sharia

1. alternativeAlternative spelling of shari'a.

   Unlike in Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan, in Yemen they are trying to implement sharia by winning over the hearts and minds of the people.

   2012 April 30, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, “Al-Qaida's wretched utopia and the battle for hearts and minds”, in The Guardian

   2 more examples

   As such judgments were in entire opposition to the sharia (or Moslem religious law) as taught, the Mahdi strictly forbade the study of theology, and ordered all books of this description to be burnt; […]

   1896, Rudolf C. Slatin, translated by F. R. Wingate, Fire and Sword in the Sudan, page 14

   After all, Usamah had served the sadist Zangi and, if read in full, his account presents a picture of Islamic violence no less shocking to modern sensibilities: the collecting of Christian heads, the crucifying and bisections of their own soldiers and heretics, the severe punishments of Islamic sharia – and the story of how his father, in a rage, lopped off the arm of his page.

   2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 276

plural sharias

1. A street in Arabic-speaking countries.

   The desperate, little streets opening off the great Sharias delve and wander in the protective darkness; […]

   1950, James Alan Thompson, Only the Sun Remembers, page 57

   5 more examples

   No little of Cairo’s popularity as a winter-resort is due to its many excellent Hotels: the chief being—Grand Continental, on the west side of the Esbekia between the Sharia Bulak and Sharia El-Moghrabi, with large terrace looking directly across the Sharia Kamel-Pasha (the chief modern thoroughfare) at the Gardens; Savoy (same management) at the Rond-point intersection of the Sharias Kasr-en-Nil and Suleiman-Pasha; D’Angleterre (also same management) quieter in Sharia El-Moghrabi, prettily situated […]

   1910, The Mediterranean Cruise, pages 133–135

   The principal Sharias, as they call their streets, and the ancient Muski Bazaars, have shed their Oriental grandeur where once were displayed rich Egyptian and Persian carpets and shawls from Baghdad; […]

   1933, The Orient Observer, page 34

   But what Omdurman does not have in its sprawling loose ends of architecture and unnamed streets, Khartoum has with its cleaner named streets and sharias.

   1962, Harry Roskolenko, White Man, Go!, page 101

   After the gritty oppressions and smells of the day, jasmine scented the night air as we clipclopped in gharries down the sharias and around the midans in a city glamorous under the sapphire glow of black-out lamps.

   1990, Mary Benson, A Far Cry, page 26

   […] some of the streets mentioned in this book may go by a different title (here they are listed in both French and Arabic when necessary). Rues and avenues may become zanqats, derbs, or sharias.

   2003, Spain & Portugal, including Morocco, page 715

1. alternativeAlternative form of shari'a.

   The existence of another system of law is now accepted side by side with the Sharia; this law is the Kanoun, and consists of those laws which have been made by the temporal sovereign.

   1908, James Harry Scott, The Law Affecting Foreigners in Egypt, page 79

   1 more example

   The Sharia, alone of all the unwritten laws in the Sudan, is not subjected to the test of whether or not it is repugnant to justice, equity and good conscience, since a law laid down by God cannot be treated as unjust.

   1960, Antony N. Allott, The Future of Law in Africa, page 6