Roots of Jurisprudence

1. QUR’AN

It is the Holy Book in Islamic religion, but it is not just a book: it is the “word of God”. Just after the death of Muhammad, they started to understand if the Quran was created or uncreated (this debate is still ongoing). It is divided in 114 suras and then in ayat (“verses”).

It is described as a code of law, but it is not a “code” in European sense: it is not divided in articles but in chapters and verses, and from them ulama extract norms of behaviour that are divided in:

- dogmatic norms: revelations, information on the day of resurrection, description of Paradise;

- moral norms: virtues, qualities, etc.;

- norms of worship: prayers, pilgrimage, zakat (tax);

- norms on food and beverage;

- various norms: status libertatis, marriage, penal norms, etc.


2. SUNNA

It is the way of behave of the Prophet Muhammad, but not only in the moral sense, but also customs: it is composed of his sayings, his acts and also his silence. ➔ HADITH.

Sunna is collected in six books. Each of these “stories” is called HADITH (“story”, “telling”), composed of:
MATN: corpus of the hadith;
ISNAD: what was heard about the Prophet.

It assumed importance because the Prophet was just a man, but a pious man chosen by God and his acts were inspired by God. For this reason, his behaviour became a source of law.


3. CONSENSUS (IJMA’)

It is a human source of law: it is a decision taken by the ulama and the scholars as representatives of the community. When they reach consensus over a question, it becomes a source of law.
The basis for this root is the Prophetic Hadith “my community will never accord upon error”.


4. ANALOGICAL REASONING (QIYAS)

When a particular case arise, and scholars don’t find a particular way of solving it in the previous sources of law, they can decide by analogy.
➔ Deduction by analysis.