Children of Abraham
Richard L. Shafer
Now that the UMC General Conference has ended, and as we look ahead to our District and Annual Conferences, we begin to consider the impacts of those groups’ actions on our religious lives, and on our lives in this faith community. I understand those Conferences as the UMC’s groups who link our theology to our church “law.” Other Christian groups have analogous systems, e.g., Roman Catholics receive Papal Encyclicals. So too, non-Christians: Jews and Muslims have ways of linking theology and law. For example, Muslim law is called Shari’a.
What is the Shari’a? It is the body of law which governs much of what happens in the Muslim community. In the west, we hear about it only when it is reported in the press related to some tragedy. It “was the practical aspect of the religious and social doctrine preached by Mohammad.”[1] (Is the Book of Discipline an equivalent for United Methodists, or the Torah for Jews?)
“The word sharia means ‘the path to a watering hole’. It denotes an Islamic way of life that is more than a system of criminal justice. Sharia is a religious code for living, in the same way that the Bible offers a moral system for Christians. . . . Sharia offers a code for living governing all elements of life, from prayers to fasting to donations to the poor. It decrees that men and women should dress modestly, which in some countries is interpreted as women taking the veil and the sexes being segregated.” [2]
Where does the Shari’a come from? Shari’a has as its sources the Koran, the holy book of Islam; and the Sunna, the body of traditions recording the deeds, pronouncements, examples, and silent approvals of Muhammad. The Koran is accepted by Muslims as divine revelation by God through the Prophets beginning with Adam and ending with Muhammad. And the Sunna is similarly accepted. Shari’a also comes from older Arabic law systems.[3] Where, do you think, does “Christian law” come from? Perhaps divine revelation through the Prophets and Jesus?
Who made/makes the decisions that create/d the Shari’a? First, the clear commands contained in the Koran are not to be changed by humans. However, as situations arose where decisions were required, the Islamic scholars of the first 200 years or so after Muhammad’s life created the collection of laws, much of which remains unchanged. It was during this time that a clerical class grew up within Islam – these same scholars became recognized as authorities on “matters relating to faith and law, particularly against the state.”[4] As their authority increased, their decisions became harder to resist or change. Who decides for you how “Christian law” affects your life? Might it be the Christian scholars of old?
Several “schools” of these scholars grew up on various parts of the Muslim world, but they all relied on the same sources for making the law: the Koran, the Sunna, a consensus among the Muslim scholars on a legal interpretation, and some form of analogical reasoning. Is it mere coincidence, or is there some similarity to the Methodist quadrilateral of Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience? Oh, so many questions!
Copyright Richard L. Shafer