Maqasid Al Shariah Defined

Maqasid Al-Shariah Defined

I have been a Muslim all my life and I have never heard of Maqasid Al-Shariah until I had to do a paper on it. I believe many Muslims are in the same position as me. What is Maqasid Al-Shariah? When I understood what it meant it had a profound effect on me. I understood the basic rights of a human being.

Maqasid Al-Shariah means the objective of the Shariah Laws. This is a very important field of knowledge because when you study the Shariah Laws you must understand the context in which the ruling was made. The Shariah is based from five primary sources the Holy Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), Ijtihad (based on reasoning by the Mujtahid/Shariah scholars) and Qiyas (analogy based on events that had happened during the Prophet’s time (SAW)).

According to Imam Ghazali the objective of the Shariah Law is to protect the well-being of the people which lies in the safeguarding of their faith (deen), their lives (nafs), their intellect (aql), their posterity (nasl) and their wealth (mal). The underlying theme is the realisation of the benefit for the people (maslahah) or public interest.

The 5 factors fall under the Dharuriyyah or Essentials. These are the basic rights of a human being. The first is the protection of the right of people to practise their religion without any untoward harm to them. No one should fear to wear a hijab or pray in a mosque due to prosecution. Freedom for man to practise his faith is the first objective of the Shariah because the practise of religion allows man to live within a code of law which guides him to behave as a human and not resort to being an animal. We would think the freedom to practise one’s religion is a given but when we study history we can see how the Russian government indoctrinated their people against religion. People were punished for praying.

The second objective of the Shariah is to protect human life. Everyone has the right to live in this world. No one’s life is less valuable than another. Life is a precious gift that we must value and give respect to. No child should die of starvation and malnutrition because each child has a basic right to live.

 The third objective of the Shariah is to protect the intellect. The intelligence that human beings have differentiates us from animals. Man can use his intelligence to think and in the Quran Allah S.W.T, constantly asks us to think and ponder about His creation. That is why intoxicants that make man lose his intellectual ability, like alcohol and drugs are prohibited (haram) in Islam. It is a basic right of a human being to be educated regardless of gender.

The fourth objective of the Shariah is safeguarding the posterity (nasl). This means safeguarding one’s lineage from illegitimate children. Each child has the right to know who the father is and be proud of his or her lineage. It was quite enlightening for me that the Shariah gave importance to proper lineage as an Essential right of a human being. When compared to the Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs, the essentials only covers food, shelter and clothing. This clearly shows the limits of man’s intellect and Allah(SWT)’s ultimate wisdom. The disintegration of values in society has brought many social ills like unwanted teenage pregnancies and baby dumping. The babies that are born already lack their basic right in Islam which is a proper lineage. The feeling of belonging and utmost pride towards ones lineage must be instilled in our children so that it would deter them from tarnishing their lineage. 

The fifth objective is to protect wealth. Every human being has a right to own property regardless of gender. Their wealth must be protected and not be usurped by unruly people. The wealth of the orphans must be cared for by the guardians and returned to them when they are mature. It is constantly repeated in the Quran to not cheat others of the rightful properties.

After the Dharuriyyah is fulfilled then there is the Hajjiyat  or Complementary. In Hajiyyat, one has the right to simplify one’s life. For example in Islam,  one has the right to shorten his prayers while on a journey. After ease in life is achieved then there is Tahsiniyyat or Embellishement; which is enjoying the luxuries in life like wearing good clothes and eating good food.

Allah has enjoined humans to lead a fruitful life and allowed us to even enjoy our lives on earth. As Muslims we must understand what our basic rights are because more often than not Muslims are deprived of the Maqasid Al Shariah even in Muslim countries! There was a study entitled “An Economic Islamicity Index E12” by Scheherazade S. Rehman and Hossein Askari, published in the Global Economy Journal in 2010, which ranked 208 countries on the basis of their adherence to Maqasid Al Shariah in 12 fundamental areas as listed below:

1. Economic opportunity and economic freedom.

2. Justice in all aspects of economic Management.

3. Better treatment of workers including job opportunities and equality of access.

4. Higher education expenditure including equality of access.

5. Poverty eradication, aid, and providing basic human needs, no hoarding of wealth.

6. A more even distribution of wealth and income.

7. Better social infrastructure and provision of social services through taxation and social welfare.

8. Higher savings and investment rates i.e. management of natural and non-renewable resources.

9. Higher moral standard, honesty and trust exhibited in the marketplace and in all economic interactions i.e. less corruption.

10. Islamic Financial System I: risk sharing as opposed to debt contracts i.e. a supportive financial system and elimination of speculation.

11. Islamic Financial System II: financial practices that includes the abolition of interest.

12. Higher trade/GDP, higher foreign aid/GDP and higher degree of environmental preservation and vigilantly supervised markets i.e. overall state effectiveness in achieving economic prosperity -- general economic prosperity.

Scoring the highest on the list was Ireland followed by Denmark and Luxembourg. The first Muslim country on the list was Malaysia at rank 33, followed by Kuwait at 42 and Kazakhstan at 54. Saudi Arabia the birthplace of Islam was at rank 91. This is something to ponder about, as the very principles in life that we as Muslims have to adhere to is practised better by non-Muslims. Such is the sorry state of Muslim governments.

Let us begin to understand Islam better and know our rights, then at least we can make a change!