At first it was little more than a confirmation of the common
custom of Arabia, supplemented indeed and corrected by revelation, but
based upon existing rules of right and wrong. When, however, Islam
emerged from Arabia in the first decade of her existence, and embracing
a foreign civilization found herself face to face with new conditions of
life, mere custom ceased to be a sufficient guide; and, the voice of
direct revelation having ceased, the faithful were thrown upon their
reason to direct them how they were to act. Revelation continued,
nevertheless, to be the groundwork of their reasoning, and the teaching
of their great leader the justification of each new development of law
as the cases requiring it arose. The Koran was cited wherever it was
possible to find a citation, and where these failed tradition was called
in. The companions of the Prophet were in the first instance consulted,
and their recollections of his sayings and doings quoted freely; while
afterwards, when these too were gone, the companions of the companions
took their place, and became in their turn cited.
Thus by a subtle process of comparison and reasoning, worked out through
many generations, the Mohammedan law as we see it was gradually built
up, until in the third century of Islam it was embodied by order of the
Caliph into a written code.
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