‘Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿa and Its role in shaping the contemporary Islamic political thought

Abstract

This paper critically assesses how Islamic scholars have been utilizing the theory of Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿa in responding to challengers of political modernity. After outlining the key scholarly arguments of last 150 years on the subject, I argue that both the Islamic political thought and Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿa as a discipline have experienced structural changes in that particular period. In this process, Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿa was able to unlock itself from legal (Fiqhi) domain whereas Islamic political thought reconciled itself with political modernity for some extent. Yet, the shaping of Islamic political thought was much influenced by the pressure of outer context rather than proper epistemic justifications. I conclude with Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿa and its latest development as an ‘evaluative paradigm’ might has the potential to fill this gap and yet, it is too early to consolidate such an argument. The research fellows the qualitative model and its data are derived from the secondary sources such as books and articles.