An Examination of the Modern Discourse on Maqāṣid al-Sharī‘a

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2-2014

Journal / Book Title

Journal of the Middle East and Africa

Abstract

This article presents and evaluates the modern theoretical discourse on maqāṣid al-sharī‘a (the objectives of Islamic law) as expressed in the writings of a group of Middle Eastern and North African Muslim religious scholars, particularly their reformulation of Abū Isḥāq al-Shāṭibī’s seminal theorization on the subject. The writings studied include those of Muḥammad al-Ṭāhir Ibn ‘Āshūr, Muḥammad ‘Allāl al-Fāsī, the contemporary religious scholar Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī, and a few others. In Western scholarship, a specific detailed reference will be made to Sherman Jackson’s critical article on the same subject. The modern application of this classical model has been unable to produce significant practical results without expanding the number and scope of what are considered “necessary” objectives of Islamic law beyond Shāṭibī’s definition and consequently creating a theoretical inconsistency. The maqāṣid scholars have also compensated for this theoretical deficit by developing specific objectives that cover the fields of social, economic, and political relations. At least some of these specific objectives have helped the cited jurists to issue legal rulings that are distinguished from very “literalist” ones.

DOI

10.1080/21520844.2014.882676

Journal ISSN / Book ISBN

85098661589 (Scopus)

Published Citation

Ibrahim, Yasir S. “An Examination of the Modern Discourse on Maqāṣid al-Sharī‘a.” The Journal of the Middle East and Africa, vol. 5, no. 1, Jan. 2014, pp. 39–60.

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