SHARIAsource

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Republic of India (Republic of India/Bharatiya Ganarajya), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under India's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has no legal status. 

The parties were married on 26 October 1988 and had three children. After 22 years, however, their marriage had become quarrelsome because, the plaintiff submitted, the defendant frequently:

1. owed others money, unbeknownst to the plaintiff;
2. sold the parties' personal property, unbeknownst to the plaintiff;
3. stole money from the plaintiff; and
4. left the parties' home in the afternoon without saying anything, only to return in the middle of the night.

On 30 December 2010, when the plaintiff inquired with the defendant as to the parties' personal property that the defendant had sold, the defendant had become enraged. As a result, the parties had slept in separate beds for the past five years and three months, during which time they had not been physically intimate, nor had the defendant provided the plaintiff with any financial support. He had, however, provided the parties' children with spending money. The parties attempts to reconcile through consultation and deliberation had been unsuccessful.

The court, pursuant to art 39(2) of Law No. 1 of 1974 on Marriage, art 19(f) of Government Regulation No. 9 of 1975, and art 116(f) and of the Compilation of Islamic Laws, acceded to the plaintiff's request for an irrevocable divorce (talak satu ba'in shughra) on the grounds of ongoing conflict.

The prosecution submitted that the accused had, contrary to arts 6(1) and 26(2) of Aceh Qanun No. 12 of 2003 on Alcoholic Beverages, distributed, sold, and stored whiskey. On 7 August 2008 at around 9.00pm, the local police discovered that the accused was storing 15 bottles of Globe Horse whiskey at her home. The prosecution submitted that the accused had purchased 24 bottles of Globe Horse whiskey for IDR 150,000 from an acquaintance. Furthermore, the accused had sold three bottles to one person and another six to another person, at a price of IDR 12,500 per bottle. The prosecution requested that the court sentence the accused, a Buddhist, to four months' imprisonment. The prosecution also requested that the 15 bottles of Globe Horse whiskey found in the possession of the accused be destroyed. On the facts, and considering that the accused was a first-time offender, had acknowledged her misconduct, and had a family to support, the court acceded to the sentencing requests of the prosecution.

This case is an appeal of a zinā (fornication) conviction by the Upper Sharīʿa Court of Gwadabawa, Nigeria, on several grounds, including: the trial court's lack of jurisdiction on the grounds that the Sharīʿa Penal Code upon which the appellant's trial and conviction was based came into existence after the alleged commission of the offense, and the failure of the trial court to explain the nature of the crime to the accused person. During the proceedings, the Appellant's counsel retracted the confession that the appellant had made to the trial court. The Court held that a person cannot be punished for an offense not known to law at the time of commission. The Court further determined that, because the Sharīʿa Penal Law of Sokoto State had not been enacted at the time the offense was committed, the conviction was invalid. Furthermore, it determined that the confession of the Appellant before the trial court was invalid due to the defects in the charge and the failure to explain the offense to the Appellant. Even if the confession had been valid, its retraction upon appeal was valid because retraction of confession is valid at any time before judgment. Pregnancy by a divorced or widowed woman is not conclusive proof of zinā where such pregnancy occurs within 5-6 years of the previous marriage. It is an overriding principle (according to the doubt canon) that where doubt exists, fixed criminal penalties (ḥadd penalties) should be avoided. The Court quashed the conviction.

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Republic of The Gambia, based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Gambia's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has some legal status. 

Chapters on nominate contracts (endowment, sales, options, barter/ mu‘āwaḍa, hire and lease, partnerships -shirka, muzāra‘a, musāqāt, muḍāraba-, reward/ju‘āla, deposit, fungible and non-fungible loan, agency, financial and personal guaranty, assignment, settlement, pledge, gift), shuf‘a, wills, inheritance, marriage and divorce, mahr, and alimony took almost all of its substance from prominent Shi’i fiqh treatises. Other chapters (classification of properties, easement, usufruct, general rules of obligations and contracts, nationality, registration of civil status, domicile, engagement, guardianship, and evidence) are mainly influenced by Swiss and French Civil Codes and Swiss Code of Obligations.

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Kingdom of Thailand (Ratcha Anachak Thai), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Thailand's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has some legal status. 

Fatwā concerning the legality, based on their interpretation of Islamic law, of fasting in the month of Ramadan, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The answer provided by Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on 19 April 2020 is that individuals must fast during Ramadan, unless an individual has a reason to believe that fasting will 1) cause an illness, 2) intensify an illness, 3) prolong an illness, or delay one’s recuperation. 

In a 3-2 decision, the Supreme Court of India declared triple ṭalāq unconstitutional and gave India’s parliament six months “to consider legislation” for handling triple ṭalāq. In its opinion, the Court cited global advances in Islamic family law (in India, called Muslim personal law) in “even theocratic Islamic states” as evidence of the need for reform.  The Court also noted that the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act of 1937, which protects the religious freedom of Muslims in India, does not constitutionally protect practices deemed “anti-Qur’anic.” Asserting that triple ṭalāq is such a practice, the Court held that it could not be protected under the Indian Constitution.

This qanun is the Acehnese criminal procedure code. Article 5 states that it applies to all law enforcement agencies and persons in Aceh. It regulates the manner in which law enforcement officers conduct criminal investigations, the rights of the accused, the appropriate judicial forums for criminal trials, the manner in which prosecutors may prosecute a case, as well as the punitive measures a court may enforce, including caning, monetary fines, and imprisonment.

This regional regulation replaces Tasikmalaya Municipal Regulation No. 12 of 2009. It obliges every person to implement the teachings of their own religion as a set of guidelines by which to live their lives, thereby avoiding the ignoble. Among its many provisions, it requires all persons to worship God, requires employers to make available prayer facilities for their employees, prohibits dubious economic and financial practices, mandates that the regional government and society increase the levels of religious education (both formal and informal) for younger people, and requires all persons to dress in accordance with their respective religious teachings, and local societal norms. In line with its predecessor, the regulation also prohibits the following:

1. becoming involved in corrupt practices and abusing one's position of power;
2. committing adultery or prostitution (heterosexual and homosexual);
3. gambling;
4. ingesting intoxicants (alcoholic and narcotic);
5. carrying out abortions;
6. viewing pornography;
7. charging interest (riba) and making speculative sales (ijon);
8. practising idolatry;
9. facilitating child exploitation;
10. participating in organised crime; and
11. disseminating deviant sects/understandings.

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (Ityop'iya Federalawi Demokrasiyawi Ripeblik), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Ethiopia's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has some legal status. 

The appellant sought to challenge the decision of the Jantho Shari'a Court (lower court), which had dismissed his claim in full.

The Court did not concur with the judgment of the lower court, but still found that the appellant's claim lacked clarity in terms of, among other things, its inclusion of beneficiaries who had already passed away, and persons who had replaced those beneficiaries that had passed away. Accordingly, it dismissed the appeal and ordered the appellant to pay costs.

This regional regulation prohibits the production, distribution, sale, stockpiling, storage, and consumption of alcholic beverages in Indramayu regency. Moreover, it categorically prohibits any person or entity from bringing alcholic beverages into Indramayu regency. Contravention of this regulation can result in up to six months' imprisonment or a fine of up to IDR 50 million. While the regulation arguably seeks to Islamise the region, it justifies its blanket prohibition on alcohol, not on the grounds of religious (Islamic) norms, but on the grounds that alcohol constitutes a hazard to people's health, a threat to the future of the next generation and the nation, and disrupts societal security and order.

In its preambular statement, this regional regulation states that, for the purpose of realising the Luwu Timur Regency Vision (Visi Kabupaten Luwu Timur) as an Autonomous, Cultural and Religious Centre for the Development of Agribusiness (Pusat Pengembangan Agribisnis, Mandiri, Berbudaya dan Religius), the circulation and use of alcoholic beverages needs to be controlled. The aim of this regulation is to control and prohibit the distribution, abuse and negative impact of the use of alcoholic beverages in the region (art 3). Accordingly, it stipulates that all persons or companies that distribute and/or sell alcoholic beverages must first obtain written permission from the regent (art 6(1)).

This regional regulation is an example of a legislative instrument that, arguably, Islamises public life without making any express reference to Islam or religion (agama). It prohibits all importers, distributors, sub-distributors, and retailers from placing, storing, distributing, and selling alcoholic beverages in Kaimana regency, West Papua (Papua Barat) (art 3(1)). Similarly, pursuant to art 3(2), all persons are prohibited from consuming alcoholic beverages, including traditional alcoholic beverages, as well as from entering Kaimana regency under the influence of alcohol, from bringing alcoholic beverages into Kaimana regency, and from producing alcoholic beverages from palm trees, arenga pinnata, and the like.

The plaintiffs, a group of inmates held at the Massachusetts Correctional Institute in Concord, filed suit against Massachusetts prison officials for alleged violations of their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). The plaintiffs alleged that the prison officials violated these rights by refusing to provide separate accommodations for adherents of the Nation of Islam, whose practices (according to one of the plaintiffs) are "distinctly different" from those of Sunnī Islam. The magistrate judge recommended that the defendants' motion to dismiss be allowed because the plaintiffs had not yet exhausted their administrative remedies within the prison system.

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Jamhuri-ye Islami-ye Afghanistan), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Afghanistan’s Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) is the principal source for legislation.

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the The People's Republic of Bangladesh (Gana Prajatantri Bangladesh), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Bangladesh's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has no legal status. 

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Al Mamlakah al Urduniyah al Hashimiyah), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Jordan's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) is a principle source of legislation.