Shouldn’t Islam be a personal choice? Wouldn’t Shariah violate that?

Salaam alykum,

I don’t understand that question, because if you knew what Shariah was, your question doesn’t really factor in.

I don’t mean to be rude, but, there’s a difference between Shariah as a legal structure, and Shariah as we understand it, which is simply the method to answer our questions about nail polish and what to do when you have to pray in the Amazon rain forest with only a palm tree to pray on and whether the poisoned dart shot into you by the random interjection of characters from Indiana Jones attacking you for being there invalidates your Wudu or not.

Shariah as a legal structure is not about “personal choice” or “what you want.” It is a legal structure, and legal structures are not about you, the individual, they have to govern people and that means lots of people.

Therefore, the structures of Shariah must account for the society in which you live, as evidenced by The Prophet’s Constitution of Medina, which sought to govern the city of Medina, in totality.

There is a distinct separation between your ibadat (religious rituals) and your muamilat (actions), both are governed by Shariah, but only one, muamilat, is governed by Shariah as a legal system. Things that go into muamilat: marriage, divorce, murder, theft, inheritance, the same exact issues that are governed by any legal system.

Do people debate and disagree with how things should work in a legal system? Of course. High school children in America complain that they can’t drink until they’re 21, large segments of the United States feel that abortion should be illegal, but does either group think that the system itself must go? No, they do not, for the most part.

However, are they following rules that they don’t agree with? Sure. But no matter what system you live in, no matter where you live, you will be in a situation where you are participating in, restricted from doing, or made to do things you do not want to do. This is the nature of a collective legal system, something that human beings need.

In terms of your ibadat, religious practice, those are explained by Shariah, but not Shariah as a legal system, but Shariah as the methodology to teach and disseminate Islamic ideas, practice, and religious obligations.

So there is a sharp difference that must be understood, but, until we actually grasp what Shariah is we will continue to discuss Shariah in this weird abstract form, and while I welcome debates on Shariah, I want them to be on Shariah not what we imagine Shariah to be.

I hope this makes sense, insha Allah.

I pray this reaches you and your families in the best of health and Iman, insha Allah.