Religion And Law In Islam

Great Essays
In today’s contemporary society religion and law are viewed as two distinct categories, which seem to never interconnect or even cross lines with one another. Religion is often regarded as a personal entity that has no effect on the community as a whole. This westernized view of religion is true to a certain extent— religion is a personal choice, but it is also a method of control. Religion, in this case, Islam, is crafted in such a way that satisfies the wellbeing of the individual, and along with the social and political structure of the society. Authority becomes rather firm and just when laws are derived from religion. Therefore, law and religion, are in fact one unified form of government. After the death of Muhammed and the four rightly …show more content…
He uses the Sunnah in coherence with the qur’anic text, to help refine and actualize conclusions being drawn about a specific topic. This seen clearly through this example:
As for the thief, male and female, cut off their hands as a retribution for that with which they have charged themselves—a chastisement from God. (5:42)
The Apostle decreed that "Hands should neither be cut off for the stealing of fruits nor the spadix of a palm tree and that the hand of the thief should not be cut off unless the price of the thing stolen is a quarter of a dinar or
…show more content…
At this time, the Islamic community was expanding and there were many interactions between the Muslim community and the non-Muslims. This essentially paved the way for westernized views to take over whether it 's Greek philosophy or Roman law. Certain Muslim scholars become overly influenced by these philosophies that they started to apply to Islamic theories; they are often referred to the Mu 'tazilites. Vernon O. Egger writes, “Mu’tazilism is the result of a desire to use Greek concepts and methods of argument in the defense of Islam. Characteristically, they relied upon analogy rather than the syllogism of the philosophers, and they were exclusively interested in applying and defending religious topics.” This is exactly what Shafi’i tried to avoid by developing his strategic method of formulating Islamic theories. Mu 'tazilites use Greek philosophy as a lens to interrupt the Quran and the Sunnah, and from there they articulate law, and claim it Islamic inspired. This is problematic since the Quran and the Sunnah have their own philosophy and wisdom. Mu 'tazilism is literally taking two different, unrelated theories, and trying to find a logical explanation on how they might connect-- it does not work. Islamic law should be derived from within the divine

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Furthermore, non-Muslims shared religious places and tools with each other and shared even with the Muslims. “Christian women used both the Jewish cemetery and Muslim mausoleums when collecting earth from freshly dug graves to use against evil spirits”(80). One can find out that Christians also admited the god of Judaism and Islam. Since they were all monotheism they admited each other’s religion and its culture. Because they shared the culture and laws of their religions, it was not uncommon to see people from different religions following the law of Islam and using the Islamic court even though they had problem with the people who believed the same religion.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Muslim Religion Dbq Essay

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In 610 Ce, a merchant trader from Mecca made one of his frequent visit to a cave on nearby mount Hira for muhammad it was a time to pray. According to Muhammad , it was on this visit to mt. hira that the archangel gabriel squeezed him hard and caused words to flow from his mouth, the words said that allah was the one god. In 610 mecca was a bustling arabian trade town it was also where arab pagans came to perform rituals at the sacred ka’ba . after receiving allahs word for two years .…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira, a married couple, sold a piece of land while keeping part of the profit to themselves. Together, they brought the rest of the money to the disciples to make an offering of it claiming to have given the full amount. Peter questioned Ananias and he immediately fell dead after lying to the apostles. With no knowledge of what happened to Ananias, Sapphira came in shortly after and was questioned in a similar fashion and she immediately dropped dead as well. This put fear into those who witnessed the occurrence.…

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Islam Dbq

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Through the 7th and 11th centuries, Islam grew rapidly and so did the rules that came for the people living in the areas the Arabs conquered. Jews, Christians and even some Muslims, such as the Zanj people were just some of the examples in the documents that are conquered by the Arabians. The documents are all connected in a similar way relating to Islam and the expansion of the religion through the 7th and 11th centuries. You can see a pattern in the way people that are accustomed to the areas that Muslims conquered are treated. Not only do people become divided, but Islam became a force throughout India to West Africa.…

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rasha Diab, author of Shades of Sulh: The Rhetorics of Arab-Islamic Reconciliation, states that the literal definition of the word sulh means “reconciliation”, and that it “captures the practices, rituals, processes, and goals of sulh, a very old sociopolitical traditional reconciliation practice in the Arab world that relies heavily on mediation” and attempts to realize the people’s rights in any act of aggression (Diab 42). Diab asserts that not only does sulh discourse merge both judicial and human rights discourses, but it also focuses on an inclusive pattern of rhetorical, constitutive, persuasive, and visionary expression that is eclipsed by the need to seek justice and peace. She mentions that sulh, as a traditional peacemaking practice,…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In order to understand the diverging factions that emerge later during Islamic history, one has to understand the diversity of thought during the Golden Age. As mentioned earlier, increased stability allowed scholars to dive into their thoughts and Islamic philosophers, scholars and Sufi’s started to expand on the ambiguous sections of Islamic Theology. Coupled with the anxiety of a changing world this had a profound effect on Islamic Civilization. Longing for stability brought about traditional patterns of society. For the Muslim world, it meant patriarchal and other familiar Arab and Byzantine…

    • 1564 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Five pillars of Islam are important duties that Muslims have to do daily. The Five Pillars of Islam are the basic foundation of Islam, it center around God, and it also centers around the three prophets Muhammad, Abraham, and Ishmael. The pillars tell all Muslims that God is the only god to worship and Muhammad is his messenger. An important principle is that all things belong to God. The name of the five pillars are shahada, salat, zakat, sawm, and hajj.…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Megan Reid is an Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California. Reid states from the beginning of her book Law and Piety in Medieval Islam that the goal of her writing is to show culture effecting law in the Medieval Islamic world using primary sources such as treaties, law manuals, and biographies. Reid uses manuals of law, fatwa collections, chronicles and obituaries to show what it meant to be a good medieval Muslim. The author states that she wants to show how ritual plays a large part in the personal life of Muslims. Piety is a big part of Reid’s book.…

    • 1473 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The main subject of Islam: Empire Of Faith is to educate watchers about the history of the Islamic culture and how it affects the world today. Some things that were good about the film was that it evaluated and explained on what the Islamic people believe. Another thing is that it deepens our understanding of how the Islamic faith started and grew into the large religion it is today. Some things I didn't like about the film's context…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The five tenets of Islam (also known as the five pillars of Islam)These five acts are considered mandatory by the believers of Muslim faith. The first is Shahanda, which is a declaration that professes that Muhammad is Allah's messenger and that Allah is the only god. The second pillar is Salat. This one is the islamic prayer, Salata is compiled of five prayers throughout the day: Fajr is at dawn, Dhur is noon,Asr is the afternoon, Maghirib is the evening, and finally isha is nighttime. These prayers are recited when facing the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca.…

    • 171 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Golden Age Of Islam

    • 100 Words
    • 1 Pages

    The second key achievement we will go into is the political achievement. The way politics were a key achievement of the Golden Age of Islam was the system of law. The system of law was basically a system that the people in the Golden Age of Islam created using the Qur’an to help base it.…

    • 100 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The world three important religions; Islam, Christianity and Judaism are often debated for their competing and differentiated doctrines and beliefs system. However, this essay argues that there are more similarities between these religions than differences. In order to understand the similarities and differences between these religions, it is important to know about their basic belief system. Islam is a religion, which emerged in the 7th century and the followers of Islam are known as Muslims. Muslims follow the teachings of Quran and Sunnah (way of life) of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).…

    • 1254 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Common Law And Islamic Law

    • 1494 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Legal Traditions of the World: Sustainable Diversity in Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Khadduri, Majid. 1956. “Islam and the Modern Law of Nations.” American Journal of International Law, 50(2): 358-372.…

    • 1494 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is said the top three religions Christianity, Judaism and Islam were created in the Middle East. (Hoffman, 1) In fact, many people believe the Middle East is home to many significant temples and lands. Majority of the population in the Middle East are Muslims, which is the following and practicing of Islam. Muhammad the founder of Islam believed the basic rules of practicing Islam was the worshiping of one god-Allah, the reverence of god, and the act of sharing ones wealth with others. With Islam being the most prevalent religion in the Middle East, I believe the origination as well as the involvement of it today holds a significant impact over the modern Middle East.…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    1. Explain clearly and briefly, in your own words, the six fundamentals of Islamic belief. The six fundamental Islamic belief are a belief in God, Angels, Books, Messengers, Divine Destiny, and the Last Day. In regard to the belief in God, it is said that God has all attributes of perfection and there is no imperfection.…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays