What is the Sharia? What are some of the diverse ways that this concept has been understood in different times and places? What is the relationship between the Sharia and Islamic law? What are some of the roles that Islamic law has played in Muslim life, both in the past and today? I’m Dr Andreas Görke, and I am a senior lecturer here at the University of Edinburgh. My colleagues and I would like to invite you to join us on an intellectual journey through the online course, “The Sharia and Islamic Law - An Introduction.” Through this engaging and reflective course, we’ll work together to explore these two concepts. We’ll read from cutting-edge academic texts and watch interviews with leading experts.

We will watch award-winning documentaries and work through short exercises to help us gain a greater academic understanding of the Sharia and Islamic law and move beyond sensationalist or apologetic headlines, social media posts, and so on. In this course, we will be learning with internationally renowned experts, from both here at the University of Edinburgh and from across the world. This will give students a similar kind of immersive and academically challenging experience that we would provide if we were teaching a course of this kind on campus. Each week we’ll ask questions, such as what do we mean when we say the word “law”? And what do we mean, then, when we say “Islamic law” or use terms like “fatwa”?

How does Islamic law relate to the Qur’an? And how did it function historically in Muslim societies? We’ll also discuss more controversial topics, like crime and punishment, the impact of colonialism, and how Islamic law is understood and applied in different parts of the Muslim world today. So if you are someone who would like to learn more about what a word like the “Sharia” has meant for Muslims historically and today, and how it has influenced their daily lives, then this course is for you. My colleagues and I look forward to welcoming you onto this course.