The Maqasid of Islamic Law was revealed for one basic universal purpose: to realize the best interests of humans on earth.
Maslaha in the Arabic language literally translates as benefit or interest, it is defined by Imam al-Ghazali as that which secures a benefit (for man) or prevents harm (from him).
Human nature tends naturally to seek happiness, but this cannot be achieved unless people cooperate with each other, but cooperation is impossible unless people strive to live a peaceful life. Peace and security cannot be achieved unless there are rules to protect the rights of all equally. However, rules and legal regulation are useless without a source of authority to enforce them and apply them equally, in Islam this was done through educating people regarding the laws that govern their religion in this way part of the job was accomplished by people freely wishing to follow their God and guiding others to do the same.
In todays world an increasing number of police are required to keep the society civil, this is the draw back of secularism, it’s laws are seen as no more than points on a piece of paper having no moral relevance as they are largely made up by those who govern, while in Islamic society people lived out their knowledge and understanding of religion, and while courts and those who enforced the law clearly existed it was largely a self policed society with people encouraging each other to practice Ihsan (Human perfection) because they collectively understood it’s significance, and that this life was a transient one, as death comes to all.
In Medieval Europe man was detached from the Jewish society that the Injeel (Bible) was sent to, they could not even fathom a higher form of justice or morality, and lacked the bibles cultural understanding along with the tools to be even capable of developing beyond their own traditions and preconceived ideas that trapped them in the dark cycle they were in.
It isn’t enough to guide people by simply introducing a revealed book into a new land, people had to be trained to interpret it according to it’s author’s own understanding otherwise they form their own ideas and beliefs, this was an impossible task considering that the bible’s time period had now passed on and wasn’t preserved.
In contrast by the time of Imam Ghazali’s death in 1111.AD, Islamic Law was well developed and adopted around the muslim world with many academic tools invented to preserve the culture, language and understanding, this was because Muslims had the benefit of hindsight christians did not, literally it was because of what they saw occurr to the christian and jewish texts and culture that spurred the muslims to preserve not just the text but it’s understanding as well, these tools were then exported to other parts of the world to preserve the culture and knowledge of each region.
Hence at every stage of social advancement in Europe, beginning with the renaissance in Spain which took from the Islamic Spain it conquered, and later the enlightenment and American declaration of Independence, they imported and adopted Islamic knowledge that gave Europe an injection of new ideas and thought which freed them from the cycle they were in, these tools eventually helped them to later develop there own ideas and understanding.
For all the above reasons the Divine wisdom, Allah, revealed Shari’ah to help man achieve the masalih or benefits of people in the two following ways:
First, by procuring these masalih (or by bringing them about), since people cannot bring about the benefits of mankind equally; they discriminate against each other, they kill each other, they steal from each other, they humiliate others for various reasons such as color, ethnicity, power, social status and the like. In one word they present their interest as central and others are only a means to achieve their own ends.
Allah is an absolute justice who legislates to mankind what is beneficial to all.
Second, Islamic Divine Law achieves its goal by preserving or protecting these human universal benefits, by setting rules and regulations with sets of prescribed punishments, the Islamic Divine Law then has a two-fold function.
Though Imam al-Ghazali defined Maslaha as that which secures a benefit or prevents harm, however, the benefits mentioned in Islamic Divine Law have been categorized into three kinds by the scholars:
First: accredited benefits (Masalih Mu’tabarah), which are regulated by the Lawgiver in the sense that a textual authority (such as the Qur’an and Sunnah) from the divine law could be found to prove their validity.
Second: nullified (prohibited) benefits (Masalih Mulghat): these are other kinds of benefits and interests that the Shari’ah prohibited because they lead to harm and hardship (Mafsadah), such as stealing or usury.
Third: unregulated benefits (al-Masalih al-Mursalah), since the benefits of people can be as numerous as their public interests, we find that the divine law did not regulate a number of these benefits directly but by similitude. So their validity is not clearly apparent and must be identified using Ijtihad (Legal Reasoning). In the principles of jurisprudence these kinds of benefits are called the unregulated benefits, and it is left for legal scholars or jurists to work on them.
Imam al-Ghazali said masalih or benefits should be harmonious and consistent with the objective (Maqasid) of the Shari’ah, since the basic purpose of legislation (tashri’) is to protect the interest of people against harm.
Objectives or Maqasid of Islamic law themselves are classified in various ways, according to a number of dimensions. The following are some of these dimensions:
1. Levels of necessity, which is the traditional classification.
2. Scope of the rulings aiming to achieve the Objectives.
3. Scope of people included in the Objectives.
4. Level of universality of the Objectives.
When the Maqasid are looked at in terms of priority, importance and benefits they were similarly divided by Muslim scholars into three kinds. They are prioritized with the Qur’an and Sunnah at its heart, the masalih then revolve around each other with the Islamic creed (Aqeedah) and the Shariah as the main source of legislation:
1. The first priority of the masalih are the Necessities, (Da.ru.riy.yat)
2. The second priority of the masalih are the Needs, (Ha.jiy.yat), and
3. The third priority of the masalih are the Luxuries, (Tah.seen.niy.yat)
“Necessities are further classified into what ‘preserves one’s faith, soul, wealth, mind, and offspring.’ Some jurists added ‘the preservation of honour’ to the above five widely popular necessities. These necessities were considered essential matters for human life itself. There is also a general agreement that the preservation of these necessities is the ‘objective behind any revealed law,’ not just the Islamic law.”
“Maqasid at the level of Needs are less essential for human life. Examples are marriage, trade, and means of transportation. Islam encourages and regulates these needs. However, the lack of any of these needs is not a matter of life and death, especially on an individual basis”.
“Maqasid at the level of luxuries are ‘beautifying purposes,’ such as using perfume, stylish clothing, and beautiful homes. These are things that Islam encourages, but also asserts how they should take a lower priority in one’s life”. It is significant that the Islamic civilization by the 11th century was debating the place of luxuries in everyday life, while Europe did not even value the place of gardens in society until Spain was conquered, they became shocked at the luxurious they found at the same time gaining a perspective on how life could be. We have to understand that before these islamic developments, now taken for granted, the world looked vastly different.
“The three levels in the hierarchy are overlapping and interrelated, in addition, each level should serve the level(s) below. Also, the general lack of one item from a level moves it to the level above. For example, the decline of trade, during an economic crises, moves ‘trade’ from a ‘need’ into a ‘life necessity,’and so on. That is why some jurists preferred to perceive necessities in terms of ‘overlapping circles,’ rather than a strict hierarchy”.
From this understanding the Ullumah (scholars) have then identified ‘five essential values’ of life that are universal necessities or priorities “on which the lives of people depend, and whose neglect leads to total disruption and chaos.”
These five necessities have been famously labeled as the “Five Objectives Of Islamic Shariah”, and there preservation is essential. Three of these objectives were later used in the American Declaration of Independence, they are the preservation of:
• Religion
• Life
• Intellect
• Procreation
• Property
Imam al Ghazali said that any measure which secures these values also falls within the scope of maslahah (peoples interest), and anything which violates them is mafsadah (evil), and preventing the latter is also maslahah. More technically, maslahahl mursalah (Public Interest) is defined as a consideration which is proper and harmonious (wasf munasib mula’im) with the objectives of the Lawgiver (Allah).
Because these five necessities are derived from Shari’ah as necessary and basic for human existence, therefore, every society should preserve and protect these five necessities; otherwise human life would be harsh, brutal, poor, and miserable, in this world and the hereafter.
The Objectives of Shariah do not simply look after the interest of people in this world but the next as well and are key to identifying what ultimately benefits man in this life.
Needs are matters that remove restrictions and difficulties in applying the five necessities.
Allah says in The Qur’an:
“Allah does not want to place you in a difficulty, but He wants to purify you, and to complete His favor to you, that you may be grateful.” (Qur’an, 5:6), so the Aim of Allah is to purify a person from what harms them or bring about their harm.
In another chapter Allah says: “Allah intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you.” (Qur’an, 2:185)
The divine law grants people concessions (rukhas) in cases of hardship such as sickness, and traveling, but neglecting these Needs will lead to hardships in life and society, but not chaos and collapse.
Luxuries are intended to render human affairs or conditions more suited to the requirements of the highest standards of moral conduct. They “denote interests whose realization leads to improvement and the attainment of that which is desirable.”
Thus, the observance of cleanliness in personal appearance and in spirituality, the growth of moral virtues, the avoidance of wastefulness in consumption, and moderation in the enforcement of penalties, fall within the scope of Luxuries.
From contemplation on these benefits a systematic set of legal rules and principles was deduced known as Qawaid al Fiqh, the Maxims of Islamic Law, such as:
1. Harm must be removed.
2. Public harm or loss is averted by the private assumption of loss.
3. The greater of two harms is averted by assumption of the lesser.
4. Averting harm is to be preferred over procuring of benefits.
5. Cases of necessity make permissible what is normally forbidden or restricted.
6. Necessity is determined by the specific circumstances.
7. Hardship in a situation secures lenience for people.
8. It is not permissible to do what will harm one’s self.
An example of more recent works is Al Majalla, it is a codification of Hanafi commercial law used by the Ottoman Caliphate. It contains a preface that has 99 general legal principles (qawa`id fiqhiyya), similar to those above, in no particular order, that are all gems.
It was authored in the second half of the 19th Century by a council of major Hanafi faqihs headed by Allama Jawdat Basha, and included Ibn Abidin’s son, there are a number of translations available for this work was well as commentaries. It was the law code for the Ottoman Khilafa for over 70 years, and continued to be the commercial law of Syria until 1949, and Jordan until the 1970s.