An Introduction to Islamic Law Read Online Free PDF Page A

arose. That Islamic law was accused of rigidity by European colonialism to justify – as we shall see later – the dismantling of the Sharia system is therefore not only wrong but highly ironic.
Contents and arrangement of legal subjects
     
    Muslim jurists viewed the Sharia as a mandate to regulate all human conduct, from religious rituals and family relations to commerce, crime and much else. The following is an overview of the contents and range of subjects treated in legal works, from short manuals to much longer treatises. These works tended to differ from each other in terms of the organization of their subject matter, although the chapters on ritual in these works always occupied first place and followed a fixed order (i.e., ablution, prayer, alms-tax, fasting and pilgrimage). The differences in the order of treatment of other legal spheres, at times great, can be attributed to the various ways theLEGAL SCHOOLS (to be discussed in chapter 3 ) conceived of the logical and juristic connections between one area of law and another, which is to say that the most significant organizational variations between and among these works can be attributed to school affiliation and the particular commentarial and interpretive tradition in each of them.
    Generally, Muslim jurists gave the main topics of law the title kitab (“book”), e.g., the Book of Agency, which, in our modern organizational scheme, we recognize as a chapter. A sub-chapter was termed “ bab ,” which would in turn be broken into a number of fasl s (sections).
    Many jurists conceived of the whole of Islamic law as falling into four major fields, which were called “the four quarters,” i.e., “rituals, sales, marriage and injuries.” Each of these terms, used in this context metaphorically, stands for a staggering variety of subjects that belong to a single quarter. Thus, the “quarter of sales” would encompass, among many other subjects, partnerships, guaranty, gifts and bequests, while that of “marriage” would cover as varied a field as dissolution of matrimony, foster relationships, custody, and wifely and family support. In the same vein, the “quarter of injuries” includes homicide, the Quranic punishments and the laws of war and peace, among other topics. Works generally ended with what we term procedural law, supplemented by coverage of slave manumission. Other works ended instead with inheritance and bequests.
    What follows is a schematic account of legal subject matter. It will be noticed that the main “book” topics are followed by percentages indicating the space typically allocated to the discussion of each topic in legal works. Obviously, works differed from each other in this respect, and so what are given here are rough estimates of space, intended to give a general idea of the quantitative weight of each subject in the overall coverage of the law. However, the legal works had much in common intheir proportionate coverage of the law. For example, the Book of Pledge, however short or long it is in various works, can never reach the magnitude of the Book of Prayer or that of Sales.
    A. The First Quarter
    1. Book of Purity and Washing (7%)
    2. Book of Prayer (14%)
    3. Book of Alms-Tax (4%)
    4. Book of Fasting (3%)
    5. Book of Pilgrimage (6%)
    6. Book of Food and Drink (less than 1%) [some jurists discuss this and the following Book toward the end of the Third Quarter]
    7. Book of Hunting and Butchering Animals (less than 1%)
     
    B. The Second Quarter
     
[Some jurists treat these topics in the Third Quarter, with the exception of inheritance and bequests which are generally delayed to the very end of their works.]
     
    8. Book of Sales (4%)
    9. Book of Pledge (1%)
    10. Book of Insolvency and Interdiction (1%)
    11. Book of Amicable Settlement (less than 1%)
    12. Book of Transfer (less than 1%)
    13. Book of Guaranty (less than 1%)
    14. Book of Partnership (less than 1%)
    15. Book of Agency (1%)
    16. Book of Acknowledgments