Looking at how the Objectives (Maqasid) of Shariah developed from the first days of Islam is important because they are the single most clear indicator of what Islamic society was and is meant to be, because this is what they achieved not what they wished to achieve.
It was these same objectives that were adopted by the fathers of the European enlightenment and eventually the founders of American society, seen clearly in it’s declaration of Independence, which is something the world holds today as a standard of social development that did not exist in history before their time.
Maqaid al-shariah (Objectives of the Shariah) explain the ‘wisdoms behind rulings,’ such as ‘enhancing social cohesion,’ which is one of the wisdoms behind charity, and looking after one’s neighbours, or greeting people with the wish for peace (Asalamu Alaikum). The wisdom behind rulings also include ‘developing consciousness of God,’ which is one of the rationales behind regular prayers (salat), fasting (swam), and supplications (dua), being aware of Allah helps man focus on building society and contributing to it rather than unwittingly being part of it’s destruction, which is the result of many people in a society not having a moral compass.
A community that is secure in it’s identity can be generous in regards to who can freely live within it’s borders, this is why the Muslim Khalifah’s often invited Jews and Christians being persecuted in Europe to live within Islamic lands, not only setting up new communities in these lands but being allowed to govern them according to their own tenants of faith, this was the result of the work muslims did to be aware of Allah as a society, it shaped how they viewed others and accepted them.
The Maqasid of Shariah aims to achieve the greater good by opening, or blocking, certain means that lead to Harm or move people away from it. Thus, the maqasid (objectives) for ‘preserving people’s mind and soul’ explain the total and strict Islamic ban on alcohol and intoxicants, and the maqasid for ‘protecting people’s property and honour’ explain the Qur’an’s mention of a ‘death penalty’ as a possible punishment for rape or armed robbery.
“Maqasid al Shariah” are also the group of divine intents and moral concepts upon which Islamic law is based, such as, justice, human dignity, free will, magnanimity, facilitation, and social cooperation.
Because Islamic Law outlined peoples rights and defined their best interests so clearly it shouldn’t be a surprise that the fathers or Europe’s enlightenment took from it, largely by the 16th century Europe was translating almost any Islamic texts they could find, not simply Law but Medicine, Art, Mathematics, Accounting, Philosophy, History, Sociology, Geography Topography, Astronomy, Mineralogy, Mechanics, Zoology, Chemistry, Physics, etc.
To them it was a stark contrast to the dark times Europe was in which even at the height of the Black Death outwardly refused Islamic treatment for it, which mitigated it’s spread.
Islamic society was itself pulled out of what the prophet (saws) termed the Jahaliya (days of ignorance) becouse the principles of Islamic Law protected peoples rights and allowed all areas of science to develop in an atmosphere of toleration this began what was later termed by historians as Islam’s Golden Age of science and discovery.
For a number of Islamic Scholars, maqasid are an alternative expression for masalih (people’s interests). For example, Imam Abdul-Malik al-Juwaini (d.478 AH/ 1185 CE), one of the earliest contributors to al-maqasid theory as we know it today used al-maqasid and public interests (al-masalih al-ammah) interchangeably. Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d.505 AH/1111 CE) elaborated on a classification of maqasid, which he placed entirely under what he called ‘unrestricted interests’ (al-maslaha al-mursalah). Fakhruddin al-Razi (d.606 AH/1209 CE) and al- Amidi (d.631 AH/1234 CE) followed Imam al-Ghazali in his terminology. Imam Najmuddin al- Tufi (d.716 AH/1316 CE), defined maslaha as, ‘what fulfils the purpose of the Legislator.’ Al-Qarafi (d.1285 AH/1868 CE) linked maslaha and maqasid by a ‘fundamental rule’ that stated: ‘A purpose (maqasid) is not valid unless it leads to the fulfilment of some good (marsalah) or the avoidance of some mischief (mafsadah).’ Therefore, a maqasid, purpose, objective, intent, goal, end, or principle in Islamic law is there for the ‘interest of humanity.’
“Any attempt to implement the law should take into account not only the externalities of the law but also the rationale and the intent behind it. Thus when a man utters the credo of Islam to achieve worldly gain or to attain social prestige, his confession is not valid. The reason is that the true purpose of confession to the faith is the exaltation and worship of God, and if this is violated, a formal confession is of no value. Similarly, if a man says a prayer for the sake of display and self-commendation, it is not valid. The real purpose and value of the law is therefore of primary importance, and indeed it is necessary that the mujtahid identifies it so as to be able to implement the law in accordance with its purpose”.
After the era of the companions, the identification and classification of maqasid (Objectives) began.
During the first three centuries, the idea of purposes/causes (Arabic: Hikam, ilal, munasabat, or ma’ani) appeared in the works of the Imams of the schools of Islamic law, these became tools for deriving Law from Islam’s primary sources the Quran and sunnah.
Tools such as legal reasoning by analogy (qiyas), juridical preference (istihsan), and interest (masalah). Purposes themselves, however, were not subjects of separate monographs or special attention until the end of the third Islamic century. Then, this work was further developed and elaborated into ‘levels of necessity’ by Imam al-Juwaini (d.478 AH/ 1085 CE).
1. Al-Tirmidhi al-Hakeem (d. 296 AH/908 CE) wrote one of the first known volumes dedicated to the topic of maqasid, in which the term ‘maqasid’ was used in the book’s title, al-Salah wa Maqasiduha (Prayers and their Purposes or Objectives). The book is a survey of the wisdoms and spiritual ‘realities’ behind each of the acts of prayer, with an emphasis on the science of Ihsan (Human perfection) as mentioned in the famous Hadith of Jibril. Examples are ‘confirming humbleness’ as the maqasid (Objective) behind glorifying Allah with every move during prayers, ‘achieving consciousness’ of Allah as the objective behind praising God, ‘focusing on one’s prayer’ as the maqasid (Objective) behind facing the direction of the Kabah, and so on.
Imam Al-Tirmidhi also wrote a similar book on pilgrimage, which he entitled, al-Hajj wa Asraruh, Pilgrimage and its Secrets, or inner reality, the word secrets here should be understood by its scientific connotation because that is what it meant to peer into the secrets of the universe, the title therefore alludes to the physiology of the human body and the systems Allah created and placed in it and how pilgrimage affects man’s heart and inner self, so the secrets or rather science of prayer for example refers to how prayer effects the physiology of the body and self, and so similarly with the secrets/science of Hajj.
Modern scientific terminology was only used in our era, the ancient world had its own scientific language we need to translate hence the word secret to an ancient scholar means science in todays terminology because to understand science was to understand the secrets of creation.
2. Abu Zaid al-Balkhi (d.322 AH/933 CE). Wrote one of the first books on the maqasid of dealings (mu’amalat), al-Ibanah an ilal al-Diyanah (Revealing Purposes in Religious Practices), in which he surveys the various purposes behind Islamic rulings. Al-Balkhi also wrote a book dedicated to maslahah (public interest), which he entitled, Masalih al-Abdan wal-Anfus (Benefits for Bodies and Souls), in which he explained how Islamic practices and rulings contribute to health, physically and mentally.
It was another early work on the Physiology of the human body, specifically the connection between the practices of religion and it’s effects on the Body. Our nature and body is key to understanding the wisdom behind the Prophet’s and companions words, this is why the first thing Allah taught the prophet was about the human body and when he made a promise in the Quran to reveal the secrets of the universe to mankind he connected it to understanding what is in our own bodies “In time We shall make them fully understand Our messages
These kind of works are at the heart of the Islamic science of Tasawwuf, sufism, which is the science of perfecting the self.
3. Al-Qaffal al-Shashi al-Kabeer (d. 365 AH/975 CE). One of the oldest manuscript in the Egyptian Dar al-Kutub on the topic of al-maqasid is al-Qaffal’s Mahasin al-Sharia (The Beauties of the Law). The work is divided into the familiar chapters of traditional books of fiqh (starting with purification, and then ablution and prayers, etc). He mentions each ruling briefly and elaborates on the purposes and wisdoms behind it.
The manuscript is fairly clear and contains around 400 pages. The last page mentions the date of the book’s completion, which is the 11th of Rabi’ul- Awwal 358 H (7th of February, 969 CE). The coverage of the rulings of fiqh is extensive, addressing individual rulings but without introducing any general theory for the purposes.
The following is a translation of an excerpt from the introduction:
… I decided to write this book to illustrate the beauties of the revealed Law, its magnanimous and moral content, and its compatibility with sound reason. I will include in it answers for those who are asking questions about the true reasons and wisdoms behind its rulings. These questions could only come from one of two persons. The first person attributes the creation of the world to its Creator and believes in the truth of prophethood, since the wisdom behind the Law is attributed to the Wise Almighty King, who prescribes to His servants what is best for them … The second person is trying to argue against prophethood and the concept of the creation of the world, or maybe is in agreement over the creation of the world while in rejection of prophethood. The logical line that this person is trying to follow is to use the invalidity of the Law as proof for the invalidity of the concept of a Law-Giver …
4. Al-Amiri al-Failasuf (d. 381 AH/991 CE) introduced one of the earliest known direct theoretical classification of purposes in his ‘al-I’lam bi-Manaqib al-Islam’ (Awareness of the Traits in Islam). Al-Amiri’s classification was solely based on ‘criminal punishments’ in Islamic law (Hudud).
The fifth Islamic century witnessed the birth of the next phase of Islamic Legal theory, methods and tools for legal theory that were developed, by the fifth century, such as Qiyas (analogy), Ijtihad, (independent Reasoning), Istihsan (Equality of Islamic Law), become part of the greater whole as Islamic civilization became increasingly complex and it became increasingly difficult to apply them to the greater situation the Ummah found itself in, as the world changed.
These tools helped in the understanding of how to Apply the Qur’an and Sunnah (way of the prophet) to the “overall picture” of the Ummah (muslim nation), this was done by identifying the overall objectives of the Qur’an and Sunnah and then looking at law in an abstract manner. The theory of ‘unrestricted interest’ (al-maslaha al- mursalah) was developed as a method that covers ‘=what was not mentioned in the scripture literally. This theory filled a gap in the literal methodologies and, later, developed into the theory of maqasid in Islamic law.
The jurists who made the most significant contributions to the conceptualizations of maqasid, between the fifth and eighth Islamic centuries, are: Abu al-Maali al-Juwaini, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, al-Izz Ibn Abdul-Salam, Shihabuddin al-Qarafi, and, most significantly, Abu Ishaq Al-Shatibi.
5.Imam Abu al-Maali al-Juwaini (d.478 AH/1085 CE) wrote ‘al-Burhān fi Usul al-Fiqh’ (The Proof in the Fundamentals of Law), which was the first juridical treatise to introduce a theory of ‘levels of necessity’ for life in a way that is similar to today’s familiar theory. He suggested five levels of maqasid, namely, necessities (al Duraat), public needs (al-hajah al-amah), moral behaviour (al-makrumat), recommendations (al-mandubat), and ‘what cannot be attributed to a specific reason.’ He proposed that the purpose of Islamic law is the protection or inviolability (al-ismah) of people’s ‘faith, souls, minds, private parts (purity), and money.’
6.Imam Al-Juwaini’s student, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d.505 AH/1111 CE), developed his teacher’s theory further in his book, al-Mustasfa (The Purified Source). He ordered the ‘necessities’ of life that al-Juwaini had suggested in a clear arrangement, as follows: (1) faith, (2) soul, (3) mind, (4) offspring, and (5) wealth. Al-Ghazali also suggested the term of ‘preservation’ (al-Hifz) of these necessities.
Imam al-Ghazali stated that Maqasid (Objectives) and Masalih (peoples interest) did not have independent juridical legitimacy (Hujjiyah) from the Quran and Sunnah, you can not derive new Laws from them independent from Islams primary sources, and called them ‘the illusionary interests’ (al-masalih al-mawhumah) because they themselves are derived from the sources (Quran and Sunnah) rather than being implied literally, as other ‘clear’ Islamic rulings are. Al-Ghazali also suggested a ‘fundamental rule,’ based on the order of necessities of life, he suggested, that the higher-order of necessity should have priority over a lower-order necessity, if they are at odds with each other in practical cases.
7.Imam Al-Izz Ibn Abdul-Salam (d.660 AH/1209 CE) wrote two small books about al- maqasid, the ‘wisdoms-behind-rulings’, namely, Maqasid al-Salah (Purposes of Prayers) and Maqasid al-Sawm (Purposes of Fasting). However, his significant contribution to the development of the theory of al-maqasid was his book on (public) interests (masalih), which he called, Qawaid al-Ahkam fi Masalih al-Anam (Basic Rules Concerning People’s Interests). Beside his extensive investigation of the concepts of interest and mischief (harm), Imam al-Izz linked the validity of rulings to their purposes and the wisdoms behind them. For example, he wrote: ‘Every action that misses its purpose is void,’ and, ‘when you study how the purposes of the law brings good and prevents mischief, you realize that it is unlawful to overlook any common good or support any act of mischief in any situation, even if you have no specific evidence from the sources (Qur’an and Sunnah), consensus (Ijmaa), or analogy (Qiyas).’
Since the primary sources did not speak about every situation man could find himself in explicitly, they had to be categorized underneath what Allah did mention and from this their specific ruling could be derived, this is because Allah in the Quran said “We have explained in detail in this Quran, for the benefit of Mankind, every kind of similitude: but man is, in most things, contentious.”(18:54), and “Indeed we have set forth for mankind, in this Quran every kind of parable. But if you bring to them any sign or proof, the disbelievers are sure to say: “You follow nothing but flasehood”.(30:58)
8.Imam Shihabuddin al-Qarafi (d.684 AH/1285 CE) contributed to the theory of maqasid, as we know it today, by differentiating between different actions taken by the Prophet based on the ‘intents’ of the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself. He writes in his ‘al-Furuq’ (The Differences):
There is a difference between the Prophetic actions as a conveyer of the divine message, a judge, and a leader … The implication in the law is that what he says or does as a conveyer goes as a general and permanent ruling … [However,] decisions related to the military, public trust, … appointing judges and governors, distributing spoils of war, and signing treaties … are specific to leaders.’ Thus, al-Qarafi codified a new field for ‘al-maqasid’ as the purposes/intents of the Prophet (saws) in his actions.