Islamic Law

Countries with majority Muslim populations have adopted diverse legal systems. Those that were once English colonies (e.g., Pakistan, Bangladesh, Jordan, and some of the Persian Gulf states) largely adopted English criminal law and procedure, and those under French colonial influence (e.g., the countries of the Maghrib and North Africa, including Egypt, as well as Syria and Iraq) generally adopted civil-law systems. A third group comprises those states that retained or later adopted Islamic law—called the Sharīʿah—with few or no reforms (e.g., Saudi Arabia and Iran). (The last shāh of Iran had reformed a large amount of the law, building on previous colonial laws, but it was almost totally replaced following the Islamic revolution in that country in 1979.)Islamic law is a theocratic legal system that is believed to be derived from God (Allah) through the teachings of Muhammad as recorded in the Qurʾān. In fundamentalist Islam, law is also derived from the teachings of Muhammad that are not explicitly in the Qurʾān. Laws do not originate from secular sources, such as kings or legislatures. The Sharīʿah serves as a criminal code that lists several ḥadd crimes, or offenses for which punishments are fixed and unalterable. For example, apostasy requires a death sentence, extramarital sexual relations require death by stoning, and consuming alcoholic beverages requires 80 lashes. Other lesser crimes (taʿzīr) allow judges discretion in sentencing offenders.