Knowra Sources of Sharia Sources of Sharia Sources of Sharia are the foundational texts and methods Muslim jurists use to derive Islamic law, commonly including the Quran, Sunnah, consensus, and analogical reasoning.
Quran : The central scripture of Islam, regarded by Muslims as divine revelation received by Muhammad. It is the primary textual source of Islamic law.
Ijtihad : Independent juristic effort to derive a legal ruling from recognized evidence and methods. It is the reasoning process through which jurists apply the sources.
Ja'fari jurisprudence : The legal tradition associated with Twelver Shiism, drawing on the Quran, prophetic reports, and teachings of the Imams. Its recognized authorities and methods differ from many Sunni accounts of legal sources.
Fiqh : The human understanding and practice of Islamic law developed through juristic interpretation. It is the body of legal rulings derived from the sources.
Sunnah : The normative example of Muhammad, preserved chiefly through reports of his words, actions, and approvals. It supplies prophetic guidance alongside the Quran.
Tafsir : The scholarly interpretation and explanation of the Quran. Interpretation determines how Quranic passages bear on legal questions.
Sunni jurisprudence : The legal traditions developed within Sunni Islam, including the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi‘i, and Hanbali schools. Its schools commonly frame consensus and analogy as central sources in ways that vary across traditions.
Sharia : The broad path of divinely grounded guidance in Islam, encompassing religious and ethical obligations as well as law. The sources are used to understand and articulate this broader norm.
Hadith : A report describing Muhammad’s words, actions, or approvals, transmitted through a chain of narrators. Hadith reports preserve much of the Sunnah used in legal reasoning.
Hadith studies : The disciplines that assess hadith transmission, narrators, and textual content. Assessing reports helps determine which Sunnah evidence can support a ruling.
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