Islamic Law & the Modern World

Islam is the religion of the Muslims. It is a religion that constitutes the total submission of the Muslim to God. During this submission, it brings about peace, serenity, love and above all, justice. Shari’ah is “a line of conduct, a morality laid down by the accounts of the Islamic religion. It is based on the Quran and on the views of the prophet” (Jelloun 100). It is a law that governs the believer’s conducts and lifestyle. It regulates the believer on what to do and what not to do. The severity of the law in some Islamic societies, however, has drawn criticism and has made people from other religious sects wary of the religion itself. This is because we now live in a modernized society. Where people believe in liberties and human rights; where the laws of the government in some places have to be reconstructed to the appeal of the people in order to avoid conflict. In such a modern world we now live in, Shari’ah has lost its place and is subjected to oppositions from those who have adopted how laws should be established. In other words, the evolution of the modern world has made the Islamic law to be regarded as a primitive and barbaric legislature.

Hitherto the coming of Islam, the Shari’ah law was not always in existence. In the early years, the first Muslim societies used the Quran revelations as a basis for setting standards of conduct for the people. The communities were under the leadership of Prophet Mohammed during this period in the year 622. The Quran, with some of its verses which dealt strictly with legal matters, as well as the prophet’s Sunnah were the sources of the law in the Muslim community. The sunnah were the precedents established by tribal ancestors, accepted as normative, and practiced by the entire c...

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... expressing their views in the society.

Also, in the case of same-sex relationships, it would not be approved by the Shari’ah law. This is because God in the Quran did not condone the act and therefore, the law disapproves it. However, in some states not applying the Shari’ah law to their judicial laws, there is no ban on same-sex relationships. Although there is no specific punishment for those who practice this act, if such persons are caught in a Shari’ah state, the Quran would be used as the basis of judgment as it does not condone it.

Furthermore, the Shari’ah law is having a messy entanglement with the governance in some countries. In countries such as Nigeria, Shari’ah is practiced in some states while it is not in other states. In Nigeria, states practicing the Shari’ah are mostly in the northern states while the non-practicing states continue south wards.