ABSTRACT
As in Judaism, in Islam, religion sanctions and sanctifies law. Because it is annunciated in the scripture, the faithful see it as an expression of divine will, which renders it obligatory for the believer for fear of punishment not just in this life but also (and much more so) in the hereafter. If observed properly, law will lead them to salvation and eternal bliss. Disobeying or neglecting law, on the contrary, will condemn them to eternal damnation and misery in the afterlife. As in premodern Judaic communities, in premodern Islamic societies, law was seen as encompassing legal, moral, ethical, commercial, and ritual norms to be observed by those who are anxious to secure God’s pleasure. In medieval Christian Europe, the situation was different due to the simultaneous functioning of both a reformed secular legal code inherited from Imperial Rome and the canon law of the Christian Church.
