شرع
Sharaʿa
To lay down law: God’s act of legislating for any matter of human life, personal, family or public.
What it means
The verb sharaʿa means to set out a path or ordain a rule. In the Quran God is the subject: “He has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah” (42:13). Faruqi describes the act as legislation by God for any matter of concern in human life, personal, family or public. The Quran also criticises those who set up laws that God has not given: “Or do they have partners who have laid down (sharaʿū) for them in religion what God has not permitted?” (42:21). In Islamic thought the lawgiver is God alone, and scholars interpret His law.
Often misunderstood as
Translating the verb as “to legislate” may suggest human lawmaking, while the Islamic usage reserves the act for God.
What the sources say
Jurists call the revealed rulings aḥkām sharʿiyya and distinguish them from rules fixed by custom or reason. They treat the ruler’s regulations as valid only when they fall within the limits God has set.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 36, listed as SHARA'A. The definition is restated here.