Lecture 9 | Islamic legal systems

Question 1

what is islamic law?

Answer 1

• Islamic law is divine law
• Islamic law expresses the will of supernatural authority

Question 2

what are the 2 sources of islamic law?

Answer 2

• sharia
• fiqh

Question 3

what does Sharia as source of islamic law mean?

Answer 3

religious aspect of the law based on divine revelation (communication from outside of this instance from God). Sharia cannot change. Consists of general principles.
It has 4 main sources:
- quran: holy book of the islam
- sunna: set of traditions relating to high authority actions
- ijma: the consensus of Muslim community
- qiyas: analogic reasoning for situations that are not regulated in one of the sources above

Question 4

what does fiqh as a source of islamic law mean?

Answer 4

is the human interpretation of Sharia by Islamic scholars. It is going further than the divine source. Fiqh is flexible. o This variation is known as internal pluralism, showing the human element in Fiqh.

Question 5

what is the historical and cultural context of islamic constitutionalism?

Answer 5

• In many countries there was a push for Islamic integration into the constitutions legal framework -> as a sign of resistence against colonial power, influences, corruption and political problems.
• This was a reaction to colonial legacies.

Question 6

What are the challenges of integration islamic constitutionalism?

Answer 6

• Balancing of religious principles with fundamental rights and separation of powers and development of democracy

Question 7

What does the case of Egypt mean?

Answer 7

Islamic states have to deal with difficult relation between Islamic law and secular law principles  hybrid legal system
- They have Islam as the state religion.
- The influence of the islam is increased over time.