Commentary on mohammedan Law

Hindu and Muslims are the two leading communities of India. Except the special statutes which are of general application, each of these two communities is governed by its own personal laws regarding family matters and religious institutions, but in other matters both are governed by common law passed by the Indian Legislature. The personal laws of both of these communities are based on their respective religions giving effect as Divine laws.

"The judicial regulations, both of the Hindu and the Mohammedans are, infact, so intimately blended with their religion, that any attempts to change the former would be felt by them as violation of the latter."

Before going to elaborate the origin and development of law under the subject, it is very essential to examine the correct denomination for it. Various terms used for the subject are Islamic law' or 'Muslim law' or 'Mohammadan law' with its different variants strictly speaking, the Mohammadanism; and the people who follow it are Muslims not Mohammadans. The system of law developed by the Muslim Jurists is 'Fiqh' and the terms 'Islamic law' or 'Muslim law' are used synonymously with it, the former refers to religion and the latter refers to the followers of the religion, so no controversy arises as for as the practice of the expression "Mohammadan" is concerned, though it may also be used synonymously with the terms 'Islamic law' on 'Muslim law' as it also refers to the prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam and the Islamic Jurisprudence, yet it is regarded that this expression rooms to be more appropriate for India as well as some, other countries, where, only a part of Figh is applied to Muslims.