Evaluating shari'a, ijtihad and jihad

Overview

Argued against describing shari'a as simply divine, argued for the doors to ijtihad remaining open and argued against the continued relevance of the lesser jihad tradition.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Give the case that shari'a is divine in nature.

   Model answer

   Its foundation is the Qur'an, which Muslims hold to be the speech of God, and the sunnah of a prophet protected from error, so the path itself comes from God and its authority does not depend on human agreement.

2. 2

   What is argued against describing shari'a as simply divine?

   Model answer

   What Muslims actually follow is fiqh, worked out by human jurists who disagreed with each other, using analogy and consensus that are human instruments, so the divine source reaches the believer only through fallible interpretation.

3. 3

   Present the case that human interpretation impairs the understanding of shari'a.

   Model answer

   Jurists reach opposite conclusions from the same texts, rulings have absorbed the customs of the societies that produced them, weak hadith have shaped law, and interpreters have often been dependent on rulers, so error and interest are built into the tradition.

4. 4

   How can it be argued that interpretation serves rather than damages shari'a?

   Model answer

   The texts require application to circumstances they do not name, the disciplined methods of usul al-fiqh restrain arbitrary reading, and difference between the schools has long been treated as a mercy that lets one revealed path serve very different societies.

5. 5

   Give the case that describing shari'a as law is misleading.

   Model answer

   Much of shari'a concerns worship, intention and personal ethics that no court can enforce, most of it addresses the conscience rather than the state, and translating it as law imports a Western picture of legislation and courts that distorts what Muslims mean by a path to be walked.

6. 6

   What supports describing shari'a as a system of law?

   Model answer

   It contains rules of evidence, contract, inheritance, marriage and punishment, it has been administered by qadis in courts for centuries, and Muslims themselves speak of Islamic legal schools, so treating it as law is neither an invention nor a mistranslation.

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