Abstract
While the Prophet was alive, the companions had consulted to him personally for the solution of every religious matter and to the Qur'an and Sunnah after his death. On the issues that they could not find information in the two sources mentioned, they have made judgments by making ijtihad. Those who were not at the level to make ijtihad obtained information by consulting people who were experts in religious matters. The Muslims who came after them continued to follow the same path. Later, fatwa books were prepared, and these works began to be used in the field of qada as well as fatwa. Although the proposal for the codification of Islamic law was made by Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (d. 142/759) at a very early period, the act of codification started too late. The legalization activity in the modern western world started at the end of the 18th century and spread to the whole European continent in the 19th century. The Ottoman Empire, influenced by the West, started the act of codification in the modern sense with the Penal Code of 1840. The codification of civil law in the Islamic world started with al-Majalla al Ahkam al Adliyyah (The Ottoman Courts Manual). Hukūk-i Aile Kararnamesi (the Family Law Decree) which was issued in 1917, followed al-Majalla in the field of codification. These two laws, which were prepared based on Islamic law, were applied in many countries under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Even these two laws continued to be in force in some other Islamic countries a long time after they were declared abolished in the Republic of Turkey. With these works, the Ottoman Empire became a pioneer for other Islamic countries, and later, other Islamic countries took these as an example and prepared and put into effect their civil laws. One of these countries is Afghanistan. Although Afghanistan was not under Ottoman rule, it was directly or indirectly influenced by Ottoman law in enacting and took Ottoman law as an example. While the first penal code was being prepared in Afghanistan, the penal code (Ceza Kanunnāme-i Hümāyunu), which was enacted by the Ottoman Empire in 1858, was taken as a basis. Some articles of the aforementioned Ottoman Penal Code of 1958 were incorporated into the Afghan penal code of 1921 (Nizamnāme-i Cezā-yı Umūmī), either as they are, with little or no change. It is stated that judges should be made according to al-Majalla and that the qadis should fill the gaps in the law with al-Majallaon some issues in the laws named “Usūlnāme-i İdāri-yi Mahākim-i Adliye” (Administration of Judicial Courts Law) of 1957 and “Usūl-i İjraati Muhākimāt-ı Huqūqī-yi Adlī” (the Practice of Judicial Jurisdiction) of 1958.When we look at the Afghan Civil Code, which came into force in 1977, we see that it was influenced by the Majalla and the Ottoman Hukūk-ı Āile Kararnamesi (Ottoman Law of the Family Decree). In the same way, Majalla and its annotations have been used in Afghan courts in addition to the Afghan Civil Code until today. It is seen that in the Afghan Civil Code, which was prepared based on Hanafī fiqh, some issues were out of Hanafī fiqh, and in this respect, the Ottoman Law of Family Decree was followed. In this article, the effects of Ottoman law on Afghan law will be discussed in the context of criminal law, family law, and law of obligations.