lawGod’s authority, is what God commands and what humans must obey.
Islamic law is practical in the sense that it concerns human conduct, as
well as faith. Moreover, along with personal behavior, Islamic law
includes legal and social regulations. In short, law is a total way of life,
an all-embracing sacred law.
There are four foundations of Islamic law: the Qur’an, the sunna of the
prophet, ijmā (consensus), and qiyās (analogical reasoning). The Qur’an
is the law directly revealed by God, whereas the sunna of the prophet
refers to the authoritative decisions and pronouncements made by the
prophet Muhammad during his life, but which after his death became
infallible. The sunna ends with the passing of the Companions of the
prophet and their generation. This is when ijmā begins, even though it
includes sunna. Ijmā is the consensus of the Muslim community, and it
possesses absolute authority. It is this communal consensus that deter-
mines the nature of sunna and the correct interpretation of the Qur’an.
The term qiyās means analogical reasoning, which suggests that a legal
expert can conclude from a given principle embodied in a precedent that
a new case falls under this principle or is similar to this precedent on the
strength of a common essential feature called the reason. Take for instance
a case of unchastity, which demands a fourfold confession from the cul-
prit before he/she incurs punishment by analogy with the four witnesses
prescribed by the Qur’an. This type of process proceeds from a common
element or the known to the unknown. Thus analogical reasoning
becomes a provision whereby Islamic law is intended to cover situations
analogous to, but not explicitly in, the Qur’an and tradition. Therefore,
analogical reasoning serves as a bridge between prophetic sunna and
consensual ijmā.
The concept of law also plays an important role in Christianity. Even
after the dissolution of the Roman Empire, its legal system remains
unbroken. With the development of Lombard towns during the twelfth
century, there arises a demand for knowledge of the regulation of social
life, which is met by a revived study of Roman jurisprudence. The cen-
ter of this revival is Bologna, whose reputation is given to it by Irnerius,
who separates the study of Roman law from rhetoric and fixes it as a
subject for professional study. Irnerius is probably the first to use as his
textbook the whole Justinian corpus. Adopting a method of giving texts
for and against a particular opinion, Irnerius includes an occasional
questio (question) which gives a firm decision on a doubtful point. He
thus makes the study of law more scientific, systematic, and profes-
sional. The successors of Irnerius are called Glossators, those who estab-
lish the literal meaning of the law and perform a pioneer task of
dialectical analysis.