Islamic law and society

Shari'ah (Islamic law) has been the dominant moral and legal code of Muslim societies for the greater part of their history. During the early centuries of Islam, Shari'ah facilitated the social growth and development of the Muslims, growth that culminated in the establishment of a vast empire and an outstanding civilization. By the close of the fifth century of Islam, however, Shari'ah began to lose its role as the guiding force that inspired Muslim creativity and ingenuity and that nurtured the growing spirit of the Muslim community (Ummah). Consequently, the Ummah entered a period of stagnation that gradually gave way to intellectual decline and social decadence. Regrettably, this painful trend continues to be more or less 'part of the individual consciousness and collective experience of Muslims.
This paper attempts to trace the development of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence, and to assess the impact of Shari'ah on society. It argues that the law ceased to grow by the sixth century of Islam as a result of the development of classical legal theory; more specifically, law was put on hold, as it were, after the doctrine of the infallibility of ijma' (juristic consensus) was articulated. The rigid principles of classical theory, it is contended, have been primarily induced by the faulty epistemology employed by sixth-century jurists.