The Shari’ah and the Deen

The Shari’ah and the Deen

The Shari'ah is part of the Deen, or faith. The application of which is an act of ibadah, (worship) in itself, for ibadah signifies obedience to Allah by adhering to His commands, and refraining from His prohibitions.

Allah has commanded us to adhere to what He has sent down to us. Allah says:

Adhere to what has been sent down to you from your Rubb.

And He says:

And (say) this is My path leading straight. So follow it, and do not follow other ways lest they lead you away from His way.

Allah has made manifest in His Book everything mankind needs, and has been interpreted and expounded perfectly, and sufficiently by His Messenger, peace be upon him. All of which is preserved, and made available to all at all times and places. The main objective of Islam is to preserve the following basics:



1- The Deen

Allah has passed the laws and ordinances, sent the Messengers, and revealed His Books to preserve the deen, and guard it against deviation, and to dedicate all acts of worship to Allah alone. He has prescribed the Jihad in order to keep His Word supreme, and to efface the barriers that bar men from worshipping their Rubb.



2- The Intellect

Islam prohibits everything that incapacitates the intellect whether it is food, drink, or the like. Allah says:

Verily, the liquor, gambling, the idols, and divining arrows are only abomination of Satan's work.



3- The Individual

Islam prohibits too, everything that destroys the individual. A person is not allowed to inflict any harm upon himself, or to commit suicide, Inflicting harm upon others is also prohibited, and so is killing others or giving them what may weaken them physically. Hence requital in the cases of homicide is legitimized for the protection of man's life. Executing an evil person is better than sparing his life to kill more people. There is no sense in showing mercy to the murderer, and depriving the victimized of it, i.e. the victim's family.



4- The Property

Earning one's own living, and making money are legitimate quests, and so is preserving them. Wasting wealth is unlawful, and spending it extravagantly on lawful things is prohibited in Islam. Allah says:

Eat and drink, and do not be wasteful.

It is unlawful for a person to abuse his own wealth, or abuse the wealth of others. It is not permissible for any one to help himself to others' properties without their consent. It is prohibited to possess people's property illegally. It is for this reason that the thief's hand is amputated as a punishment. Similarly, usury is prohibited to safeguard people's properties against abusiveness.



5- The Honor

Islam protects man's honor, and prohibits libeling, or abusing the honor, or reputation of the others. Therefore Islam preserves the right of people to protect their honor, and renders it inviolable, and the abuse of which is made punitive.

After this review of the five basic necessities that Shari'ah purposed to preserve, we must know the sources of the Shari'ah from which we deduce the laws, and rulings.



The Shari'ahs' Sources (Sources of Legislation)

The sources of the Shari'ah are the Qur'an, and the Sunnah of the Messenger, peace be upon him, which is the explanation of the Qur'an. The scholars have exerted great efforts for the deduction of rulings from these two great sources. Since the Islamic Shari'ah is the last of all divine laws, it is designed to suit every age and place; Hence, the judicial rulings deduced by the jurists are not alike, because such rulings are based on their understanding of the texts. The deduced rulings referred to as al-fiqh, or jurisprudence, were later compiled by different imams. There are four renowned madthahibs, or schools of thought established by different imams or scholars, whose teachings were widespread, and adhered to by large number of students. The four schools of thoughts are:

Al-Hanafi madth'hab, by Imam Abu Hanifa, (d.150/767).
Ash Shafi'ee, by Imam Muhammad bin Idrees ash-Shafi'ee (d 205/820).
Al-Malikee, by Imam Malik bin Anas (d 179/795).
Al-Hanbali, by Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (d 241/855).


A person who is incapable of comprehending rulings, or deducing them from the Book and the Sunnah, he may consult any trustworthy man of knowledge who is known to be adhering to the correct conviction of ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah.

Al-Jihad

In order to preserve Islam, and convey it to people at large, and to remove the obstacles in its way, Allah, the Exalted, has decreed jihad as a legitimate institution or warfare. Jihad also is meant to deliver men from those who enslave them, and from submissiveness to men, such as rulers, and shaiks, and to stop them from grave, tree, stone worshipping, and from all other idols, and make them submit to Allah alone after having lived in the darkness of ignorance bereft of the light of the truth. In other words, jihad is legitimized to help people shun worshipping their fellow men to worship the Rubb of men, and replace them the tightness of this world with the ampleness of the world to come.

Having reviewed the principles of Islam, we realize that it is incumbent upon us, individually and as a whole, to apply them all.