Sharia
Etymology

The primary meanings of the Arabic word šarīʿah, derived from the root š-r-ʕ. The lexicographical studies records two major areas of the word can appear without religious connotation. In texts evoking a pastoral or nomadic environment, šarīʿah and its derivatives refers to watering animals at a permanent water-hole or to the seashore. One another area of use relates to notions of stretched or lengthy. The word is cognate with the Hebrew saraʿ שָׂרַע and is likely to be the origin of the meaning "way" or "path". Some scholars describe it as an archaic Arabic word denoting "pathway to be followed" (analogous to the Hebrew term Halakhah), or "path to the water hole" and argue that its adoption as a metaphor for a divinely ordained way of life arises from the importance of water in an arid desert environment.
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