shariʽa

noun

sha·​riʽa

variants or sharia

shəˈrēə 

or less commonly shariat

-ēət

or sharʽ or shar

ˈshär

or sheri

shəˈrē

or sheria

shəˈrēə

or sheriat

-ēət

plural -s

often capitalized

: the body of formally established sacred law in Islam based primarily on Allah's commandments found in the Koran and revealed through the sunna of Muhammad, governing in theory not only religious matters but regulating as well political, economic, civil, criminal, ethical, social, and domestic affairs in Muslim countries, and commonly in practice being supplemented by the customary law of a region compare adat

Word History

Etymology

Arabic sharīʽah

First Known Use

1855, in the meaning defined above

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