sharia

name

1. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative spelling of shari'a.

   “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; […]”

   “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.”

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

2. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative 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.”

   “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.”

noun

1. A street in Arabic-speaking countries.

   “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; […]”

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

   “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.”

   “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.”