Islamic law or shariah is interpreted according to four schools of law (fiqh, or jurisprudence), but the basic elements are the same throughout the Islamic world, especially where religious rites are concerned. These rites consist of: the five daily prayers performed in Arabic, whether one is in Malaysia or Bosnia; the tithes paid to the poor; the fast during the month of Ramadan carried out by all healthy adult Muslims; the annual pilgrimage (hajj) made from all parts of the Islamic world; and other religious acts that bind Muslims together wherever they might be. Over the ages the ethical norms related to shariah have been the injunctions of the Quran and sunnah (manners and deeds of Prophet Muhammad, PBUH) (see Nasr 2002: 59). In other words, shariah is practising Islam in one's everyday life, or, as Tariq Ramadan (2004: 32) points out, the shariah shows us ‘how to be and remain Muslim’.

In its deeper meaning, the shariah is concerned with ordinances, or hudud, which literally means ‘limits’ set by Allah (God). The Muslims' holy book the Quran says, ‘He [God] is the most swift of reckoners’ (6:62), and many verses of the Quran are concerned with the hudud (Nasr 2002: 154). For example, verse 4:14 of the Quran says, ‘Those who disobey God and His Messenger and transgress His limits will be admitted to a fire, to abide therein: and they shall have a humiliating punishment’ (Nasr 2002: 154; see also Ali n.d.).