What Sharia Actually Means

When we talk about sharia, unfortunately, this is another problem that we have. Now, we all say we want sharia, we want sharia. But then, when we look at it, we find that what people are looking for is not really sharia. I mean, ask — you find many people; ask them: what is your definition of sharia? Why are you asking for sharia? He says: we want them to cut the hand of the one who steals, and to kill the killer, and to stone the adulterer. Is that sharia? Is that all that sharia is about? And then they would say: this certain country, or that place, is applying sharia — why? Because they would cut the hand of the one who steals, and they would kill the killer.

This is only part of a section of Islamic law, which is the criminal code, the criminal law — that is it. I mean, do you think that Allah (swt) sent all of the anbiyāʾ and all of the religions just to cut the hand of the one who steals, and to stone the adulterer, and to kill the killer? And then also: what segment of the society do these people make up? The thieves and the killers and the rapists and the adulterers — what proportion do they make up? They are a minority of the society. So all that Islam does is deal with these people, and the rest of us have no law to apply to us? Is that Islamic law? Is that sharia? That is not sharia. That is only part of the Islamic law, relating to the criminal code, the criminal section of law.

The Islamic sharia that we are searching for is based on one important pillar, and that is justice — justice for everyone. If you go to court, you will get a fair trial; the judge will treat you justly, preserving the rights of others. Justice is an important pillar. And then the sharia is to apply the religion of Allah (swt) completely.

Now let us look at the four khulafāʾ, who are the standard we look to. In all the time of Abū Bakr, we do not know in history that he stoned any adulterer. Does that mean that Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq was not applying sharia? This case never showed up in his time. Abū Bakr was busy applying sharia day and night. What was he doing? The establishment of Islam, by fighting the murtaddīn and establishing a strong Islamic government that was applying the sharia. He was dealing with this project — and that is sharia.

And then in the time of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, he came and found stability left behind by Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq. The Islamic khilāfah was already stable; ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb did not have to do that. It had been stabilised by Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq. Now ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb has to establish the institutions — because you already have stability, so now you establish the institutions. So he made a dīwān, which is the treasury, to take care of the salaries of the government employees and the army. And then he established new ways and laws to divide the land among the Muslims. And then he started paving the roads and making this infrastructure of services for the Muslim ummah.

And then he worked on some other projects which dealt with the very, very important role of the khalīfah, and that is the issue of jihad. And he is the one who took care of the jihad with the Persian Empire. By the time ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb died, the Persian Empire was dead^*; it was over with. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb — because the Persian Empire was the stumbling block between Islam and the East. The Persian Empire was that wall that was preventing Islam from getting into the East. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb eliminated that wall, so that by the time of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, Islam was spreading all over Central Asia.

And then ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān — what was his sharia? What was the establishing of sharia in the time of ʿUthmān? He worked on a very important project, and that is the preservation of the Qur'an. That is al-sharīʿah. And also, spreading towards the east and continuing with the futūḥāt towards the north.

And then in the time of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, he had to deal with the internal conflicts that were in the Muslim ummah. So ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib devoted his time of khilāfah, which was four years, to solving this internal conflict — the conflict that was caused by the death of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, by the assassination of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān. ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib had to deal with that problem for four years. And then in the time of Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān, he came to deal with other problems, so he is the first one to establish the Islamic navy — because now the Muslims need to go to sea, and they need to spread towards the north, into the Roman Empire. So he is the first one to establish the Islamic navy.

That is sharia; that is the establishment of sharia: to work on these projects that would serve the Muslim ummah. So the Muslims in the time of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, or in the times of these khulafāʾ, would live in peace and security. They would travel from the east to the west of the Muslim ummah fearing no one but Allah — safety and security. They would do their business and they would not worry; they would leave their stores open and go to ṣalāh. This is the establishment of sharia, and this is what we are looking for. It is not just an issue of establishing the criminal law — which was important, obviously, because you cannot have security unless the criminals are kept in check — but sharia is larger than that. Sharia encompasses everything that is Islamic: iqāmatu al-dīn, the establishment of the religion of Allah (swt).