The Arabic word fiqh literally means “understanding.”īy the end of the eleventh century four schools of Islamic jurisprudence emerged, each named after its leading interpreter: Maliki, Shafii, Hanafi and Hanbali. It is the body of laws that these ninth- and tenth-century jurists developed that came to be known as Islamic jurisprudence ( fiqh), a human legal system that stands in contrast to sharia, which is God’s Law.
In fact, the Arabic term sharia literally means “path,” and is used in the Quran to refer to God’s law.īecause God’s law/ sharia in the Quran was not as specific as one may have wished, and once the Prophet was no longer living to interpret the divine laws for the Muslim community, highly educated scholars and jurists were entrusted with the responsibility of elucidating God’s law. However, we must understand this Islamic law to be a law created by men, and not the law of God which itself is perforce unknown and unknowable. Islamic law is oftentimes used as a synonym for sharia.
