To write Islamic jurisprudence legally

Abstract

At the time Algeria was under Ottoman rule, Sharia (Islamic law) was the only law to refer to. Nevertheless, during colonization, the French colonizer replaced it with positive law. Right after the independence, the Algerian Government tried to re-implement sharia laws gradually starting by keeping the French statutes and leaving out what did not conform to Islamic rules and teachings. After such a long period of time, some “timid” attempts have been made by the Algerian legislator to return to the Islamic law statements; yet, a myriad of obstacles has stood in the way, mainly those related to Fiq’h* since many scholars see the impossibility of turning Fiq’h into law. Despite the fact that there is no other easy way to use Fiq’h in a written form rather than law texts, the Algerian law still contains many Islamic rules and this has created a continuous controversial situation whether to or not to imbed Fiq’h in legislation or applying western (European) laws until later on.