RIYADH: ABDUL HAMEED AL-ANSARI ARABNEWS

Friday 1 February 2013

There is a conflict between Shariah authorities and non-Shariah legal experts in areas such as legal studies, methodology and execution of law in Kingdom, according to Ahmed Al-Saqih, a Saudi legal expert.
He stressed the need to close the widening gap between the Islamic legal system and the manmade legal system, and ending the disputes between the two sides.

“Even the word ‘manmade law’ was unacceptable for some Shariah experts in the past,” Al-Saqih said in a lecture delivered at the Hamad Al-Jassar Center yesterday. “The situation has now changed, especially after legal experts have realized that the non-Shariah law also has the goal of reaching at just legal rights.”
The lecture was steered by Abdullah Al-Taweel.

Al-Saqih’s lecture coincides with continuing efforts by the Saudi government to streamline the Kingdom judicial system and codify criminal and domestic laws.

Al-Saqih added that they also have realized that French law is influenced to a considerable extent by the Maliki school of thought.

“The goal of Islamic Shariah and its effort to achieve justice is loftier and comprehensive than all manmade laws, even if some manmade laws such as the Roman law are older than the Shariah,” Al-Saqih said. “On the other hand, the message of the Prophet (peace be upon him) came to perfect all the noble qualities.”

The expert also deplored the large divide between the students of the Shariah and the students of the positive law.

He attributed this chasm to the system of study at universities. Where the positive law is taught, the Shariah law is not included. The same is the case with the institutes where the Shariah is taught.

The expert stressed the importance of a merger between the syllabi of the Shariah and law schools as Egyptian universities have been doing over the past 50 years.

This kind of approach will pave the way to bring the two legal systems closer.