What exactly is Sharia law?

We’ve heard a lot about Sharia law but what exactly is it? | EXPLAINER

Muslim worshippers pray at the Masjid Muhammad Mosque in Washington, DC.

‘The source of all life’

Sharia is the Islamic law – the disciplines and principles that govern the behaviour of a Muslim individual towards his or herself, family, neighbours, community, city, nation and the Muslim polity as a whole, the Ummah, according to the Islamic Supreme Council of America.

“Similarly Sharia governs the interactions between communities, groups and social and economic organisations. Sharia establishes the criteria by which all social actions are classified, categorised and administered within the overall governance of the state. Sharia first establishes the patterns believers should follow in worshipping Allah: prayers, charity, fasting and pilgrimage.’’

Sharia literally means “a well-trodden path to water,’’ the source of all life, representing the path to Allah.

Sharia law decrees that men and women dress modestly.

Sharia has been made notorious by extremist groups like Islamic State wanting to implement hard line aspects of Islamic law. According to the American Muslim scholar Imam Suhaib Webb, there are five main things that Sharia law aims to preserve: life, learning, family, property, and honour.

How does Sharia influence everyday life?

The Sharia regulates all Muslim actions and puts them into five categories: obligatory, recommended, permitted, disliked or forbidden. The rules for food are those of haram (banned) and halal (allowed). All vegetable, fruit, grain and seafood is halal. Meat is halal providing it has been killed in the kindest possible way by a sharp instrument that pierces and kills swiftly (sharp knife, bullet, sword), and the appropriate prayers are said at its death (or at the time of eating if one is not certain). Muslims may not eat any food that has been sacrificed to idols but kosher is fine.

Sharia does not require women to wear a burka. There are all sorts of items of dress which are worn by Muslim women, and these vary all over the world. burkas belong to particular areas of the world, where they are considered normal dress. In other parts of the world the dress is totally different. The Sharia rule of dress for women is modesty.

Where is Sharia the rule of law?

Egypt, Mauritania, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, the Maldives, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and certain regions in Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates.

A Muslim woman is caned after being caught in proximity with her boyfriend in Banda Aceh.

‘Punishment meets the crime’

Sharia law divides offences into two general categories: “hadd” offences, which are serious crimes with set penalties, and “tazir” crimes, where the punishment is left to the discretion of the judge. According to the Oxford Islamic Studies, these Hadd offences include:

Theft — amputation of the hand

Adultery or illicit sex — death by stoning or one hundred lashes

Homosexuality — death

Making unproven accusations of illicit sex — 80 lashes

Drinking intoxicants — 80 lashes

Apostasy (leaving the faith) — death or banishment

Tazir are severe crimes that do not measure up to the strict requirements of Hadd offences. Punishment can range from the death penalty, fines, imprisonment and caning at the discretion a judge.

A Sharia law official whips a man convicted of unlawful contact between unmarried man and woman during a public caning in Jantho, Aceh province, Indonesia.

Fear of Sharia

The Australian Muslim Women’s Association says fear of Sharia is just one manifestation of a general fear of Islam and Muslims among some members of the public, most of whom have never met a Muslim or have any real knowledge of Islam.

“Most of the information the Australian public receives about Sharia comes from the media, which concentrates on exotic or sensational stories which will grab public attention and sell newspapers or internet advertising,’’ the association says. “Thus beheadings, lashings, polygamy, and terrorism (especially against western targets) are more interesting to the media than sober explanations of law. In this way the Australian public has learnt to connect Sharia with the hudud punishments of stoning and amputation and with the oppression of women in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran, although in fact, these have no relevance to life in Australia.’’

While there a small number of “fringe radicals’’ in the Muslim community here who want Australia to adopt sharia as its legal system, there has been no general call on behalf of the Muslim community for the establishment of Sharia as a parallel legal system or for the introduction of Islamic criminal law at all, says the association.

University of Sydney legal academic, Dr Ghena Krayem, agrees and says “the current assumption that Muslims want a separate legal system that is called ‘Sharia’ — that’s simply not true’’. Mainstream Muslim groups believe it is vital for community leaders to convince the public that Muslims are not trying to impose Sharia on everyone and there is nothing to fear.

Muslim men attend prayers at Parramatta Mosque in Sydney. Picture: Craig Greenhill