Sources of Muslim Law:

Sources means the origin, a place from which a person or thing has emerged. There can only one source of law and that is the Indian Parliament and the State legislatures, which are the law-making bodies of our nation. But since the personal laws are based on the customs and practices of the religion, it is not possible to do away with them and frame the laws completely adverse to the religious beliefs.

The Islamic law is referred as “Sharia”. Islam has its own personal, civil, criminal, evidence and international law. Following are the types of sources under Muslim Law

1) Ancient Sources

2) Customary Sources

3) Modern Sources

Image Credit: www.slideshare.net

1) Ancient sources of Muslim law:

These are also called as primary sources of Muslim law. Ancient sources are those sources which are based on religious beliefs mentioned in Holy Scriptures or books. These sources are universally accepted as authentic and these sources shall be relied before any other source. For any question relating to the personal life of family, the Muslims shall resort to these ancient sources of law to understand the legal opinion in such situations. The ancient sources are the governing pillars of this religion. Even today in 21^st century, most of the Muslim personal laws are uncodified and some which are codifies are not being followed because of conflict with their traditional sources.

There are five types of religious sources of Muslim Law:

1) Quran: It is the collection of commandments communicated to prophet Muhammad by Allah through Angel Jibrail. It’s authority is paramount.

2) Sunnah: Just as Quran is the express revelation through the prophet, the Sunnah are implied revelations in the precepts and sayings of the prophet, not written down in his lifetime, but preserved by traditions and handed down by authorities agents.

3) Hadith: Just as Quran is the express revelation through the prophet, the Hadith or Hadis are implied revelations in the precepts and sayings of the prophet, not written down in his lifetime, but preserved by traditions and handed down by authorities agents.

4) Ijma: Ijma means the consensus of the companions and followers of the prophet Muhammad. Abdur Rahim defines it as ‘the agreement of the jurists among the followers of the prophet in a particular age on particular question.’

5) Qiyas: Qiyas means ‘measuring’, ‘accord’ or ‘equality’. In Muslim jurisprudence it means an extension of law from the original text by means of common sense. According to Jung, ‘it is a process of deduction applying the law of the text to the cases which, though not covered by the language of the text, are nevertheless covered by the reason of the text.’

2) Customary sources:

The Muslim people are governed by some informal laws based on customary practices, which differ from cultural, social and political scenario. A custom is a tradition passing on from generation to another, which originally governed human conduct and obtained the force of law in a particular locality. Customs are basically practices that people follow continuously for a long period of time. In fact, people follow them for so long that they obtain the status of law in some cases. It is a natural source of law.

3) Modern Sources:

Apart from ancient and customary sources enlisted above, secondary sources or modern sources also govern Muslim law.

1) Legislation: There have been many legislative enactments which have considerably amplified, altered or modified the original Muslim law.

e.g. 1) Shariat Act, 1937; 2) The Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939; 3) The Muslim Women (Protection of Right on Divorce) Act, 1986 etc.

2) Judicial Precedents: Interpretation of Muslim law by the judges of the Indian High Courts and Supreme Court continue in modern times to supplement and modify the Islamic law. These decisions are regarded as precedents for future cases.

3) Other modern sources: These are based on law of equity and good conscience. Sometimes analogical deductions failed to satisfy the jurists owing to the narrowness and inadaptability of the habits due to hardship to public. In such case a jurist could use good conscience. These may include the following:

i) Isti Hasan – it is based on the jurist preference of equity.

ii) Isti Salah – it is based on the jurist preference of public interest.

iii) Ijtehad – Shariyat is based on this.

iv) Taqlid – It is nothing but the law of precedents.

v) Fatwas – These are decisions of Muslim judges.

Thanks for reading till the end. Please follow and share this blog for more law notes.