Sharia

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Sharia,; , }} '''Sharī'ah, Shari'a, Shariah or Syariah''' () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intangible divine law; contrary to ''fiqh'', which refers to its interpretations by Islamic scholars.

Sharia, or fiqh as traditionally known, has always been used alongside customary law from the very beginning in Islamic history; has been elaborated and developed over the centuries by legal opinions issued by qualified jurists -reflecting the tendencies of different schools- and integrated and with various economic, penal and administrative laws issued by Muslim rulers; and implemented for centuries by judges in the courts until recent times, when secularism was widely adopted in Islamic societies.

Traditional theory of Islamic jurisprudence recognizes four sources for Ahkam al-sharia: the Qur'an, ''sunnah'' (or authentic ahadith), ''ijma'' (lit. consensus) (may be understood as ''ijma al-ummah'' () – a whole Islamic community consensus, or ''ijma al-aimmah'' () – a consensus by religious authorities), and ''analogical reasoning''. }} Four legal schools of Sunni Islam — Hanafi, Maliki, Shafiʽi and Hanbali — developed methodologies for deriving rulings from scriptural sources using a process known as ''ijtihad'' (lit. mental effort). Traditional jurisprudence distinguishes two principal branches of law, ''rituals and ''social dealings; subsections family law, relationships (commercial, political / administrative) and criminal law, in a wide range of topics. Its rulings are concerned with ethical standards as much as legal norms, assigning actions to one of five categories: mandatory, recommended, neutral, abhorred, and prohibited.

Over time with the necessities brought by sociological changes, on the basis of mentioned interpretative studies legal schools have emerged, reflecting the preferences of particular societies and governments, as well as Islamic scholars or imams on theoretical and practical applications of laws and regulations. Although sharia is presented as a form of governance in addition to its other aspects (especially by the contemporary Islamist understanding), some researchers see the early history of Islam, which has been modelled and exalted by most Muslims,}} not as a period when sharia was dominant, but a kind of "secular Arabic expansion".

Approaches to sharia in the 21st century vary widely, and the role and mutability of sharia in a changing world has become an increasingly debated topic in Islam. Beyond sectarian differences, fundamentalists advocate the complete and uncompromising implementation of "exact/pure sharia" without modifications, while modernists argue that it can/should be brought into line with human rights and other contemporary issues such as democracy, minority rights, freedom of thought, women's rights and banking by new jurisprudences. In Muslim majority countries, traditional laws have been widely used with or changed by European models. Judicial procedures and legal education have been brought in line with European practice likewise. While the constitutions of most Muslim-majority states contain references to sharia, its rules are largely retained only in family law and penalties in some. The Islamic revival of the late 20th century brought calls by Islamic movements for full implementation of sharia, including ''hudud'' corporal punishments, such as stoning through various propaganda methods ranging from civilian activities to terrorism. Provided by Wikipedia