Sharī‘ah and Education: A Brief Overview

Abstract

Sharī ‘ah, which regulates all aspects of the a Muslim’s life and covers rituals as well as legal rules, has significant status in Islam. The first compendiums of the law, compiled by the jurists of the existing five schools of law, differed from each other. In these texts, it is easy to see the personal speculation of the jurists as well as the influence of the social environ- ments in which they lived. As only a relatively small number of verses of the Qur’ān clearly deal with legal issues, the doors of personal interpretation and reasoning were open to the early scholars. Since the era of the Companions, sharī ‘ah and its decisive role and function in Muslim community had developed extensively. Various schools interpreted it differently, and as a result, a variety of schools and practices have developed within Islam. Educational institutions were gradually established to cater for the needs of training in Islamic disciplines including sharī ‘ah , which continued until the modern period.