Islam is the second biggest religion in the world by the number of adherents. It was started by Mohammed (570-632), who, according to Islamic tradition, was divinely inspired by god and the angel Gabriel, to bring the teachings of Allah to the world. Mohammed and his followers created a religious and political movement that soon conquered Mohammed’s native Arabia, and after the Prophet’s death, quickly spread around Asia and North Africa. Mohammed was not only a prophet; he was also a military and political leader of the early Islamic community, and its chief legislator and judge. In this way, he appropriated all the branches of government - executive, legislative, judicial, military, and religious - for himself. Only after Muhammad's death was a compilation of all his prophetic verses, which he delivered only in oral form, written down.

Relationship of Law, Politics, and Theology in Islam

Even during Muhammad's life, the interpretations he gave to the Koran revelation and his actions began to be considered as a very important source for the interpretation of Islam. This tradition forms the Sunna. The written basis of the Sunnah are hadiths (in Sunni tradition, there are six collections of hadiths and in Shia tradition, there are four collections of Hadiths) collected at the end of the 9th and the 10th century. The Holy Koran and the hadith collections represent both a major source for the interpretation and understanding of Islam. After Muhammad's death in the year 632, a schism occurred in the Islamic community. After the death of the Caliph Uthman ibn Affan (ruled 644-656), Muhammad's son-in-law, Ali ibn Abu Talib, was elected the leader of the community, but this lead to a split, and a series of events called the First Civil War (656-661), as well as to consecutive Second Civil War (680-692), which involved the same warring parties. The two civil wars are the key to understanding modern Islam and its branches. Ali's supporters from that period were called Shīʻatu ʻAlī, and their successors are known today as members of the Shiite branch of Islam. Followers of Muawiyah (reigned as Caliph 661-680), his rival, are now known as Sunnis, and they make up the majority of Muslims today. The main difference between the two branches is that Shiites believe that the government should be only in the hands of Muhammad’s Banu Hashim clan’s family members, and believe that legitimacy derives from the genealogy. Sunnis, on the other hand, believed that community consensus (ijma) was the most significant element in the right to the caliphate.

Sharia and Fiqh consist of two related but different concepts that are important for the understanding of the legal and political doctrine of Islam. Sharia (the proper way) is based on divine revelation (wahy) and indicates the path to the correct way of life for every Muslim and the entire Muslim society. Sharia is the sum of legal norms and principles that are regarded as divine law communicated through the Koran and Sunnah. Clear commandments and specific rules contained in the Quran and Sunnah (historical data and parables are omitted) form the core of the sharia. Fiqh, on the other hand, is a rational attempt to scrutinize the sharia and its application to specific cases. Fiqh deals with practical legislation and does not include a general provision on morality and faith. Sharia is thus a broader concept than fiqh and has priority. Fiqh is used as a rational deliberation in those areas that are not covered by the Koran and the Sunnah, or when the rules of the specific case are not sufficiently precise. Deciding a particular case can be based on: ijma - a consensus of the community; ijtihad - rational reasoning in accordance with the practices; and qiyas - the interpretation by analogy. Legal decisions ratified through ijma of some schools of Islamic law become canonical for that school, and are known as taqlid. Muslims who studied sharia and fiqh are called faqih, and recognized jurists are called mujtahids or mufti (the latter becoming more widespread). The judges who judge according to Sharia and fiqh are called the kadi.

While the emergence of sharia lasted shorter, end ended with the codification of the Quran and hadith, fiqh is developing even today. During Muhammad's life, there were no differences between the legal systems and other areas of Islam, so at the time, fiqh included a general knowledge of religion. The currently existing religious legal school (madhhab, plural Mezahib) were formed between 750-950, four in the Sunni tradition and one in the Shia tradition. Over time, these schools of law formed their canon (taqlid). Sunni legal schools are: Maliki (present in North and West Africa), Hanbali (present in Saudi Arabia and Syria), Shafi'i (present in Egypt and Southeast Asia), and Hanafi (present in Turkey and the Indian subcontinent). Shiites respect Jafari (imam) law school. All lawyers and judges, along with the clergy and religious scholars, represent the Ulamā, a religious community of experts who possess the knowledge and represent the authority in all areas of life. In the beginning, these scholars had an informal role of preserving and interpreting Islam, but later, Ulamā became recognized as a professional class.

The Umayyad dynasty ruled over a vast Arab empire from 661 to 750. Now the dynasty and its reign are known as the first caliphate. Since the establishment of this dynasty, the term Caliph in Sunni tradition started to signify the religious and political leader of all Muslims. The second Caliphate of the Abbasid dynasty (750-1258) followed the overthrow of the Umayyad dynasty. In the period after 1258 Caliphs lost political power and the title took on a more ceremonial character. In 1517, the Ottoman Sultan Selim I (reigned 1512-1520) took the title of Caliph for himself, which henceforth became hereditary to Ottoman lineage. Selim I conquered the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and his son Suleiman the Magnificent (reigned 1520-1566) gave himself the title of Caliph of Islam. The Ottoman sultans were considered defenders of Islam, protectors of all Muslims, and the main warriors of jihad.

In Islam Observed: Religious Development in Morocco and Indonesia (1968), Clifford Geertz, using the historical approach, describes how two distinct types of Islam emerged in two countries. Islam in Morocco is focused on individual moralism and activism, while Islam in Indonesia is characterized by the “dissolution of personality into a religious aesthetic”.

References:

Gellner. Muslim Society (1981);

Huntington. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1996);

Inglehart. Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide (2004);

Martin. A General Theory of Secularization (1978);

     -     On Secularization: Towards a Revised General Theory (2005);

Martineau. Eastern Life: Present and Past; 3 vol. (1848);

Said. Orientalism (1978);                                

     -     Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine how We See the Rest of the World (1981);  

Therborn, Turner B. Weber and Islam (1974);

     -     Marx and the End of Orientalism (1978).