Editing Fiqh (section)

== Influence on Western laws ==
{{main|Sharia#Classic Islamic law|l1=Sharia: Classic Islamic law}}

A number of important legal [[institution]]s were developed by Muslim jurists during the classical period of Islam, known as the [[Islamic Golden Age]]. One such institution was the ''[[Hawala]]'', an early [[informal value transfer system]], which is mentioned in texts of Islamic jurisprudence as early as the 8th century. ''Hawala'' itself later influenced the development of the [[Agency (law)|agency]] in [[common law]] and in [[Civil law (legal system)|civil laws]] such as the ''aval'' in [[Law of France|French law]] and the ''avallo'' in [[Italy|Italian]] law.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Islamic Law: Its Relation to Other Legal Systems |first=Gamal Moursi |last=Badr |journal=The American Journal of Comparative Law |volume=26 |issue=2 – Proceedings of an International Conference on Comparative Law, Salt Lake City, Utah, 24–25 February 1977 |date=Spring 1978 |pages=187–198 [196–98] |doi=10.2307/839667 |publisher=American Society of Comparative Law |jstor=839667}}</ref>

The ''[[Waqf]]'' in [[Sharia|Islamic law]], which developed during the 7th–9th centuries, bears a notable resemblance to the [[Charitable trust|trusts]] in the English [[trust law]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Gaudiosi|1988}}</ref> For example, every ''Waqf'' was required to have a ''waqif'' (settlor), ''mutawillis'' (trustee), ''[[qadi]]'' (judge) and beneficiaries.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gaudiosi|1988|pp=1237–40}}</ref> The trust law developed in [[England]] at the time of the [[Crusades]], during the 12th and 13th centuries, was introduced by Crusaders who may have been influenced by the ''Waqf'' institutions they came across in the [[Middle East]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Hudson|2003|p=32}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Gaudiosi|1988|pp=1244–45}}</ref>

In classical Islamic jurisprudence, litigants in court may obtain [[notarized]] statements from between three and twelve witnesses. When the statements of all witnesses are consistent, the notaries will certify their unanimous testimony in a legal document, which may be used to support the litigant's claim.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Justice of Islam|pages=7–9|author=Lawrence Rosen|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2000|isbn=9780198298847}}</ref> The notaries serve to free the [[qadi|judge]] from the time-consuming task of hearing the testimony of each eyewitness himself, and their documents serve to legally authenticate each oral testimony.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Expert Witness in Islamic Courts|year=2010|publisher=University of Chicago Press|author=Ron Shaham|pages=4–8|isbn=9780226749358}}</ref> The [[Maliki]] school requires two notaries to collect a minimum of twelve eyewitness statements in certain legal cases, including those involving unregistered marriages and land disputes.<ref>{{cite book|title=Positive Law from the Muslim World|author=Baudouin Dupret|year=2021|isbn=9781108960137|pages=205–210|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Property, Social Structure, and Law in the Modern Middle East|year=1985|pages=54–64|editor=Ann Elizabeth Mayer|publisher=[[SUNY]] Press|isbn=9780873959889}}</ref> John Makdisi has compared this group of twelve witness statements, known as a ''lafif'', to [[English Common Law]] jury trials under [[Henry II of England|Henry II]], surmising a link between the king's reforms and the legal system of the [[Kingdom of Sicily]]. The island had previously been ruled by various Islamic dynasties.<ref name="Rodhan">{{cite book |last1=Al-Rodhan |first1=Nayef R. F. |title=The Role of the Arab-Islamic World in the Rise of the West: Implications for Contemporary Trans-Cultural Relations |date=2012 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-230-39320-2 |page=73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n4OpT4ZP278C |access-date=25 May 2020 |language=en }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="Makdisi">{{cite journal |last1=Makdisi |first1=John |title=The Islamic Origins of the Common Law |journal=North Carolina Law Review |date=1 June 1999 |volume=77 |issue=5 |pages=1635 |url=https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/nclr/vol77/iss5/2/ |access-date=25 May 2020}}</ref>

Several other fundamental [[common law]] institutions may have been adapted from similar legal institutions in [[Sharia|Islamic law]] and jurisprudence, and introduced to England by the [[Normans]] after the [[Norman conquest of England]] and the Emirate of Sicily, and by Crusaders during the [[Crusades]]. In particular, the "royal English [[contract]] protected by the action of [[debt]] is identified with the Islamic ''Aqd'', the English [[assize of novel disseisin]] is identified with the Islamic ''Istihqaq'', and the English [[jury]] is identified with the Islamic ''lafif''." John Makdisi speculated that English legal institutions such as "the [[scholastic method]], the [[licence]] to [[Education|teach]]", the "[[law school]]s known as [[Inns of Court]] in England and ''[[Madrasah|Madrasas]]'' in Islam" and the "European [[commenda]]" (Islamic ''[[Qirad]]'') may have also originated from Islamic law.<ref name=Makdisi/> The methodology of [[Precedent|legal precedent]] and reasoning by [[analogy]] (''[[Qiyas]]'') are also similar in both the Islamic and common law systems.<ref name=Gamal>{{cite book |title=Islamic Finance: Law, Economics, and Practice |url=https://archive.org/details/islamicfinancela00elga |url-access=limited |first=Mahmoud A. |last=El-Gamal |year=2006 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=0-521-86414-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/islamicfinancela00elga/page/n35 16] }}</ref> These influences have led some scholars to suggest that Islamic law may have laid the foundations for "the common law as an integrated whole".<ref name=Makdisi/>