Maqasid

Maqasid is an Arabic word for goals or purposes. In an Islamic context, the term can refer to the purposes of Islamic faith, zakat (charity tax), pilgrimage, or of the Qur'an's and Sunnah's text.

In terms of Shariah, there are five foundational goals (maqasid al-Shariah). These are the preservation of:

• Religion / Faith (din)
• Life (nafs)
• Lineage / Progeny (nasl)
• Intellect (‘aql)
• Property / Wealth (mal)

Historical context

The above represents the commonly understood conception of maqasid developed by the 12th century Islamic scholar Al-Ghazali (d. 1111 CE). The most significant development of the maqasid occurred in the 14th century through the writings of Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328 CE). Jurist Imam Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi (d.1388) also wrote on Maqasid Al-Sharia in his work Al-Muwafaqaat fi Usool al-Sharia. He defined maqasid al-shariah as "the attainment of good, welfare, advantage, benefits and warding off evil, injury, loss of the creatures".

However, it was not until modern times that Islamic scholars have shown a renewed interest in the maqasid. This scholarship began with the work of the Tunisian scholar Muhammad Al-Tahir Ibn Ashur (d. 1973 CE). Since the turn of the century, a number of Islamic scholars including Mohammad Hashim Kamali, Professor Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee, Ahmad Raysuni, Halim Rane, Jasser Auda, and Tariq Ramadan have all advocated the maqasid approach and contributed to its development.

Sheikh Muhammad Abu Zahra believed that Shariah was a "mercy to humanity" with three major goals: "nurturing the righteous individual", "establishing justice", and "realization of benefits".

Disagreements

MOHAMAD Yazid, M.N. Asmadi and others summarize sharia's objective to be to recognize the limitations of reason, and complement the role of reason with revelation. They state that objective of sharia in Islamic finance is to provide rules and regulations from the Quran and Sunnah.

Jan Otto contrasts the objectives of sharia described by moderate Muslims from the interpretation of puritan Muslims. For moderate Muslims sharia is a flexible code of law, and any technicalities of its wording do not subvert its objectives to "help Muslims in their quest for submission, humility, gratitude before God, and a quest for Godliness". In contrast, according to Otto, puritan Muslims believe that sharia is a strict, complete and exact set of rules that must be submitted to, because only "through meticulous obedience" will Muslims avoid the "punishment of God" and "enter heaven". Since this is the ultimate objective, it does not matter if some sharia "law is harsh or that its application results in social suffering", in fact "this perception is considered delusional".

Modern era

On 10 July 2014, Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak gave a speech calling for an end to conflict between Shia and Sunni. He stated that Malaysia can be an "example for other Muslim nations on what it means to be a progressive and developed nation based on the five objectives of Shariah - to uphold the faith, life, intellect, progeny and property." "Our government's policies have always been based on these five principles of maqasid shariah... let us be an example of a Muslim country that is developed and progressive based on maqasid shariah".

Islamic finance

Islamic scholars working in Islamic finance have attempted to elaborate on the objective of wealth (mal) or financial transaction. A contemporary scholar (Laidin) postulates five objectives:

1. continuity of the circulation of the wealth,
2. continuity of the investment of wealth,
3. achieving comprehensive communal prosperity,
4. financial transparency and
5. validation of financial ownership.

References

• Kamali, Hashim, "Shari'a, Goals and Objectives of", in Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God (2 vols.), edited by Coeli Fitzpatrick and Adam Hani Walker, Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2014, Vol. II, pp. 552–557. ISBN 1610691776

See also

• Al-Maqasid, an introductory book on Islamic principles