History of Islamic Law

Sixth Stage

Stagnation

Introduction
Begins with the fall of Baghdad in the seventh century of Hijrah and extended to the present days. This period also include the rise of the Ottoman Empire (923H-1337H)
Founded in 1299 CE by the Turkish leader Uthman ibn Ortaghal Othman the First [1259-1326 C.E.], and declined under the attacks of European colonialism and ended in 3 March 1924.
It is when Caliph Abdul Mejid II of the Ottoman Empire is deposed. The last remnant of the Ottoman Empire gives way to the reformed Turkey of President Kemal Atatrk.

Characteristic of Fiqh: 6th Stage

The practice of taqlid The codification of Islamic law
The colonization of Muslim states by the West

The practice of taqlid

The trend of taqlid, which was prevalent during the fifth stage continued in this period till it becomes a norm among the scholars and public.
Some of the scholars during this period actually have the capacity to perform ijtihad independently, e.g. alNawawi Yahya ibn Sharaf [631-677H], but he personally didnt want to be entitled as Imam al-Mazhab as if it will offend the founding Imam (Shafii).

Despite that, there are some reformers who call for the exercising of ijtihad.
These scholars have put their effort to exercise ijtihad and try to reemphasis its important and they reject the idea of solely referring all matters of Islamic law to the four prominent mazhab.

 Among these reformers [al-Mujaddid] are : Ahmad ibn Taimiyyah, Ahmad ibn Abd al-Halim ibn Taymiyyah [661-728H] Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr [691-751H] Muhammad ibn Ali al-Shaukani [1173-1250H] Ahmad ibn 'Abdul-Rahim better known as Shah Wali Allah alDihlawi [1703-1762 CE] Jamal al-Din al-Afghani [1839-1897 CE] Muhammad Abduh [1849-1905 CE] Despite the effort by these scholars, they were not all together free from the criticism from others who oppose their idea and the inclination towards taqlid was still dominant among the scholars and the general public.

The codification of Islamic law

The codification of Islamic law was prepared under the support of the Ottoman caliphs.

The famous code was called Majallah al-Ahkam al-Adliyyah (The Just Codes), which was drafted by a panel of seven top ranking scholars of Fiqh. The codification has turned legal rulings of Fiqh into legal code or legal text or Acts as existed in modern written law.
Legal rulings of Fiqh were arranged into parts, and parts into sections, and sections into articles, and articles into clauses. Qadhi will refer to the code in their verdict:
According to Sections five of Part 1 in Book 1 (Sales Contract), Article 190: The contracting parties, after making of the contract, can rescind (al-Iqalah) the contract of sale by consent (of both parties).

The colonization of Muslim states

With the western colonization, the European law codes replaced Islamic laws throughout the Muslim world with the exception of some area of the law Although European colonialism has formally ended in Islamic world, the constitution and law in many Muslim countries is very much influenced by the colonial law be it British, Dutch or other colonial power. Therefore, Islamic law has ceased to be practiced in all Muslim countries with the exception of some countries that has adopted certain aspect of Islamic law such as in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sudan, Iran and others.

The panelist of the Mejelle

Ahmad Jevdet / Jevdet Pasha - Minister of Justice

Sayed Khalil inspector of Awqaf

Seif el-Din a counselor of State Sayid Ahmad Khoulousi a member of high court of justice Sayyid Ahmad Hilmi

Muhammad Emin- a counselor of State

Ibn Abidin Zade aladin - member of the committee.