Can Islamic Law systems today claim to be Shari’a?
No. Islamic countries today apply laws that are based on human interpretation and judgment, even when they are called Islamic Law. Islamic Law is not Shari’a for several reasons: • Shari’a is a moral religious system, not a legal system. • Whenever countries claim to apply Islamic Law, as in IFL, they can only apply the laws rulers select from different interpretations of Shari’a. Some laws are chosen over others because of the ruler’s personal preferences or because those rules serve the ruler’s political goals. The result would not be considered Shari’a by any madhab (school of Islamic thought). • Law requires people to do specific things, while the Qur’an says there is no compulsion in matters of faith. Islam gives Muslims the freedom to choose among different views—a choice only the individual believer can make, because in Islam, only the individual is responsible for his or her choices before God.
