ABSTRACT
Radical though the break with past tradition which such an approach involves might be, it is nevertheless a break with a particular construction of the religious law and not with its essence. Historical enquiry reveals that during the early period of Islam the religious precepts contained in the Quran had been gradually absorbed within the framework of the existing customary law and the administrative practices of the Umayyad Empire. It cannot be denied that certain specific provisions of the Quran, such as that which commands the amputation of the hand for theft, pose problems in the context of contemporary life for which the solution is not readily apparent. But, generally speaking, the Quranic precepts are in the nature of ethical norms—broad enough to support modern legal structures and capable of varying interpretations to meet the particular needs of time and place.
