Core Features

• Divine origin (Shariah)
  • Ultimate source of law is revelation (Qur'an and Sunnah), not purely human legislation.
• Comprehensive scope
  • Covers 'Ibadat (worship), Mu'amalat (civil/commercial dealings), 'Uqubat (criminal law), and Munakahat (family law).
• Hierarchical sources
  • Qur'an → Sunnah → Ijma → Qiyas (see Sources of Islamic Law, Theme VI).
• Fiqh as human interpretation
  • The various schools (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali, Ja'fari) represent scholarly interpretation of the Shariah, not the Shariah itself — hence legitimate juristic diversity (Ikhtilaf).
• Objectives (Maqasid al-Shariah)
  • Protection of Din, life, intellect, lineage and property — the underlying rationale behind specific rulings.
• Equal application
  • Applies to ruler and ruled alike (see Judicial System in Islam).

Qur'anic Evidence

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ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَاكَ عَلَىٰ شَرِيعَةٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْرِ فَاتَّبِعْهَا

اردو: پھر ہم نے آپ کو دین کے ایک راستے (شریعت) پر قائم کیا، پس آپ اس کی پیروی کریں۔

English: "Then We put you, [O Muhammad], on an ordained way [Shariah] concerning the matter [of religion]; so follow it."

— Surah Al-Jathiyah 45:18

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Hadith Evidence

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لَا ضَرَرَ وَلَا ضِرَارَ

اردو: نہ خود نقصان اٹھاؤ اور نہ کسی کو نقصان پہنچاؤ۔

English: "There shall be no harm nor reciprocating harm."

— Sunan Ibn Majah 2341

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CSS Exam Tips

• Distinguish clearly between Shariah (divine) and Fiqh (human juristic interpretation) — examiners test this distinction directly.
• Cross-reference: Sources of Islamic Law (Usul al-Fiqh) (Theme VI), Judicial System in Islam.

20-Mark Enrichment — Analytical Material

Core Argument

The Islamic legal system is distinguished by four structural properties: it is revealed in source, purposive in construction (every rule serves one of the maqāṣid), plural in interpretation (multiple orthodox schools), and dual in enforcement (courts and conscience). The 20-mark thesis: this produces a legal order that is fixed at the core and adaptive at the periphery — a small set of definitive rules surrounded by a vast field governed by reasoning — and it regulates the interior life (intention, motive, honesty) that no positive legal system can reach.

1. Sharīʿah, Fiqh and Qānūn — Terminology First

• Sharīʿah: the revealed law — divine, immutable in its definitive elements, comprehensive in scope.