Title: Is the Shari`ah always Logical? Question: How can we assert with absolute certainty that the Shari`ah is perfectly logical if logical rules do not apply to God? Isn't it an assumption for a Muslim to say that the Shari`ah is always logical (this is something you wrote in response to a person's question about hijab )? Ali Eteraz Answer: Whether or not God is logical or super-logical is something, which is beyond the scope of our understanding and experience. It would only be prudent, therefore, that we should not make presumptions about God. What we are concerned with, as your question clearly implies, is not 'God', but actually the directives of 'God', which are entailed in His revelations to man. These revelations generally entail two kinds of directives; The Shari `ah (also called Al-Kitaab ), i.e. the laws and the Hikmah , i.e. the philosophical issues (including beliefs, moral issues, spirit of directives etc.). When we consider God's revelations to man - the Shari`ah and the Hikmah - especially as entailed in the Qur'an, we are faced with the glaring fact that they are generally communicated to man with their reasoning and their bases. It is primarily because of this reason that the Qur'an persistently and continually calls man to 'ponder' and to 'deliberate' on the God's revelations and signs and not merely to 'accept' them, without 'understanding' them. Thus, when we say that the directives entailed in the revelations of God are 'logical', it really implies that with some deliberation, man - who is the addressee of these revelations - can understand the reasons and the bases of the directives entailed in these revelations. As the Sole Creator of the humankind; as the Creator, who created within us the potential of understanding and communication; and as the source of true revelations to man, through His prophets, God gave His directives to man in such a way that the bases and the reasoning of these directives were either clearly explained or were rooted in man's nature (also created by God). Thus, the idea that Shari`ah and the Hikmah are understandable and communicable is based on the fact that God - the Omnipotent - communicated with man in a manner, which was consonant with man's natural attributes and potentials. Had this communication not been consonant with man's inherent attributes and potentials, it would then, for all practical purposes, have been 'no communication' at all. Thus, the statement 'the Shari`ah is always logical [1] ', does not entail a judgment about God, but, in fact, entails a judgment about God's communication with man - who is endowed with the qualities of understanding and communication by God. Regards, Moiz Amjad September 23, 2001 [1] Please bear in mind that the statement is intended to imply that the bases and the reasoning of the directives entailed in God's revelations are understandable and communicable.