The Arab Chamber of Commerce & Industry

中文

Bulletin

Islamic Law (Shariah)

Islamic law is known as Sharia Law, and sharia means the path to follow God's law. Sharia law is eclectic in its approach to guide the individual in most daily matters.Sharia law controls, rules and regulates all public and private behaviors.

It comprises the whole of the spiritual,political,economic,social,domestic and private life of the adherents of Islam and Muslim State.The Shari;ah Law was developed as a legal system based on The Qur'anic instructions,injunctions and generalizations pertaining to human activities and conduct. In fact, Islamic Law is reasonably flexible and responsive to the needs of time , place, and environment. The reason for this flexibility and responsiveness is that Islamic Law is based on general principales with relatively few specific injunctions, and that much is left to the judgment of the human mind.

Shariah mainly is based on the versus of the Holy Quran and the teachings and practices of the Prophet Mohammed (the Sunnah). The consensus of opinions and interpretations of religious scholars is considered a secondary source of Shariah.

In the Area where the majority of the population is Muslim, there is a notable trend for the applications of Shariah. While most of the laws are based on Shariah, specific areas of laws are now increasing.

Islamic Banking Except for Saudi Arabia, the banking laws and practices of countries of the Area are generally based on western banking systems. A notable trend for the application of banking based on Shariah (called Islamic Banking) started in the Area in recent years. Islamic Banking could, in theory, be fairly straight forward. In accordance with Shariah Muslims can trade and invest in anything that is accepted (called Halal) and not prohibited (Haram). Prohibited matters broadly include things that are illegal or immoral such as gambling, prostitution, pornography, alcohol, drugs and similar other matters. The main difficulty arises in the classification of interest charged on funds in Shariah. While some Islamic jurists and scholars consider all types of interest as usury which is prohibited in Shariah, others consider simple interest acceptable and only compounded interest to be prohibited. Although the argument on interest continues, Islamic banking is expanding in the Area where banks and investment funds based on Shariah banking are being established.

Inheritance Shariah provides specific rules of inheritance that are applied to Muslims. Generally these rules are based on the principle of providing specific allocation/shares of the estate of the deceased to certain types of his relatives such spouse or parents and the distribution of the remainder to other heirs such as offspring’s, brothers/sisters and uncles/aunts. Shariah rules of inheritance are applied in the countries in the Area. They might also apply to the assets of a deceased Moslem person in a western jurisdiction or a Moslem resident in such a country.

Wills Wills might form part of the probate of the estate of a deceased Moslem. Shariah inheritance rules regulate wills by providing that a will can only be applied and valid to a certain portion of the total estate and to specific persons.