At other times, proof consists of circumstantial indications, incriminating circumstances, and suspicion, together with fifty oaths sworn by the claimant. This is the procedure known as qasāmah, in which the claimant’s oaths are taken first according to most jurists of the Hijāz and scholars of hadith. It differs from other procedures in requiring fifty oaths, just as the oaths of mutual imprecation are distinguished by consisting of four testimonies sworn by Allah, since each oath takes the place of a witness. According to Mālik and Ahmad, qasāmah establishes liability to retaliatory execution, whereas according to al-Shāfi‘ī it establishes liability only to blood money. The jurists of opinion administer the oaths only to the defendant, as mentioned earlier, yet they still require him to pay blood money despite his having sworn them. There are well-known details concerning this, which are not our purpose to discuss here.

Our purpose is simply to draw attention to the principal rulings governing legal claims, for this is a subject of great importance, and the need for it is both pressing and widespread. Neglect by some authorities and transgression by others have led to ignorance of the truth and injustice towards people. The term “religious law” has consequently ceased to correspond to its original meaning. Rather, in these times it is used in three senses.

The first is revealed law: the Quran and the Sunnah. Following it is obligatory, and whoever departs from it must be put to death. It encompasses the fundamentals of religion and its subsidiary rulings, the administration of rulers and those entrusted with public funds, the judgments of judges, the leadership exercised by shaykhs, and other matters. No one, whether among earlier or later generations, may depart from obedience to Allah and His Messenger.

The second is the law as interpreted: matters over which the Muslim community differs and exercises independent juristic reasoning. Whoever adopts a position in a matter legitimately open to such reasoning is allowed to maintain it; others are not all required to agree with him except on the basis of incontrovertible proof from the Quran and the Sunnah.