The Sharia was codified to administer an empire spanning diverse peoples

Evidence

The first Muslim empire, which brought together large numbers of people from various regions, sought to develop a set of laws that could be applied uniformly to all Muslim subjects. This need for a system of organization was the impetus behind the development of the Sharia—a set of rules codified into law. The ulama were entrusted with the task of formulating the Sharia. The various Sharia systems that emerged from this effort attempted to describe all human acts and activities and to classify them by permissibility: as forbidden, objectionable, recommended, and so on. These rules encompassed almost all spheres of life, from commerce and crime to marriage, divorce, property, hygiene, and interpersonal relationships. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 291 (#expands, via linked claim)

In Safwat’s proposal for reform, the basic moral appeal is to conscience in the Kantian sense. The shari¯‘a comes to be equated with jurisprudential rules concerning marriage, divorce, and inheritance, with the resolution of disputes arising from such relationships, and also with the rules for proper worship. The consequence of that equation is not simply abridgement but a rearticulation of the concepts of law and morality. The latter comes increasingly to be seen as rules of conduct whose sanctions are essentially different from those of legal rules—that is, not subject to institutionalized, worldly punishments. This is precisely what one finds in the liberal reform lawyers who describe the shari¯‘a as “the law of personal status” (qa¯nu¯n al-ahwa¯l al-shakhsiyya), that is, as rules for regulating “the family,” a modern institution built around the married couple. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 1196 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Sharia law arose from the administrative needs of empire-building; Sharia was codified by the ulama as imperial administrative law — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 291; Modern Muslim reformers redefined sharia into a private sphere of conscience — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular:…, 1196

Broader Connections

• Sharia law arose from the administrative needs of empire-building #corroborates (0.95)
• Sharia was codified by the ulama as imperial administrative law #expands (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 291
• Modern Muslim reformers redefined sharia into a private sphere of conscience #complicates (0.78) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 1196