Islam, what is Shari’a?
“Those who say that Sharia is God’s law are completely ignorant of Islamic history. For one there are multiple versions and interpretations of Sharia. Secondly, Sharia was first developed about a hundred years after the founding of Islam and it was not implemented in any society for a few hundred years more. Only a small percentage of the Sharia Laws come from the Koran or the Hadith. Until Muslims truly understand their own faith and history, they will be easily manipulated by extremists who try to use a false version of Islam to gain power and influence. “
Jeff G, USA
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3155279.stm
The individual interpretation of law is part of the system of Shar’ia law. Each believer has a duty to make up his own mind as to the law of God. The believer, however, is to make judgment by refering to or submiting to the judgment to of a religious authority. This duty has led to the formation of a few separate idiom’s around which the sytem of Islamic thought turns. Thus the system of thought coalesced into a recognizable form after some time; but the tradition was there, regardless of wehter it had a dictionary definition since at least when Muhamad unified Medina. Thus, your drawing too hard of lines when you say Shari’a-that is a law that formed inside the Islamic idiom-“was not implemented in any society for a few hundred years more.” This is an over statement because the 5 righteous caliphs had already made their epoch making expansion from the Arabian peninsula, and the Islamic idiom was one of the primary factors that gave their expansion a historical cohesion. In other words, Islamic law converted the random tribes of the peninsula into a truly cohesive social movement and society forming group. And thus your conclusion that a ‘true vision of Islam’ would not provide ‘power and influence’ is truly a misunderstanding of ‘their own faith and history’. And the conclusion arises from a misconception that Islamic tenets are monolithic and absolute, rather than individually discerned by starting with the qur’an and then working through different opinions held by authorities to come to accept a norm that you are willing to submit to. This personal struggle with and then submission to God is central to the faith.
So, when you say ‘sharia law’ has only a ‘small percentage’ from the ‘Koran or the Hadith’ the real question is, a small percentage of what? Words? Meanings? Traditions? If all the parts of Islamic law are derived from rulings which were derived from the Qu’ran and the hadith, and this derivational process is commanded in the Qu’ran, how can the derivations not be of the Qur’an? Of course though, there will be multip derivations, leading to any number of interpretations. But this diversity has been part of the faith a long time.
