by Mothiur Rahman

Created on: December 17, 2009

According to Muslims the current Shari'a—law of Islam—is specifically for the followers of the prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). This view is based on the understanding that all previous prophets, from Adam to Eesa (Jesus) (peace be upon them all), taught their followers the same 'aqeedah (doctrine); but different laws depending on the necessities and demands of the people to whom they were assigned.

The Syrian scholar Sheikh Said Ramadan al-Buti outlines what the doctrinal elements of the teachings of all prophets were/are: 'faith in God's oneness, refusal to attribute to God any qualities which would be unworthy of the Divine, as well as faith in the Last Day, Judgement, Paradise, and Hell.' With regards to legislation however, he explains that 'legislation is based on what is required by the interests of humanity both in this word and the next, then it must reflect and be influenced by the passage of time and the changes undergone by nations and peoples.'[1] A simple way of understanding al-Buti's point is by considering an act currently prohibited under Islamic law; which is ‘incest’.[2] According to the Qur'anic narrative, Allah (May He be Exalted and Glorified) created Adam and Hawa’ (Eve)—one man and one women. Irrespective of whether one agrees that this event took place or not, the Islamic perspective—which is the subject of this essay—is that it did. Therefore according to the teachings of Islam, the earliest human beings—the offspring of Adam and Eve—were permitted to have children with their siblings in order to ensure that the human race continued to grow. In other words, incest was beneficial during the time of Adam, so it was permissible; but is prohibited by God under today's Islam—possibly due to the health risks.[3]              

                 Further evidence for this teaching—that laws changed—is found in the Qur’an itself. In verse 50 of Surah al-‘Imran for example, Jesus addresses the children of Israel with the words ‘And I (have come) confirming what was before me of the Torah and to make lawful for you some of what was forbidden for you’.

The implication of all of this is that according to the Islamic teachings, a lot of the prohibitions are not intrinsically

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