INTRODUCTION
Islam is a religion and people who practice it are called Muslims. The basic principle of Islam suggests that God is one and Muhammed is the Prophet of God. The origin of Muslim law is Arabia. Muslim laws are laws applied only to Muslims. Muslim law is a personal law that applied only to Muslims. Each personal law is based on certain sources. With the passage of time, these sources can be divided into two kinds: Primary sources and Secondary sources of Muslim Law. Primary sources are those sources are the roots of Muslim law.
These sources are the basis of Muslim law. These sources include the religious aspect of personal law. Primary sources of Muslim law are the Quran, Sunnat, Ijma and Qiyas. The secondary sources of Muslim law includes customs, judicial decisions, legislation, justice, equity and good conscience. Since, Muslims constitute a major portion of our country so it is necessary to know that what are the sources that would help us to govern themselves. Thus, it is important to know about the sources of Muslim law.
PRIMARY SOURCES OF MUSLIM LAW
QURAN
Quran is a primary source of Muslim law, in point of time as well as in importance. The Islamic religion and Islamic society owes its birth to the word of Quran. It is a paramount source of Muslim law in point of importance because it contains the very word of god and it is foundation upon which the very structure of Islam rests Quran regulates individual; social, secular, and spiritual life of Muslims.
SUNNAT
Sunnat is also the primary source of Muslim law. The word sunna means the trodden path & as this meaning shows it denotes some kind of practices and precedent. It is belief of Muslim that revelations were two kinds- manifest (zahir) and internal (batin). Manifest revelation is communication which is made by angel Gabriel under the direction of god to Mohammad in the very words of god. Quran is composed of manifest revelations.
IJMA
The common opinions of the jurists on aspects that the Quran did not explain became Ijma. This source of law is very expansive and covers many topics. In fact, it gets almost as much importance as the Quran and the Sunna themselves.
QIYA
The term ‘Qiya’ basically means an analogical deduction from the existing sources. Whenever the other sources do not explain something, Qiya helps in deducting interpretations that seem to be the most obvious.
SECONDARY SOURCES OF MUSLIM LAW
LEGISLATION
In India, Muslims are also governed by the various legislation passed either by the parliament or by state legislature. The following are the examples of legislation in India. Some provisions are made especially for the welfare of Muslim community such as, Muslim Women ( Protection of Rights on divorce) Act, 1969 , etc.
JUSTICE, EQUITY AND GOOD CONSCIENCE
The doctrine of equity, justice & good conscience is regarded as one of the source of Muslim law. Abu Hanifa, the founder of hanafi sect of Sunni, expounded the principle that rule of law based on analogy could be set aside at the option of the judge on a liberal construction or juristic preference to meet the requirements of a particular case. These principles of Muslim law are known as Istihsan or juristic equity.
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
In the modern world, the decisions of the court hold a crucial position as a source of law. It includes decisions by district courts, High courts and the Supreme Court of India. To substantiate, in a leading case, the Supreme Court of India declared the years-old practice of Triple Talaq (talaq-e-bidat) as unconstitutional. The courts in India have modified the rules of Muslim personal law. These rules continue to be a source of Muslim law until overruled by Legislative enactment.
CUSTOMS
Customs are a substantial source of law. In Muslin law, customs play a significant role in matters related to agriculture, land and succession. Customs are basically practices that people follow continuously for a long period of time. In fact, they follow them for so long that they obtain the status of law in some cases. Muslim law contains various customs regulating practices of people.
CONCLUSION
It can be Concluded that the, sources of Muslim law is classified into two categories that are primary sources and secondary sources. Primary Sources are the sources from which the original content of the law is taken and secondary sources are subsequent the primary sources that are made or formed with the changing needs of the society. It is because of the commitment of all that a deliberate and precise hypothesis of individual laws of Islam appeared which governs the Muslim people group. Thus, it is necessary that legislation and different provisions must be enacted and statutory provisions should be implemented so as to maintain peace and harmony in the society.
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