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254 SharÊ‘ah Law: An Introduction bulk of the civil laws of British origin. Some of the provisions of the Civil Law were also taken from the renowned Ottoman Mejelle. On a general note, in cases of absence of necessary laws in the fiqh sources, the tendency prevailed in post-colonial Muslim countries to retain or utilize Western laws which did not contravene any of the principles of SharÊ‘ah, on the assumption that the basic norm of SharÊ‘ah regarding such laws was permissibility (al-ibÉÍah). One of the widely known maxims of Islamic law proclaims permissibility as the norm in all matters (al-aÎlu fi’l-ashyÉ’ al-ibÉÍah) unless expressly forbidden by the clear text or general consensus (ijmÉ‘). Acts and transactions, even those which originate in non-Islamic sources, are covered by this maxim of Islamic law. Instances of this practical norm of SharÊ‘ah thus included adoption of administrative and judicial procedures of Western origin which were not contrary to SharÊ‘ah and yet facilitated the objectives of justice and good government. The scope of permissibility and ibÉÍah also extended to adoption of Western laws and regulations in the sphere of industrial relations, new developments in commerce and economic affairs.3 Yet the renowned Sudanese Islamic scholar, ×asan al-TurÉbi had a word of caution concerning such laws: ‘What we import and adopt from external sources must be verified and its compatibility with our character and heritage must be ascertained first.’4 ‘AÏiyyah has voiced a similar sentiment saying that we ought to confine borrowing from other legal traditions to the sphere of civil transactions (mu‘ÉmalÉt) alone.5 Fiqh Encyclopedias Notwithstanding their many advantages such as pragmatism, better classification and access, the new SharÊ‘ah law reforms were decidedly selective in that they confined the applied aspects of fiqh to matters mainly of personal law which consequently isolated the wider legacy of fiqh in the other areas of mu‘ÉmalÉt. The new codes had also a restrictive effect in that they confined judges and practitioners to specific provisions and minimized the need for them to maintain regular contact with the sources. They had the effect of pushing the source materials of fiqh and its methodology further into the background so that their relevance to the applied laws of the land became even less visible than before. The need was consequently felt for new measures to consolidate the rich legacy of fiqh into convenient