Shariah is the body of Islamic law. The term means “way” or
“path”; it is the legal framework within which the public and
some private aspects of life are regulated for those living in a
legal system based on Muslim principles of jurisprudence.
Shariah deals with all aspects of day-to-day life, including
politics, economics, banking, business law, contract law,
family, sexuality, hygiene, and social issues. There is not a
strictly codified uniform set of laws pertaining to sharia. It
is more like a system of devising laws, based on the Qur'an
(holy book of Islam), hadith (saying of Mohammed), and centuries
of debate, interpretation and precedent. Before the 19th
century, legal theory was considered the domain of the
traditional legal schools of thought.  Mainstream Islam
distinguishes between fiqh ("understanding of details"), which
refers to the inferences drawn by scholars, and shariah, which
refers to the principles that lie behind the fiqh. Scholars hope
that fiqh and sharia are in harmony in any given ca