شَرْعُ مَنْ قَبْلَنا

شَرْعُ مَنْ قَبْلَنا

The shar' in language is the clear road to water; in the technical sense it is the religion God established for His servants, and 'those before us' are the messengers before our Prophet. ¹ The revealed laws share one root in belief, and the usulis differ on whether the law of earlier prophets binds us: the Hanafis, Malikis and Hanbalis hold it binding on us when the Qur'an tells it without denial or endorsement, while the sounder Shafi'i view holds it not binding. ^{1 2 3}