# Are Sharia rules brand new, or based on what people already did? *What the Shari'ah really is: remedies drawn from society, the kintsugi idea* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/jtyem-eee78/s/17/ - Date: 2020-09-22 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #183 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (1:36:57–1:42:38) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTYEM-eEe78&t=5817s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/jtyem-eee78/ **Topics:** Legal theory and method; Islam and modernity **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth says the Shari'ah did not bring otherworldly rules but took existing practices and set limits on them, like kintsugi mending pottery. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the Shari'ah took people's existing rulings and placed parameters on them so they do not transgress. **Evidence, his words at 1:41:22:** “it was taking their things their rulings and it was telling them it was just placing parameters on them so they don't transgress” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTYEM-eEe78&t=6082s) ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth says many people are left with 'the Shari'ah' as a slogan, knowing it is a system of rules but able to name few beyond cutting the thief's hand. Mufti accepts that it comes through the Quran and Sunnah, but says people misunderstand its basis, imagining its rulings as otherworldly, like introducing cryptocurrency to seventh-century Arabia. He restates his 'kintsugi hypothesis' from an earlier video: like the Japanese art of rejoining broken pottery with gold, the Quran and Sunnah took the people's existing practices and placed parameters on them so they did not transgress. He says the dogmatic view held by Salafis, Wahhabis and others misses this, and announces examples to show it. ## Sources and names cited - Shari'ah - maqasid al-shari'ah - Salafi - Wahhabi ## Transcript (machine tier, 1:36:57–1:42:38) [1:36:17] and this is what explains the proliferation of islam i feel that too is uh a key aspect i i do accept that point as well checking some of the the comments people please be mindful in your comments do not um easy you do in it you do and it much love for the super chat and do not spam in the comments please right so let me just see somebody said did you miss a right i don't think i missed a [1:36:57] super chat right let's speaking of the sharia now this is an interesting point i want to share um you see to many people we have been left with a slogan the sharia but they don't fully understand what that means yes they know it is a regulatory system it is a system of rules regulations of principles of things like this to live by [1:37:36] that they understand what are these rules very few people can name them except a small amount like what are popularized about chopping the hand of the thief and so on the other key problem in this discussion or discourse of sharia is people misunderstand what is the basis of the sharia so we know that the sharia comes to us through the quran [1:38:13] through the sunnah and what is extracted and extrapolated from them i accept that that's not what i mean the horizontal the actual objectives of the sharia the the what it's trying to achieve is that it is providing a society with a remedy with a social remedy to their problems but where is it bringing [1:38:51] these rulings from so here is the misunderstanding people feel that the rulings it's bringing are somehow otherworldly they are they have been brought in from out of this cosmos as divine out of time rulings that were unheard of before islam mentioned them so it's like as an example imagine you [1:39:30] went to seventh century arabia and you started speaking about cryptocurrency nobody's heard of it people would not even have imagined it so you start explaining now this cryptocurrency i want to introduce i mean obviously you can't interview but you want but you'd like to introduce let's say you'd like to introduce cryptocurrency or you're trying to explain the stock market you're introducing the stock market to 7th century arabia now that's something they've never heard of the world has not heard of [1:40:06] and it's otherworldly to them fair enough this is what people think the sharia was and the truth is it's nothing like that and i have a video as well already explaining the kinsuki hypotheses that just as you have this uh japanese art this beautiful art where they will have broken pottery broken bowls and broken things that are then rejoined together using a kind of decorative seal often golden or things like this [1:40:43] which not only fix the bowl or that pottery but they do so in a way to make it look much more beautiful than it was to begin with and that is what i've said the sharia was and is it is the kinsuki hypothesis of although that's from the japanese wabi-sabi but this is what what was happening the quran the sunnah was giving to the people pro solutions social remedies [1:41:22] from their societies it was taking their things their rulings and it was telling them it was just placing parameters on them so they don't transgress now i want to recite an example to show sometimes what we picture of the sharia is completely not what the sharia may be so people have and often this dogmatist view as presented by salafis and wahhabis and and people you know pseudo wahhabis as well people like diobandis or these people who are not technically wahhabi but they you know [1:42:01] have an alter ego that is kind of like they they think they confused they they think they were hobbies sometimes this kind of dogmatic mind frame and other people have it as well now so some braveries have it and other people now they have this understanding this is how it is this is the sharia this and sometimes people will say oh how does muftiya bulay say oh my god he makes things halal oh my god [Music] [Laughter] so let's take a look at some rulings people ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment jTYEM-eEe78/s/17. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/jtyem-eee78/s/17/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.