Sharia

Also called: Shari'a, Shariat · Topic: Bhakti and Sufi Traditions · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 1 "Through the Eyes of Travellers"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions"

Meaning

Shari'a (also Shari'at) is the law that guides the Muslim community. It is based on the Qur'an and the hadis, and was later widened by qiyas (reasoning by analogy) and ijma (agreement among learned scholars).

It matters because Muslim rulers in India were, in theory, meant to rule by it. In practice they often set it aside to govern a large non-Muslim population. That gap between law and practice is a favourite UPSC theme.

Explanation

Sources: how the law was built

• Two main sources:
• the Qur'an, the holy book believed to be revealed by God;

• the hadis, reports of what the Prophet Muhammad said and did.

• Two later tools. New problems kept coming up as Islam spread to lands with different customs. Two methods were added to deal with them:

• qiyas: reasoning by analogy. If a new case looks like an old settled case, the same rule applies.

• ijma: consensus, meaning the agreement of the learned scholars.

• So shari'a was not one fixed book. It was a body of law that scholars kept interpreting.

Who pushed for it: the ulama

• The ulama were the group of learned Muslim scholars of law and religion.
• In theory, rulers were guided by the ulama.
• The ulama asked rulers to make sure the state was run by the shari'a.
• Judges called qazis applied this law in courts.

Non-Muslims under shari'a: zimmi and jizya

• Zimmi means "protected" and comes from the Arabic word zimma.
• In Islamic law, a zimmi followed a revealed scripture. This meant mainly Jews and Christians living under Muslim rule.

• Law books use the term dhimmi: a non-Muslim subject of a state run under shari'a. It is a recognised legal category [5].

• The deal: zimmis paid a tax called jizya, a tax on non-Muslims paid to their Muslim rulers [6]. In return, the state protected their life, property and worship.

• The Indian stretch: rulers in India extended zimmi status to Hindus, even though Hindus were not in the original category. This was a practical choice, not a rule taken from the books.

Theory versus practice: how it actually worked

• Rulers did not always obey the ulama.
• Akbar took an active interest in Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and Christianity.

• He pushed the ulama aside in politics and law, and he backed his own mixed religious movement, Din-i Ilahi [3][4].

• Grants to other faiths: rulers gave land endowments and tax exemptions to Hindu, Jaina, Zoroastrian, Christian and Jewish institutions.

• Akbar's farman of 1598 (a farman is a royal order) told officials at Khambat to let the Jesuits build a church. Khambat (Cambay) is a port in Gujarat at the head of the Gulf of Khambhat [8].

• Aurangzeb's letter of 1661–62 gave a cloak and Rs 25 to a Jogi (a Hindu ascetic), described as being "under the protection of Sri Shiv Jio".

• The shari'a could still be used as an argument. One Delhi Sultan, usually identified as Firuz Shah Tughluq, made big concessions to the ulama. He refused to exempt Brahmins from jizya and said the shari'a gave him no room to do so [7].

• The result: Mughal rulers came to see themselves as emperors of all their people, not only of Muslims. Shari'a stayed the ideal, but state policy was shaped by the needs of ruling a mixed population.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: from the arrival of Muslim rule to the Mughal decline.
• 711 CE: the Arab general Muhammad Qasim, serving the Umayyad Caliphate, conquered Sind [2].
• c. 13th century: Delhi Sultanate (Turks and Afghans).
• 16th century: the Mughals.

• 18th century: regional states.

• Region: north India and the Deccan. Shari'a ideas came first through Sind, then through Delhi.

• Key people: the ulama and qazis; Firuz Shah Tughluq (the jizya on Brahmins) [7]; Akbar (sidelined the ulama, issued the 1598 church farman) [3]; Aurangzeb (the 1661–62 grant to a Jogi).
• How we know:
• Royal documents: Akbar's farman of 1598 and Aurangzeb's letter of 1661–62.
• Travellers' accounts: Ibn Battuta served as a qazi (judge) in Delhi under Muhammad bin Tughluq. His account shows how Islamic law worked at the Sultan's court.
• Court chronicles that record what the ulama demanded and how rulers responded.

Don't confuse with

• Tariqa: Sufis used tariqa to mean their own spiritual "path" of personal experience of God. Shari'a is the outer law for the whole community.
• Ba-shari'a vs be-shari'a: these are Sufi groups, not types of law. Ba-shari'a Sufis followed shari'a. Be-shari'a Sufis (such as the qalandars) ignored it.
• Jizya vs zakat: jizya was a tax that non-Muslims paid to the state for protection. Zakat is alms-giving by Muslims and is one of the five pillars.
• Din-i Ilahi: this was Akbar's own mixed religious movement [4]. It was not a version of shari'a. It was part of how he sidelined the ulama.

Prelims Hooks

• Sources of shari'a: Qur'an + hadis, later qiyas (analogy) + ijma (consensus). A common trap is listing qiyas or ijma as one of the "original" sources.
• Zimmi comes from zimma ("protection"). The category originally covered Jews and Christians. In India it was extended to Hindus.
• A Delhi Sultan refused to exempt Brahmins from jizya, citing the shari'a [7].
• Akbar's farman (1598) let the Jesuits build a church at Khambat in Gujarat [8]. All three Jesuit missions reached his court before 1600 [3].
• Aurangzeb (1661–62) gave a cloak and Rs 25 to a Jogi under the protection of "Sri Shiv Jio".
• Chronological order: Muhammad Qasim in Sind (711) → Delhi Sultanate (c. 13th c.) → Mughals (16th c.).

Mains Points

• Law on paper versus rule in practice.
• The ulama wanted the state run by shari'a.
• Rulers governing a mostly non-Muslim population chose practical policies instead: land grants to many faiths, Akbar's church farman of 1598, and Aurangzeb's gift to a Jogi.

• Shari'a could still be used for political ends, as with jizya on Brahmins [7]. Use these examples to argue that Indo-Islamic states were pragmatic, not purely religious.

• Islamic law adapted to Indian reality.

• The zimmi category was made for "people of the Book", and Hindus did not fit it. Rather than break down, the category was stretched to include them.
• Akbar went further: he sidelined the ulama and backed Din-i Ilahi [3][4].

• This shows legal frameworks bending when a ruling minority governs a large and different majority.

• Continuity and change. The idea that rulers ruled "for all their people", not only for Muslims, grew over time. It links the Sultanate's compromises to Mughal ideas of universal kingship. This helps answers that question a simple "Hindu ruler vs Muslim ruler" view of medieval India.

Related concepts

• Ulama
• Hadis
• Zimmi
• Five pillars of Islam
• Khojahs
• Ginan
• Mihrab
• Regional mosque architecture
• Turushka
• Yavana

Read more

• Islamic traditions: rulers, popular practice, and names for communities