Islamic Law As Islamic Ethics

After arguing that Islamic law is more basic to Islamic ethics than is either Islamic theology or philosophy, the author analyzes three basic terms associated with law (and therefore ethics): fiqh, shar\ and sharVah. He then sets forth the four roots (usul) of legal/ethical understanding (fiqh), describes the manner in which a judgment (hukm) is reached in any particular case, discusses the taxonomy of such judgments, and concludes with some comments on the relation within Islamic law and ethics of knowledge to action.