fiqh
Fiqh means “understanding”. Sharia is the divine law; fiqh is the body of rules jurists derived from it. Its sources (usul al-fiqh) are, in Sunni law, the Quran, the Sunna (practice of the Prophet), ijma (consensus) and qiyas (analogy), with subsidiary methods such as istihsan and custom.
Differences in method produced the schools: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali among Sunnis, and Ithna Ashari (and others) among Shias. Most Indian Muslims are Hanafi, so Indian courts usually apply Hanafi rules unless a party proves he belongs to another school. Students should not treat fiqh and Sharia as the same thing: fiqh is fallible human reasoning and varies between schools.
Example
The rule that a Hanafi marriage without witnesses is fasid comes from Hanafi fiqh, not from an express Quranic text.
In Indian law
- Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937
See also
sharia · ijma · qiyas · ijtihad
Read more in the study notes
- Development of Muslim law and its schools (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- Sources of Muslim law (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- History and development of legal education in India (Legal Education and Research Methodology)
- Islam: teaching, political thought and the Shariat (Political Science - Theory and Thoughts)