Word.ws English Dictionary

sharia

UK/ʃəˈɹiː.ə/US/ʃəˈɹi.ə/

sharia is the alternative spelling of shari'a.

Meaning of shari'a

Noun

shari'a (uncountable)

  1. A body of religious law forming a part of the Islamic tradition based on the scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith.
    • The legislation of shari'a here is very strict.
    Synonyms:
    Shar

Noun

sharia (plural sharias)

  1. A street in Arabic-speaking countries.
    • No little of Cairo’s popularity as a winter-resort is due to its many excellent Hotels: the chief being—Grand Continental, on the west side of the Esbekia between the Sharia Bulak and Sharia El-Moghrabi, with large terrace looking directly across the Sharia Kamel-Pasha (the chief modern...1910, The Mediterranean Cruise, pages 133–135
    • The principal Sharias, as they call their streets, and the ancient Muski Bazaars, have shed their Oriental grandeur where once were displayed rich Egyptian and Persian carpets and shawls from Baghdad; […]1933, The Orient Observer, page 34

Proper noun capitalized: Sharia

the Sharia

  1. (alternative) Alternative form of shari'a.
    • The existence of another system of law is now accepted side by side with the Sharia; this law is the Kanoun, and consists of those laws which have been made by the temporal sovereign.1908, James Harry Scott, The Law Affecting Foreigners in Egypt, page 79
    • The Sharia, alone of all the unwritten laws in the Sudan, is not subjected to the test of whether or not it is repugnant to justice, equity and good conscience, since a law laid down by God cannot be treated as unjust.1960, Antony N. Allott, The Future of Law in Africa, page 6

Forms of sharia

pluralsharias

Origin of sharia

Borrowed from Arabic شَارِع (šāriʕ).

Words formed from sharia

Phrases with sharia

Words that rhyme with sharia

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about sharia

What does sharia mean?
Sharia means a street in Arabic-speaking countries.
What is sharia the alternative spelling of?
Sharia is the alternative spelling of shari'a.
What part of speech is sharia?
Sharia can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce sharia?
Sharia is pronounced /ʃəˈɹiː.ə/ (UK).
What is the plural of sharia?
The plural of sharia is sharias.

Words near sharia in the dictionary

  1. Shargo
  2. Sharhorod
  3. shari
  4. shari'a
  5. shari'atisation
  6. sharia
  7. sharia law
  8. sharia laws
  9. sharia lawyer
  10. sharia lawyers
  11. Sharia patrol

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sharia (page history and authors); Sharia (page history and authors); shari'a (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “sharia.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sharia. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.