HUMA 1845 Lecture Notes - Lecture 56: Rashidun, Kufa, Sharia
Document Summary
Islamic legal scholars unanimously believe that the normative teachings (the sunna) of the prophet are a source of shari"ah and that the prophet"s ruling on what is lawful and unlawful (halalwa haram) stands on equal footing with the quran. Prophet muhammad was the first interpreter of the divine law. After the death of the prophet muhammad, his companions were regarded as experts on legal issues. The territorial expansion of the islamic state after the demise of the. Rightly guided caliphs prompted the articulation of administrative laws, and the rise of the first groups of experts on shari"a. The umayyad rulers continued with the implementation of administrative laws such as tax law. The first islamic judges ware appointed to major cities. For first legal experts" did not have any particular training on methods of islamic jurisprudence. They were pious men who had a rudimentary knowledge of the qur"an and qur"anic legal rulings.