Qanun is anArabic term[a] that refers to laws established by Muslim sovereigns, especially the body of administrative, economic and criminal law promulgated byOttoman sultans. It is used to contrast withsharia, the body of law elaborated byMuslim jurists.[5] It is thus frequently translated as "dynastic law."
The idea ofqanun entered the Muslim World in the thirteenth century, borrowed from theMongol Empire following their invasions.[6] The 10th sultan of the Ottoman Empire,Suleiman was known in the Ottoman Empire as Suleiman Kanuni ("the Lawgiver"), due to the laws he promulgated.
After the fall of theAbbasid Caliphate in 1258, a practice known to theTurks andMongols transformed itself into Qanun, which gave power tocaliphs,governors, and sultans alike to "make their own regulations for activities not addressed bysharia".[7] This became increasingly important as the Middle East modernized, addressing problems of a modern state, which were not covered by sharia. The Qanun began to unfold as early asUmar I (586–644 CE).[7] Many of the regulations covered by Qanun were based on financial matters or tax systems adapted through the law and regulations of territories Islam had conquered.[7]
Kanun took on significant importance during the period of modernization in the Ottoman Empire. Kanun andsharia did not contradict each other concerning administrative matters and sokanun was assimilated easily into Ottoman regulatory functions. Kanun promulgated by Ottoman sultans was used for financial and penal law. Under SultanMehmed II (1451–1481), the kanun continued to be strictly applied for those practices. However, the influence ofAbu ʾl-Suʿūd, thegrand mufti of Istanbul from 1545 to 1574, kanun was expanded to deal with matters concerning property rights. Previously, property rights had been exclusively under the jurisdiction ofsharia. Despite that seeming contradiction, skillful bureaucrats allowed kanun andsharia to coexist harmoniously. The kanun retained its relevance in the Middle East regarding civil, commercial, administrative and penal laws. It influences the ways thatsharia is reproduced.[8]
The termḳānūn derives itself from the Greek wordκανών. Originally having the less abstract meaning of "any straight rod," it later referred to any "measure or rule" in Greek. It was derived in turn from theAkkadian word Qanûm 𒂵𒉡𒌑𒌝. The word was then translated into and adopted by Arabic after the Ottoman Empire's conquest of Egypt under SultanSelim I (ca. 1516). In the Ottoman Empire, the term still carried the word's original meanings of a system of tax regulation. However, it later came to also refer to "code of regulations" or "state law," a well-defined secular distinction to "Muslim law," known assharia.