The argument about rules vs values also says something important about the historical milieu within early Islamic disciplines were developed. It was a world in which the highest human authority was a "king", and the highest form of royal sovereignty was to rule by decree.
It is therefore not surprising if early thinkers conceive of divine authority along similar lines - if God is *the* supreme majesty above all majesty, then it makes sense that God also "rules by decree", and that the faith ultimately boils down to rules we have to follow
The Islamic discipline of deducing rules is calls Fiqh. The discipline of "Usoul Al Fiqh" dates to the 2nd century AH. Quoting Ibn Khuldun, it's "a discipline that is innovated in our religion" واعلم أن هذا الفن من الفنون المستحدثة في الملة.
This isn't a statement against Fiqh, but it's an invitation to consider that our faith is wider than Fiqh, and that reducing faith to rules is, well, reductive; and wasn't historically inevitable. If Islam is a religion of rules, why isn't the Qur'an a book of rules?
