Islam-Canon Law, Essay Example

Give 2 scenarios in which canon law came to have a continued and deciding role in how the civil legal tradition developed.

During the 6^th Century, a lawyer, Johannes Scholasticus, who later became a patriarch of Constantinople, brought together some laws from the church which were then still in use. There were a total of around fifty titles. He got these originally from the canones 85 apostolorum antiochenum and the letters of St. Basil. Later on, some civil constitutions were added to the appendix of his compilation. At the end of the sixth as well as some of the seventh centuries, similar compilations were made, and this has come to be known as the first compilations of civil laws in ecclesiastical matters. In the eleventh century, the method was continued and was given the title of Collectiones nomocanonum – collections of ecclesiastical and civil laws organized under the same title. At first, civil laws were only added at the end of canon laws, although later it developed into the civil law being infiltrated into the canon law. Up to this day, this type of system is being used and was originally inspired by Roman law. It was how laws are written and compiled into or under one title which our civil legal tradition developed, thanks to how the canon law came to be (Van de Weil, 1992).

What might be some key features of a contemporary civil legal tradition that relies heavily on canon law?

The canon law had a court system during the twelfth century; this is a feature in which today’s contemporary legal system relies on. The accused are brought through fair trial before they are sentenced. The Roman Church’s canon law also had an inherent system and reason (ratio scaptia), which gave them the authority to resolve disputes. These laws are systemized by scholars to refine a rational and logical system, so that people are not just getting arrested for no apparent reason. This feature of the canon law is something that our current legal system relies on to ensure the public that the laws which stand are rational, reasonable and logical. These scholars were called glossators, and they were the ones responsible for restoring the text of the Roman Emperor Justinian’s Corpus juris civilis which was from the sixth century. Later to restore these laws and make them more current, commentators wrote treatises and provided opionions. Codification is not in itself a defining characteristic of today’s legal system, although it is a feature which is still incorporated (Hall, & Clark, 2002).

Use information about the schools of law in Islam to explain how persons claiming to be devout Muslims can have very different views on terrorism.

There are common beliefs in society nowadays which are fueled by a media, which generalize terrorists to be falling under one category. This is of a religious category, Muslims in particular. There are two reasons for this, the main reason is basically ignorance of the Islamic religion, and the other is media sensationalism. There is an impression on a lot of people that terrorism is something to do with religion, or that terrorists are driven and approved by these Islamic laws to part take in the things they do. It is unfair to say that Islamic beliefs promote terrorism because Islam has been around for many centuries, and terrorism is only a recent phenomenon (Asthana, & Nirmal, 2009). Many believe that the Islamic belief of tawhid, the central belief od Muslims in one god, as well as concentration of violence is part of the Islamic religion. This is highly incorrect because the vast majority of the Islamic world does not take this into practice. There are just some extremists who take these beliefs in to literal as well as political perspectives in order to justify their actions as righteous, and a calling from their god. These extremists strongly believe that tawhid means that only god has the right to sovereignty, thus making democracy, liberation, personal freedom or any of those things which fall under sovereignty, wrong. They also feel that they need to correct it. Thus, these extremists, or jihadists, believe that they must rid the world of all this freedom in order to save their Islamic traditions (Perry, & Negrin, 2009). This is of course, not the entire population of Muslims who believe tawhid to be taken this way, therefore it is not fair to generalize terrorists to be belonging to only one religion, nor it is fair to believe that all those involved in that religion are terrorists.

References

Asthana, N.C., & Nirmal, A. (2009). Urban terrorism: myths and realities. Jaipur: Aavishkar Publishers.

Hall, K, & Clark, D.S. (2002). The oxford companion to American law. London: Oxford University Press.

Perry, M, & Negrin, H.E. (2009). The theory and practices of Islamic terrorism: an anthology. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Van de Weil, C. (1992). History of canon law. Louvain: Peeters Press.