-paul)) 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](https://www.britannica.com/topic/fiqh) says sharia is considered divine and immutable, and that fiqh, the human effort to know it, is imperfect and changeable. - [Qur’an 45:18](https://quran.com/45/18) (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 5:48](https://quran.com/5/48) says that to each community God prescribed a law and a method. - [Qur’an 42:13](https://quran.com/42/13) 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?](/sunni-islam/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?](/shia-islam/what-do-shia-muslims-believe). - [Matthew 5:17](/bible/matthew/5/17) has Jesus say he came to fulfil the law and the prophets. [Hebrews 8:13](/bible/hebrews/8/13) calls the first covenant old. [What Does Jihad Mean in the Qur’an and Hadith?](/islam/what-does-jihad-mean) is Qur’an 9:29 and the jizya. ## Divine Law and Human Fiqh [Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/topic/fiqh) 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 45:18](https://quran.com/45/18) (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 5:48](https://quran.com/5/48) 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 42:13](https://quran.com/42/13) 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?](/islam/was-jesus-a-muslim) [The Trinity](/christianity/the-trinity) ## Schools of Law [What Do Sunni Muslims Believe?](/sunni-islam/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](/sunni-islam) [What Do Shia Muslims Believe?](/shia-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?](/islam/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 20:2](/bible/exodus/20/2) opens the ten commandments. [Leviticus 11:10](/bible/leviticus/11/10) is one food rule, about water creatures without fins and scales. [When Was Judaism Established?](/judaism/when-was-judaism-established) [Matthew 5:17](/bible/matthew/5/17), 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 26:28](/bible/matthew/26/28) has Jesus call the cup his blood of the new testament, shed for many for the remission of sins. [Hebrews 8:13](/bible/hebrews/8/13) 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 5:47](https://quran.com/5/47) 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?](/islam/what-does-jihad-mean) quotes [Qur’an 9:29](https://quran.com/9/29): 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](/christianity/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 5:48](https://quran.com/5/48) says each community was given a law and a method. ### What Does the Word Mean in English? [Qur’an 45:18](https://quran.com/45/18) 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 5:47](https://quran.com/5/47) tells the People of the Gospel to judge by the Gospel. [Qur’an 9:29](https://quran.com/9/29), 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?](/islam/what-does-jihad-mean) ### What Does the Qur’an Forbid? This page does not print a full code. [Qur’an 4:48](https://quran.com/4/48) 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 5:3](https://quran.com/5/3) prohibits, among other things, the flesh of swine and what is dedicated to other than God. [Why Do Muslim Women Wear the Hijab?](/islam/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 4:48](https://quran.com/4/48): God does not forgive association with him, and that association is a tremendous sin. ## Passages Quoted on This Page ### Qur’an 45:18 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/45/18) > Then 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 5:48 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/5/48) > And 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 42:13 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/42/13) > He 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]. ### Hebrews 8:13 King James Version. > In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. ### Exodus 20:2 King James Version. > I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ### Leviticus 11:10 King James Version. > And 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: ### Matthew 26:28 King James Version. > For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. ### Qur’an 5:47 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/5/47) > And 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 9:29 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/9/29) > Fight 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 4:48 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/4/48) > Indeed, 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 5:3 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/5/3) > Prohibited 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. ## Sources Numbered to match the HTML References list. Item 1 is `#ref-1` under `#references`. Scripture links to the King James Version on this site. 1. [Encyclopaedia Britannica, fiqh](https://www.britannica.com/topic/fiqh) (Fiqh is the science of ascertaining the terms of the sharia. The sharia is considered divine and immutable. Fiqh is imperfect and changeable. The collective sources are called usul al-fiqh.) 2. [Qur’an, 45:18; 5:48; 42:13; 5:47; 4:48; 5:3](https://quran.com/45/18) (Saheeh International, as published on Quran.com. The link is 45:18.) 3. [Gospel of Matthew, 5:17; 26:28](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/matthew/5/17). King James Version 4. [Letter to the Hebrews, 8:13](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/hebrews/8/13). King James Version ## See Also - [Did Jesus Die on the Cross?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/did-jesus-die-on-the-cross) — The Qur'an is widely read as saying Jesus was not crucified. The Gospels, Paul, and two Roman-era historians say he was. - [Do Muslims Believe in Jesus?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/jesus-in-the-quran-and-the-gospels) — Yes. Muslims believe Jesus was born of Mary and is the Messiah. They do not believe he is God or that he died on the cross. Jesus in the Qur’an and the Gospels is that comparison. - [Does Jesus Do What Only God Does?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/does-jesus-do-what-only-god-does) — The Qur'an says God gives life to the dead, is the First and the Last, and comes with the angels. The Gospel says Jesus does those things. - [Has the Bible Been Changed? The Muslim Corruption Claim](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/was-the-bible-corrupted) — The Qur'an accuses some People of the Scripture of distorting words and of writing scripture with their own hands. It also speaks of the Torah and the Gospel as books still in their possession. - [Has the Qur’an Been Changed?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/has-the-quran-been-changed) — Qur’an 15:9 says God guards the message. Sahih reports also describe a later collection, burned copies, and verses companions said they recited that are not in the book. ## History [View history on GitHub](https://github.com/Apologetics-Wiki/apologetics-wiki/commits/main/src/content/articles/what-is-sharia-law.md)