Muhammad Sa'id al-'Ashmawi (Arabic: محمد سعيد العشماوى, IPA: [mæˈħæmmæd sæˈʕiːd el.ʕæʃˈmæːwi]; 1932 – 7 November 2013) was an Egyptian Supreme Court justice and former head of the Court of State Security.
"[3] One difference Ashmawi had with Islamists like Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Sayyid Qutb was whether the word Sharia as used in the Quran refers to one uniform "path" or "way" for everyone to obey.
Ashmawi argued that the idea that Sharia is the core of Muslim jurisprudence and that its various commentaries and interpretations only came later in Islamic history.
This jurisprudence is "entirely man-made, written by Muslim scholars according to their various schools, based on their best understanding of how the Qur'an should be translated into codes of law.
"[4] Ashmawi believed that instead of referring to legal rules, the term Sharia as used in the Qur'an, refers to "the path of Islam" which consists "of three streams: Fiqh is thus not fixed and "must be reinterpreted anew" by scholars in every age in accordance with their understanding.