Sharia Essay

Islam today is a prominent religion, with over 600 million followers, delcared and established by it's prophet Muhamad. It is not only a religion, but an entire way of life, which accounts all aspects. Sharia literally translates to, “the path to the water hole,” meaning that muslims have to follow this path to appease Allah and have a virtuous life. It is not prominent in all Islamic countries, but in others it dominates and rules government and society, from daily routine to weighing heavily in personal status law and in criminal law. The female population receives the harsher conditions of Sharia, versus men who utilize it for empowerment. Some elements of Sharia are similar to the common practices of other popular religions such as Christianity or Judaism, in terms of austerity, though other methods employed by fundamentalist Muslims, have cultivated bad judgement from outsiders, and apprehension towards the religion.

Sharia’s history can be dated back to 570 CE, in Mecca, the birthplace of Muhammad. Muhammad is Islam’s prophet, who unified Arabia into one religious state, by claiming to spread the revelations and word of God. The word of God was then created into the Quran, Islam’s most holy book; Muhammad’s sayings were put into the Hiddath, and his way of life and daily practices, were put into the Sunnah, also both holy Islamic scriptures. These holy books were created after Muhammad’s death, when the tribes of Arabia began to come together underneath one religion, and that was the beginning of Islam, and the birth of Sharia. The Sharia is taken from the Quran, the Sunna, and the Hadith, which are all religious texts.

Religious law is present all throughout a Muslim’s day, from sun up to sun down. Just...

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...there is usually not a Halal section, yet every grocery store there is a Kosher section for Jews. Based on stastics, there are about 5.5 million Jews in the US, and over 8 million muslims. Around 16% of Jews abide by Kosher instruction, where about 75% of Muslims abide by Halal instruction. Manufacuters are not gaining the possible profit that they could be, from these Muslim households, and Muslims have to go out of their way to buy Halal products.

The more domineering laws for a muslims' lives are the personal status law and criminal laws. Personal status law pertains to marriage, divorce, custody, and inheritance. Muslims are allowed to bond in marriage, at the age of fifteen, assuming that the girl has reached puberty. If the girl is younger, but has reached puberty, she may get married, if under the petition, of the wali, (the governor of an Arab providence.)