• Many Muslims believe that the Sharia is God’s law as revealed to his prophet Mohammed
• The Sharia governs every aspect of private and public life and conduct
• It forms the basis of the law in most Islamic countries - with varying degrees of rigidity
But...
• Although basedon Quranic teaching, the Sharia contains many elements of pre-Islamic and tribal law, it has evolved and been reinterpreted by scholars, and it exists in may versions,
Yet...
• the clerics claim that no law that conflicts with their interpretation of the Sharia can be legitimate, so
• the Sharia has become the Islamists’ major weapon of political control
