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Hadith collections and Sharia law
Major collections c. 850–900· Scripture or text· Judaism, Christianity & Islam
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
Reports of Muhammad's words and deeds (hadith), and the Islamic law (Sharia) scholars built from them and the Quran.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
Hadith were passed down orally, each with a chain of narrators (isnad). Scholars sifted hundreds of thousands, grading them sound or weak; the most trusted Sunni collections are al-Bukhari's (d. 870) and Muslim's (d. 875), while Shia use their own. Muslims see Sharia, 'the path', as God's law; jurists worked out its rules (fiqh) on prayer, family, trade and crime. Sunnis follow four main schools of law, Hanafi, Maliki, Shafii and Hanbali; most Shia follow the Jafari school.
Why it matters
Most of daily Muslim practice, from how to pray to inheritance shares, comes from hadith and Sharia, which still shape family law in many countries.
Sources and history
Manuscripts of the collections and legal works from the 800s on, and the isnad chains themselves; Western scholars such as Goldziher and Schacht tested the chains critically.
Questions and debates
How many hadith truly go back to Muhammad is debated: some Western scholars argue many were invented later, while Muslim scholars defend the traditional methods of authentication.
Connections (3)
▸Hadith collections and Sharia law builds on The QuranHistorical record
The connection
The Quran has a few hundred verses with legal content but gives few details; it commands prayer without saying exactly how. Hadith fill the gaps, recording how Muhammad prayed, fasted, traded and judged. Sunni jurists treat the Quran as Sharia's first source, the Prophet's Sunna as the second, then scholarly consensus and analogy.
When and where
Medina, Kufa, Baghdad and Central Asia, 700s-900s; the jurist al-Shafii (d. 820) set out this ranking of sources in his Risala.
Historical evidence
Legal manuals of every school begin from Quranic verses, then hadith; al-Shafii's Risala explains the method explicitly.
Questions and debates
A small 'Quranist' minority rejects hadith altogether, and scholars debate how much early law came from local custom before it was linked to scripture.
▸The Golden Rule across faiths appears in Hadith collections and Sharia lawHistorical record
The connection
A well-known hadith says, 'None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.' It is number 13 in al-Nawawi's Forty Hadith, perhaps the most popular hadith anthology, and states Islam's version of the Golden Rule found across many faiths.
When and where
Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim in the 800s; included in al-Nawawi's Forty Hadith, compiled in 1200s Damascus.
Historical evidence
The hadith appears in the two most trusted Sunni collections; comparative religion scholars cite it beside Hillel's and Jesus's sayings.
Questions and debates
Commentators differ on whether 'brother' means fellow Muslims or all humanity; one version says 'neighbor', and many modern scholars favor the wider reading.
▸Islamic revival and political Islam seeks to apply Hadith collections and Sharia lawMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
A central aim of political Islam since the 1970s has been making Sharia the basis of state law. Some countries wrote it into constitutions or penal codes, such as Pakistan's Hudood laws (1979) and Sudan's 1983 laws, while many Muslims see Sharia mainly as personal ethics and worship, not state legislation.
When and where
Egypt, Pakistan, Iran, Sudan and beyond from the 1970s; Egypt's 1980 constitutional amendment made Sharia 'the principal source' of legislation.
How do we know?
Constitutions and legal codes, movement manifestos, and Pew's 2013 survey, which found majorities in many Muslim countries favoring Sharia as official law, but wide disagreement on its meaning.
Questions and debates
What applying Sharia means today is hotly debated among Muslims: traditional punishments, family law only, or broad moral principles compatible with democracy.