SHARI'A MUSLIM LAW

Most westerners, with minds jaded by history of egalitarian liberties and separation of church and state, find Islamic society a difficult concept to grasp. During the peak of Islamic culture in the tenth century when the religion had spread to cultures foreign to that of Mecca, a period of research went on to collect all known acts and teachings of Mohammed (Hadith or Sunnah) in a process known as ijtihad, which means personal judgment or struggle (akin to the word jihad). The Hadith is made up of two major collections of material. One is that in which is God speaking "sacred" words through the prophet, the other is Mohammed’s own "noble" words. The Hadith consists of numerous volumes of commentary on an assortment of theological and social customs. The two most often referred to collections are the "Bukhari" and "Muslim" gathered within a couple hundred years after Mohammed’s death. Some of the Hadith literature has been considered dubious even by Muslims, yet most of it stands as authoritative. The ulama (law giving clerics) canonized a code of law and pronounced it divine, then, similar to the canonizing of the Christian scripture, the Sunnis claimed "The door of ijtihad was closed" to any further revelation. This Shari’a, or "way" of commandment (Sura 45:18) was an effort to fill the gaps in the Qur’an where issues are not addressed or are too vague or cryptic. Shari’a law is looked at much like the Jews look at the law of Moses, but with the additional Talmud commentary. It is a way of uniting the spiritual morals with a civil form of law. Instituting Muslim Shari’a in every country of the world is the ultimate political goal of the Muslim evangelist. It represents a utopian ideal heaven on earth fantasy.The Shari’a, like the Quran, represents a carrot and stick form of salvation of works. That is, reward man for being good and whack him if he is not. "Whoever builds a mosque for Allah, Allah Subhanahoo wataala will reward a palace for him in paradise." One Muslim wrote to me that he was more righteous than me because he had memorized the whole Qur’an. I guess that suggests that people with poor memories are looked upon as second-class believers. As Christians model their moral code around Christ who is more than human, Muslims attempt to model themselves after Mohammed who claimed to be merely a prophet, yet Muslims claim heaven and hell depend on Mohammed and his revelation. To suggest any imperfection in Mohammed is to blaspheme. Submission to Mohammed is essential to salvation. Simply believing in God is not enough. This might cause one to question the Sharia where Mohammed is cited as ordering his followers to drink the urine and blood of his camels for the sake of their health. 

By pronouncing the Shari’a divine it therefore becomes immutable, without criticism, frozen in time, unable to apply easily to changes in culture, time and technology. Any innovation or reason, no matter how logical, applied to the Shari’a might be considered heresy (bid’a) and seen as challenging God, thus opening one to the sword of jihad. The ulama see any learning beyond the Islam religion as suspect to undermining faith. As the Qur’an left gaps, so did the Shari’a and interpretation varies by degrees of emotion, life experience, knowledge and fanaticism, thus its weakness. The Shi’ites for various reasons hold that the ijtihad needs to remain open. The great divide between the orthodox Sunni tradition and the hardcore fundamentalist stems from how rigid to apply the Shari’a.