Which provides an extensive code for both civil and criminal laws?

• A. Canon law
• B. Common law
• C. Statutory law
• D. Sharia

Answer: (D)

A comprehensive religious legal framework that regulates many aspects of daily life is designed to cover both civil and criminal matters within a single coherent system. Sharia draws from the Quran and Sunnah as primary sources and develops jurisprudence through methods like consensus and analogical reasoning, creating rules for contracts, property, marriage, inheritance, and also for offenses and punishments. This makes it a broad code that guides private conduct, family life, business relationships, and criminal justice in societies that implement it.

Canon law, by contrast, governs the Catholic Church’s internal matters rather than state civil or criminal law. Common law relies on judicial decisions and evolving precedents rather than a single centralized code. Statutory law consists of written laws enacted by legislators, which may be extensive in places but does not function as one unified religious legal system that covers both civil and criminal realms.