Editing Sharia (section)

== Comparison with other legal systems ==
[[File:Legal Systems - Global.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Legal systems of the world.<ref>[http://www.juriglobe.ca/eng/syst-onu/index-alpha.php Alphabetical Index of the 192 United Nations Member States and Corresponding Legal Systems] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160722022209/http://www.juriglobe.ca/eng/syst-onu/index-alpha.php |date=22 July 2016 }}, Website of the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa</ref> Sharia in green, [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]] in blue, common law in red.]]

=== Jewish law ===
{{Further|Halakha|Seven Laws of Noah}}
Islamic legal tradition has a number of parallels with [[Judaism]]. In both religions, revealed law holds a central place, in contrast to [[Christianity]] which does not possess a body of revealed law, and where theology rather than law is considered to be the principal field of religious study.{{Sfn|Dahlén|loc=chpt. 2a|2003}}{{sfn|Stewart|2013|p=496}} Both Islamic and Jewish law (''[[Halakha]]'') are derived from formal textual revelations (Quran and [[Pentateuch]]) as well as less formal, orally transmitted prophetic traditions (''[[hadith]]'' and ''[[mishna]]''). According to some scholars, the words ''sharia'' and ''halakha'' both mean literally "the path to follow". The ''fiqh'' literature parallels [[Rabbinical Judaism|rabbinical law]] developed in the [[Talmud]], with fatwas being analogous to [[History of responsa in Judaism|rabbinic ''responsa'']].{{sfn|Glenn|2014|pp=183–84}}{{sfn|Messick|Kéchichian|2009}}

However, the emphasis on ''qiyas'' in classical Sunni legal theory is both more explicitly permissive than Talmudic law with respect to authorizing individual reason as a source of law, and more implicitly restrictive, in excluding other, unauthorized forms of reasoning.{{sfn|Glenn|2014|pp=183–84}}

=== Common law systems ===
{{Main|Common law}}
Early Islamic law developed a number of legal concepts that anticipated similar such concepts that later appeared in English [[common law]].<ref name=Makdisi>{{Citation|last=Makdisi|first=John A.|title=The Islamic Origins of the Common Law|journal=[[North Carolina Law Review]]|date=June 1999|volume=77|issue=5|pages=1635–1739}}</ref><ref name=Devichand>{{cite news|author=Mukul Devichand|title=Is English law related to Muslim law?|work=BBC News|date=24 September 2008|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7631388.stm|access-date=5 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080927214803/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7631388.stm|archive-date=27 September 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> Similarities exist between the royal English [[contract]] protected by the action of [[debt]] and the Islamic ''Aqd'', between the English [[assize of novel disseisin]] and the Islamic ''Istihqaq'', and between the English [[jury]] and the Islamic ''Lafif'' in classical Maliki jurisprudence.<ref name=Makdisi/><ref>{{Cite journal|first=Jamila|last=Hussain|title=Book Review: ''The Justice of Islam'' by Lawrence Rosen|journal=[[Melbourne University Law Review]]|volume=30|year=2001}}</ref> The [[law school]]s known as [[Inns of Court]] also parallel [[Madrasah]]s.<ref name=Makdisi/> The methodology of legal [[precedent]] and reasoning by [[analogy]] (''[[Qiyas]]'') are also similar in both the Islamic and common law systems,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Islamic Finance: Law, Economics, and Practice|first=Mahmoud A.|last=El-Gamal|year=2006|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0521864145|page=16}}</ref> as are the English [[Trust law|trust]] and [[Agency (law)|agency]] institutions to the Islamic ''[[Waqf]]'' and ''[[Hawala]]'' institutions, respectively.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gaudiosi |first=Monica M. |title=The Influence of the Islamic Law of Waqf on the Development of the Trust in England: The Case of Merton College |journal=[[University of Pennsylvania Law Review]] |volume=136 |issue=4 |date=April 1988 |pages=1231–61 |doi=10.2307/3312162 |jstor=3312162 |s2cid=153149243 |url=http://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/penn_law_review/vol136/iss4/6 |type=Submitted manuscript |access-date=22 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329174253/http://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/penn_law_review/vol136/iss4/6/ |archive-date=29 March 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Islamic Law: Its Relation to Other Legal Systems|first=Gamal Moursi|last=Badr|journal=The American Journal of Comparative Law|volume=26|issue=2 – Proceedings of an International Conference on Comparative Law, Salt Lake City, Utah, 24–25 February 1977|date=Spring 1978|pages=187–98 [196–98]|doi=10.2307/839667|jstor=839667}}</ref><ref name=Devichand/>

Elements of Islamic law also have other parallels in Western legal systems. For example, the influence of Islam on the development of an international law of the sea can be discerned alongside that of the Roman influence.<ref name=Tai>{{cite journal |last1=Tai |first1=Emily Sohmer |title=Book Reviews: Hassan S. Khalilieh, ''Admiralty and Maritime Laws in the Mediterranean Sea (ca. 800–1050): The "Kitāb Akriyat al-Sufun" vis-à-vis the "Nomos Rhodion Nautikos"'' |journal=Medieval Encounters |volume=13 |issue=3 |year=2007 |pages=608–12 |doi=10.1163/157006707X222812}}</ref> [[George Makdisi]] has argued that the madrasa system of attestation paralleled the legal scholastic system in the West, which gave rise to the modern university system. The triple status of ''[[faqih]]'' ("[[Master of Laws|master of law]]"), ''[[mufti]]'' ("professor of [[Fatwā|legal opinions]]") and ''mudarris'' ("teacher"), conferred by the classical Islamic legal degree, had its equivalents in the medieval Latin terms ''[[Magister (degree)|magister]]'', ''[[professor]]'' and ''[[Doctor (title)|doctor]]'', respectively, although they all came to be used synonymously in both East and West.<ref name="G-Makdisi">{{cite journal |last1=Makdisi |first1=George |title=Scholasticism and Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=109 |issue=2 |year=1989 |pages=175–82 |jstor=604423 |doi=10.2307/604423}}</ref>

Makdisi suggested that the medieval European doctorate, ''licentia docendi'' was modeled on the Islamic degree ''ijazat al-tadris wa-l-ifta'', of which it is a word-for-word translation, with the term ''ifta''' (issuing of fatwas) omitted.<ref name=G-Makdisi/><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Devin J. |last=Stewart |title=Degrees, or Ijaza |editor=Josef W. Meri |encyclopedia=Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |page=203 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MypbfKdMePIC&pg=PA203 |isbn=978-0415966917 |access-date=28 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161212193030/https://books.google.com/books?id=MypbfKdMePIC&pg=PA203 |archive-date=12 December 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> He also argued that these systems shared fundamental freedoms: the freedom of a professor to profess his personal opinion and the freedom of a student to pass judgement on what he is learning.<ref name=G-Makdisi/>

There are differences between Islamic and Western legal systems. For example, Sharia classically recognizes only [[natural persons]], and never developed the concept of a [[legal person]], or [[corporation]], i.e., a legal entity that [[Limited liability|limits the liabilities]] of its managers, shareholders, and employees; exists beyond the lifetimes of its founders; and that can own assets, sign contracts, and appear in court through representatives.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Timur |last1=Kuran |author-link1=Timur Kuran |date=Fall 2005 |title=The Absence of the Corporation in Islamic Law: Origins and Persistence |journal=The American Journal of Comparative Law |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=785–834 |doi=10.1093/ajcl/53.4.785 |jstor=30038724 |hdl=10161/2546 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> Interest prohibitions imposed secondary costs by discouraging record keeping and delaying the introduction of modern accounting.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kuran |first1=Timur |title=The logic of financial westernization in the Middle East |journal=Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization |volume=56 |issue=4 |year=2005 |pages=593–615 |doi=10.1016/j.jebo.2004.04.002}}</ref> Such factors, according to Timur Kuran, have played a significant role in retarding economic development in the Middle East.<ref>{{Cite journal|first=Timur|last=Kuran |date=Summer 2004 |title=Why the Middle East is Economically Underdeveloped: Historical Mechanisms of Institutional Stagnation|journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives|volume=18|issue=3|pages=71–90 |doi=10.1257/0895330042162421|doi-access=free}}</ref> However, the rise of monopoly wealth and corporations have proven to also be detrimental to the economic equality of a society. Ziauddin Sardar also suggests that the promotion of equitable wealth distribution and suppression of monopoly capital are a part of Islam's message that emphasises genuine equity and justice.<ref>{{cite news|author=Ziauddin Sardar |date=28 January 2011 |title=The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East, By Timur Kuran |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/long-divergence-how-islamic-law-held-back-middle-east-timur-kuran-2196199.html|access-date=2 May 2021|website=The Independent|archive-date=2 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502065733/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/long-divergence-how-islamic-law-held-back-middle-east-timur-kuran-2196199.html |url-status=live}}</ref>