Arabic · noun · Nation, Faith & Society

Sharia

शरीअत
said sha-ree-AT
also written: Shariat, shariah, shariat, sharia
Meaning

The body of Islamic religious law and moral guidance.

Literally: the path; the way to water

Usage & notes

The revealed sacred law of Islam — the outward path of practice and obligation. Iqbal sees the shariat not as a frozen list of rules but as a living legal-moral order whose principles must be applied afresh in each age through ijtihad. In the Sufi schema he inherits, shariat is the outward law that must be wedded to tariqat (the path) and haqiqat (reality), not abandoned for them.