“Advent of Islam’’ and development of Islamic Law.

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Islam - its basis : Islam is the last revealed religion. “Islam" is an Arabic word meaning “submission”. It denotes complete submission to the One Almighty God. Muhammad Identified himself as a simple human being sent by God as a Prophet to the people.

The Quran is the Divine Book which is God’s own word as revealed to Muhammad through the Angel of Revelation. It dictates the Law, initiates into the Unseen, purifies the soul and guides social progress. It can be said to be a complete code of conduct for all time. The Quran, as we have it now, is a record of what the Prophet said while in the state of ecstatic seizure. The recording of the Prophet’s words in the beginning was haphazard. Verses were written on palm leaves, stones, the shoulder-blades of animals-in short, any material which 'was available. There is no doubt that at the death of Muhammad, a good deal of the Quran was already written down, though not all of it, for while the Prophet was alive, new chapters were constantly being added. There is also no doubt that a 'great deal of the Quran had been learned by heart.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAMIC LAW

(1)The first period in the development of the Islamic Law is of ten years the one between 1 A. Hejira and 10A.H. This is the most important period so far as . the first two sources of law, viz., the Quran and ‘hadith’ are concerned. The Prophet had conquered Mecca, and in the last few years of his life, he took upon himself the task of legislation. Most of the verses of the Quran revealed during this period deal with legal aspects. So also do some of the Prophet’s most important judicial decisions and traditions. The precept of the Prophet acquired binding force because Muslims believed that the actions and the saying of the Prophet were inspired or commanded by God.

(2)The second period is the period of thirty years from 10A.H. to 40A.H. when the rightly-guided Caliphs, viz., Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman and Ali were the Caliphs. During this period, there was a close adherence to ancient practice under the guise of adherence to the ‘sunnah’-the precept of the Prophet. During this period, the collection and the editing of the Quran also took place. The authorized text of the Quran-which remains without change or corruption to this day-was first published during the reign of Usman, the third Caliph.