the Shari'ah Purpose of Wealth Preservation in Contracts and Transactions

Abstract

This article is presented in two parts, the first of which reviews both the preservation of wealth (hifz al-mal) as one of the five essential maqasid in the category of daruriyyat and its sub-division into the four headings of circulation, clarity, stability/proof, and justice (rawaj, wuduh, thubat, ‘adl). To this we add, based on the evidence we present, development (tanmiyah) as a fifth division. The second part looks into the maqasid of contracts, a subject that has remained somewhat under-developed in the existing fiqh of mu’amalat, which is why we propose that this aspect of the jurisprudence of contracts be further developed through new addition and research. This would be a long-term undertaking mostly beyond the scope of this paper. Nevertheless, an attempt has been made to provide the basic contours for any future research which would be necessary if one were to develop the maqasid al- Shari’ah discourse from a more theoretical proposition, as it is now, into practical tools for testing the conformity or otherwise of particular contracts with their Shari’ah-designated purposes.