Maqāṣid or sharī‘a? Secularism, islamic reform, and ethics in modern Turkey

Abstract

This chapter elaborates on the role of the maqāṣid al-shariā‘a [the higher objectives of Islamic law] in the Islamic reform discussions and movements in modern Turkey. Considering the sustained importance and the pivotal role of the discourse in other Muslim contexts analyzed in this book, I will argue that the Turkish literature on the maqa?id al-sharī‘a appears relatively recent, abstract, academic, and, more significantly, antireformist. This stands in stark contrast to the conventional employment of the maqāṣid al-sharī‘a in the service of reform. In the last hundred years or so, the maqāṣid al-sharī‘a discourse, however differently understood and conceptualized, was more frequently voiced by a number of different actors as a venue for change rather than what we term "modern reformist projects." Unlike the accepted traditional concepts of "renewal" and "revival" [tajdid and īlā], reformist projects were viewed as proposals disconnected from and directly attacking the rich traditional legal heritage. In the same vein, a distinguishing feature of one of the most prevalent approaches to the maqa?id discourse in Turkey today is its self-depiction as the authentic conservative voice of the tradition against reformist proposals, and its deep critique of the idea of "reform," understood literally as reshaping religion by declaring the classical Islamic legal heritage as redundant if not an obstacle for meaningful reform.