Shari’a, Fiqh, and the possibility/impossibility of Islamic Law
Kamel Center Lecture, Yale Law School
January 30th, 2025
Abstract:
Shari’a as standards of Islam and the Islamic style of life can and will continue strongly. Fiqh will and should continue in the field of worship and rituals, quasi-rituals, the principle of human interactions, and many parts of civil fiqh, including fiqh of the family (fiqh al-usra), with observing gender equality and religious equality. Islamic law may be used in civil law and commercial law by observing four criteria (reasonability, justice, morality, and functionality). Other branches of law (such as criminal law, political law, and international law) are counted as impossible. The cost of Islamizing them is much greater than leaving them to secular law while respecting Islamic ethics in these areas.