Sharia law: A code for daily living

ISLAMIC sharia law is a legal and social code designed to help Muslims live their daily lives.

But the term itself has become controversial because although it encapsulates a broad set of values and principles, it is the punishments that people focus on, and we see references to flogging, amputation and stoning.

Derived partly from the Koran and refined over the centuries by Islamic scholars, it gives a moral system for living.