Reinstating the Roles of Maqasid al-Shari'ah

Abstract

In recent decades, due to different factors, awareness of the critical importance of maqasid al-shariah as the foundation of the Islamic legal system has been on a rising trend. It has become a timely topic in different spheres, especially Islamic studies and research. Numerous academic works in contemporary Islamic scholarship have used maqasid al-shariah as a theoretical basis. They range from university dissertations to academic journals, to books, to policy papers. In some Muslim countries, like Malaysia, maqasid al-shariah has become a national agenda with the launch of the Shariah Index, a governance metric that uses maqasid principles to gauge the country’s performance from the Islamic outlook.