{"id":4722,"date":"2021-05-30T09:17:20","date_gmt":"2021-05-30T08:17:20","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2021-05-30T09:17:20","modified_gmt":"2021-05-30T08:17:20","slug":"the-sources-of-the-sharia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/4722\/the-sources-of-the-sharia\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sources of the Sharia"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sources of the Sharia<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. The Qur\u2019\u0101n & the Sunna of the Prophet<\/strong>
\nThe Muslims during the days of Prophet Muhammad lived by the shar\u012b\u2018a by following the Qur\u2019\u0101n and the Sunna. Sunna means the example of the Prophet. (Sunna is sometimes written as \u2018sunnat\u2019.)
\nWas not the Qur\\’\u0101n enough on its own? The Qur\\’\u0101n is a book of guidance which was sent for the entire human world till the end of time. As such, it only deals with the general issues and mentions only the basic principles underlying the Muslim way of life. The Qur\\’\u0101n is more like a constitution than a book of law. The deals were left to the Prophet.
\nThe Qur\\’\u0101n itself clearly explained this relationship between the Prophet and itself in the following verses: He raised up among the common people a Messenger from among themselves to recite to them His revelations, to purify them, and to teach them the Book and the wisdom. (62:2)
\nAnd We have revealed to you (O Muhammad) the Reminder (that is, the Qur\\’\u0101n) so you may clarify to the people what has been revealed to them, and so that they may reflect. (16:44)
\nThese two verses definitely prove that Prophet Muhammad was not just a \u2018mail-man\u2019 whose only job was to deliver the Qur\\’\u0101n to us. He was a teacher and a commentator of the Qur\\’\u0101n. Even his actions are a source of guidance for Muslims: You have a good example in Allah\\’s Messenger for whosoever hopes for God and the last day, and remembers God oft. (33:21)
\nThe obedience to the Prophet has been considered as the proof of loving Allah: Say (O Muhammad), `If you love Allah, then follow me; (if you do so) Allah will love you and forgive for you your sins.\\’ (3:31) To show the importance of obeying the Prophet, Allah further says: Whoever obeys the Prophet has surely obeyed Allah. (4:80)
\nThe Qur\\’\u0101n is not only silent on the details of things which can change over time, it is also silent on the rules of worship which can never change. For example, the Qur\u2019\u0101n in twenty-five different places commands the Muslims to say the daily prayers (sal\u0101t), but not once has All\u0101h explained how the Muslims are to say their prayers. (The only exception to this statement is that of sal\u0101tu \u2019l-khawf, the prayer said in a battle-field or when one is in danger.) This silence on the part of the Qur\u2019\u0101n, I believe, was for the specific purpose of forcing the people to go to the Prophet, ask him for details and follow his example.<\/p>\n

2. The Example of the Imams<\/strong>
\nAfter the Prophet\u2019s death, the Muslims were very much divided on the issue of leadership. This gave birth to the two groups known as the Shi\u2018a and the Sunnis. The Shi\u2018a lived by the shar\u012b\u2018a by following the Qur\u2019\u0101n, and the sunna of the Prophet and of the Imams.
\nThe sunna, in Shi\u2018a definition, means \u201cthe sayings, deeds and silent approval of the Prophet and the twelve infallible Imams of Ahlu \\’l-bayt.\u201d Although the issue of the leadership has already been discussed in another lesson in Part One, I would like to mention one reason why the Imams of Ahlu \u2019l-bayt are preferable as the source of the shar\u012b\u2018a than anyone else.
\nThe Muslims of the early days realized the importance of the Prophet\u2019s sunna and started to memorize his sayings known as hadith. Later generations preserved the saying they had heard from the companions of the Prophet in the books of hadith. Even the actions of the Prophet, observed by his companions, were preserved in writing. But this process of preserving the sunna of the Prophet was not immune from mistakes and forgery. Many sayings were invented and wrongfully attributed to the Prophet during the early period of the Islamic history, especially during the Umayyid era. At times, the rulers bribed the companions to fabricate \u2018had\u012bth\u2019 in their favour and\/or against their opponents. At other times, some people invented \u2018had\u012bth\u2019 for apparently good causes not realizing that they were using the wrong means of trying to make people more religious!
\nAbu \u2018Ismah, Faraj bin Abi Maryam al-Marwazi was asked: \u201cFrom where have you got all these traditions narrated through \u2018Ikrimah, from Ibn \u2018Abb\u0101s, from the Prophet, describing the reward of reciting each and every s\u016brah (chapter) of the Qur\u2019\u0101n?\u201d He said, \u201cI found people interested only in the fiqh of Abu Han\u012bfah and magh\u0101zi of Ibn Ish\u0101q; therefore, I forged these ah\u0101d\u012bth for the pleasure of God to bring them back to the Qur\u2019\u0101n.\u201d
\nIn this background of the early development of had\u012bth, we must find an authentic and informed source for the sunna of the Prophet. When you look at the Muslims of the Prophet\u2019s days, you can find no one who was more knowledgeable, informed, reliable and closer to the Prophet than the Ahlu \u2019l-bayt, the family of the Prophet: F\u0101timah, \u2018Ali and their sons. After all, it is the Qur\u2019\u0101n which testifies to their spiritual purity of the highest form by saying: \u201cVerily Allah intends to purify you, O the Ahlu \u2019l-bayt, a thorough purification.\u201d (33:33) Combine this verse about the Ahlu \u2019l-bayt\u2019s purity with the following: \u201cIt is the holy Qur\u2019\u0101n in a preserved tablet, none shall touch it but the purified ones.\u201d (56:79) The real sense of this verse is that the Qur\u2019\u0101n which is \u201cin a preserved tablet\u201d is not accessible to anyone except those who are purified by All\u0101h. This shows that the Ahlu \u2019l-bayt could understand the Qur\u2019\u0101n better than any other Muslim.
\nIt is for this very reason that All\u0101h commanded His Messenger to ask the people to love his Ahlu \u2019l-bayt: Say (O Muhammad), \u2018I do not ask from you any reward (for teaching Islam to you) except to love my near ones.\u2019 (42:23) This love was made obligatory because it would automatically entail obedience of those whom one loves. If the Ahlu \u2019l-bayt were not truthful, reliable, and worthy of following, would All\u0101h command us to love them?
\nThese few verses of the holy Qur\u2019\u0101n are enough to show that the best commentators of the Qur\u2019\u0101n and the most authentic source for the Prophet\u2019s sunna are the Imams of Ahlu \u2019l-bayt. The Prophet himself said, \u201cI am leaving among you two worthy things. As long as you hold fast on to them both, you will never go astray after me. One is greater than the other: the Book of All\u0101h (which is a rope suspended from the heaven to the earth) and my descendants, my Ahlu \u2019l-bayt. They will not separate from each other until they come to me at the (fountain of) Kawthar (in the hereafter). Therefore, see how you recompense me by the way you deal with them.\u201d
\nThis is not the place to discuss the authenticity of this had\u012bth, but it will suffice to quote Ibn Hajar al-Makki, a famous Sunni polemicist. After recording this had\u012bth from various companions who had heard it from the Prophet at various places and times, Ibn Hajar says, \u201cAnd there is no contradiction in these [numerous reports] since there was nothing to prevent the Prophet from repeating [this statement] at those various places because of the importance of the holy Book and the pure Family.\u201d
\nWe can conclude from these verses and the hadith mentioned above that the Ahlu \u2019l-bayt are the divinely appointed commentators of the Qur\u2019\u0101n, and the most authentic and the best source for the sunna. It is for this reason that we prefer them to all other sources.
\nEven when we quote a had\u012bth from the Imams of Ahlu \u2019l-bayt, it is actually the had\u012bth of the Prophet which they have preserved as the true successors of the last Messenger of God. Imam Ja\u2018far as-S\u0101diq (a.s.), the sixth Shi\u2018ite Imam, says: My had\u012bth is the had\u012bth of my father, the had\u012bth of my father is that of my grandfather, the had\u012bth of my grandfather is that of Husayn [bin \u2018Ali], the had\u012bth of Husayn is that of Hasan [bin \u2018Ali], the had\u012bth of Hasan is that of Amiru \u2019l-mu\u2019min\u012bn [\u2018Ali bin Abi T\u0101lib], the had\u012bth of Am\u012bru \u2019l-mu\u2019min\u012bn is that of the Messenger of God (s.a.w.), and the had\u012bth of the Messenger is a statement of All\u0101h, the Almighty, the Great.\u201d
\nThe historical circumstances did not allow the opportunity to the first three Imams of Ahlu \u2019l-bayt to formally teach and train their followers in the matters of the shar\u012b\u2018a. It was after the tragedy of Karbala that the Imams, especially the fifth and the sixth Imams, got the opportunity to formally train their followers in the shar\u012b\u2018a laws. The training by these Imams actually laid the foundation for the development of ijtih\u0101d among the Shi\u2018as after the occultation of the twelfth Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi (a.s.).<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

During the Minor Occultation (ghaybat) of the Present Imam, it was still possible for the Shi\u2018as to present their problems to the Imam through his specially appointed representatives. These representatives were \u2018Uthm\u0101n bin Sa\u2018\u012bd al-Amri (260-265 AH), Muhammad bin \u2018Uthm\u0101n al-\u2018Amri (265-305 AH), Husayn bin R\u016bh (305-326 AH), and \u2018Ali bin Muhammad al-Samiri (326-329 AH).
\nHowever, after the Imam went into the Major Occultation, the problems of the shar\u012b\u2018a were resolved through the process known as ijtih\u0101d and taql\u012bd\u2014the two most important ways of living by the shar\u012b\u2018a. Ijtih\u0101d, in Sh\u012b\u2018a jurisprudence, means \u201cthe process of deriving the laws of shar\u012b\u2018a from its sources.\u201d A person who can do ijtih\u0101d is known as a \u201cmujtahid\u201d. Taql\u012bd means \u201cto follow the mujtahid in the laws of shar\u012b\u2018a.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Muslims during the days of Prophet Muhammad lived by the shar\u012b‘a by following the Qur’\u0101n and the Sunna. Sunna means the example of the Prophet. (Sunna is sometimes written as ‘sunnat’.)
\nWas not the Qur\\’\u0101n enough on its own? The Qur\\’\u0101n is a book of guidance which was sent for the entire human world till the end of time. As such, it only deals with the general issues and mentions only the basic principles underlying the Muslim way of life. The Qur\\’\u0101n is more like a constitution than a book of law. The deals were left to the Prophet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7376],"tags":[7563,13791,19669,20354,20355],"class_list":["post-4722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jurisprudence","tag-quran","tag-sharia","tag-shia-studies-world-assembly","tag-sources-of-the-sharia","tag-sunna-of-the-prophet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}