Explanation:
"The law, as we understand the word in the West, meaning the rules that regulate relations among people, is an integral part of Sharia. Rules of law are rules of Sharia, but not all the rules of Sharia are rules of law. However, the words “Sharia” and “law” are often used interchangeably.
After the death of the Prophet Mohammed, Muslim jurists known as fuqaha’ (singular faqih) began studying the Sharia to discern its legal rules, leading to the formation of schools of Islamic legal thought known as mazahib (singular mazhab). The work of these schools initiated a new discipline of Islamic study known as ilm al-fiqh or the science of knowledge.[2]
The Islamic legal theory espoused by these schools compared the law to a tree with few roots and many branches and divided ilm al-fiqh into ilm al-usul, or science of the roots, and ilm al-fourou’, or science of the branches.
Ilm al-usul dealt with the philosophical underpinning of Sharia law and the methodology used to elucidate the legal rules applicable in the various fields of the law, while ilm al-fourou’ dealt with the actual elucidation of these rules. The elucidation process is called ijtihad, or exertion of the utmost efforts in seeking to translate God’s commands and exhortations into specific legal rules.
Ilm al-fourou’ is divided into two major components, ibadat and muamalat. Ibadat means “worship” and consists of the rules applicable to religious rituals such as prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage. These rules are mandatory, but their implementation is left to the personal decisions of the believers. Muamalat, on the other hand, means “transactional dealings” and consists of the rules applicable to commercial and other types of relations, such as trade, marriage, and partnerships. The rules of muamalat constitute a comprehensive legal system whose legal rules can be identified by consulting the writings of the jurists of the relevant school of Islamic legal thought.
Sharia law may vary from one school to another on certain issues. For example, according to the Shiite Jaafari school, the law of inheritance gives the daughters of the deceased parents the right to inherit all non-reserved parts of the estate in the absence of male siblings, while the Sunni schools (Hanafi, Shafii, Maliki, and Hanbali) do not.[3]"
