Maslaha and the purpose of the law : Islamic discourse on legal change from the 4th/10th to 8th/14th century

Analyzing pre-modern writings on Islamic legal theory, this book comprehensively presents the transformation of the concept of maá'£laá¸¥a as a vehicle of legal change from a minor legal principle to being understood as the all-encompassing purpose of God

Author Notes

Felicitas Opwis, Ph.D. (2001) in Arabic and Islamic Studies, Yale University, is Assistant Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University. Her publications address the development of Islamic legal theory in light of intellectual currents and historical environment.

List of Tables and Diagrams	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Chapter 1 The Emergence of Maslaha as a Legal Concept	p. 9
I Maslaha and Istislah and their Relationship to Juristic Preference (Istihsan)	p. 9
II Maslaha and Istislah in Legal Writings Prior to the 5th/llth Century	p. 14
1 Ibn al-Muqaffa	p. 14
2 Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Khwarazmi	p. 15
3 Abu Bakr al-Jassas	p. 16
3.1 Ratio Legis and Analogy	p. 18
3.2 The Relationship of Maslaha to Rulings	p. 19
3.3 Ijtihad	p. 21
III The Intellectual Background of the Discourse on Maslaha in Legal Theory	p. 27
1 Moral Knowledge: Revealed or Rational?	p. 28
2 Two Models of the Ratio Legis	p. 33
IV Abu 1-Husayn al-Basri	p. 34
1 The Epistemology of Maslaha	p. 35
2 The Ratio Legis as an Aspect (Wajh) of Maslaha	p. 38
V Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni	p. 41
1 The All-Encompassing Religious Law	p. 43
2 Considerations of Maslaha in the Procedure of Legal Analogy	p. 46
3 Five Categories of Rationes Legis and Their Ability to Extend the Law	p. 49
Chapter 2 Integrating Maslaha into Legal Analogy (Qiyas)	p. 59
I Formal and Substantive Rationality in Incorporating Maslaha into Legal Theory	p. 59
II Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali	p. 65
1 Introduction	p. 65
2 The Purpose of the Shari'a	p. 67
3 Verifying the Ratio Legis by its Suitability	p. 80
III Fakhr al-Din al-Razi	p. 88
1 Defining Analogy (Qiyas) in Terms of Logic	p. 90
2 Identifying the Ratio Legis of Rulings by Suitability	p. 96
2.1 Defining Suitability	p. 97
2.2 Determining Suitability	p. 98
2.2.1 Being a Real Maslaha	p. 99
2.2.2 The Law's Consideration	p. 101
2.2.3 Relevance	p. 105
2.2.4 No Countervailing Factors	p. 107
2.3 Giving Preference in Case of Multiple Suitable Characteristics	p. 108
3 Is There Causality in God's Law?	p. 113
3.1 Arguments by the Proponents of Causality	p. 114
3.2 Arguments by the Opponents of Causality	p. 118
4 Including the Unattested Maslaha into Analogy	p. 121
Chapter 3 Applying Maslaha in Legal Precepts (Qawaid)	p. 133
I Shihab al-Din Ahmad b. Idris al-Qarafi	p. 133
1 Introduction	p. 133
2 Maslaha as a Legal Precept	p. 138
2.1 Legal License Based on Maslaha	p. 143
2.2 Giving Priority to Analogy (Qiyas) over the Singular Tradition Based on Maslaha	p. 148
2.3 Justifying the Elimination of Pretexts (Sadd al-Dharai') on Account of Maslaha	p. 151
3 Maslaha as Element of Legal Analogy	p. 156
3.1 The Criteria of Necessity, Need, and Complementarity	p. 157
3.2 The Criterion of the Law's Consideration	p. 161
3.3 The Criteria of General ('Amm) and Specific (Khass)	p. 163
3.4 Maslaha Mursala	p. 165
Chapter 4 Using Substantive Legal Reasoning to Integrate Maslaha into the Law	p. 175
I A Shift in Epistemology	p. 175
II Ibn Taymiyya	p. 181
1 Introduction	p. 181
2 Maslaha in Law-Finding	p. 184
3 The Unattested Maslaha	p. 186
4 The Intellect's Ability to Know Good (Hasan) and Bad (Qabih)	p. 190
III Najm al-Din al-Tufi	p. 200
1 Introduction	p. 200
2 The Hadith ôla darar wa-la dirarö	p. 202
3 Maslaha as the Strongest Legal Indicant	p. 204
3.1 The Meaning of Maslaha and its Importance in the Law	p. 205
3.2 The Legal Strength of Consensus Versus Maslaha	p. 209
4 Giving Priority to Maslaha in the Law-Finding Process	p. 216
4.1 Rulings Concerning Acts of Worship and Fixed Ordinances	p. 220
4.2 Rulings Concerning Civil Transactions and Customs	p. 225
5 The Relationship between Specification (Takhsis) and Legal License (Rukhsa)	p. 236
Chapter 5 A Comprehensive Theory of Maslaha	p. 247
I Ibrahim b. Musa al-Shatibi	p. 247
1 Introduction	p. 247
2 The Epistemology of Maslaha: Certainty and Universality	p. 251
3 The Purposes of the Shari'a	p. 257
3.1 The Certainty of Causality in God's Law	p. 257
3.2 The Purposes of the Shari'a	p. 259
3.3 The Purposes of the Divine Law and the Maslaha of Humankind	p. 264
3.3.1 Mundane and Legal Maslahas	p. 264
3.3.2 The Nature of Religious Accountability (Taklif)	p. 267
4 How to Know God's Intentions	p. 273
4.1 The Intelligibility of God's Law: Acts of Worship and Customs	p. 273
4.2 Knowing God's Intentions	p. 279
4.3 Judging the Legality of Acts by the Intention of the Actor	p. 286
5 The Law-Finding Process	p. 293
5.1 The Relationship between Universal and Particular Legal Indicants	p. 294
5.2 Identifying Legal Indicants	p. 300
5.2.1 Textual Indicants	p. 302
5.2.2 Al-Shatibi's Typology of Textual Indicants	p. 304
5.3 Independent Reasoning Based on Non-Textual Indicants	p. 312
5.4 Establishing Priority Among Contradictory Indicants	p. 320
Conclusions	p. 335
References	p. 355
Index	p. 363

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