In this paper, I address the question of how Sharia law influences contemporary law in selected Arab countries. First, I define Sharia law, its sources, and the various Islamic legal schools. Then I focus on the area of family law and put forward the hypothesis that Sharia law has a significant impact on contemporary law in this area. I came to this conclusion through an analysis of legislation, which mentions Sharia as a legal source for contemporary regulation in all the countries under consideration, and the judicial system. It is characteristic of the selected countries that there are special Sharia courts that decide on family law matters. This means that there is a dual judicial system. I further confirmed th hypothesis by analyzing the legal regulation of divorce in the selected countries. I found that in none of the countries does it differ significantly from the regulation of divorce under Sharia law. I also found that the regulations between countries hardly differ, since I found that following the views of different Islamic legal schools in different countries has no significant (or almost no) impact on the regulation of divorce. All of this led me to conclude that Sharia law has a greater influence on contemporary family law in Arab countries than I had imagined.
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