Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness in the Maqasid Al-Shari ah - Yasir Qadhi &

Unless of course it is in self-defense or the state does so. But on individual level, your life is sacred. The protection of life is something that the sharia enshrines.

Number three, the protection of intellect and sanity. Your aql, your intellect cannot be impeded upon. How so? By allowing certain things that are non-harmful and prohibiting things that are harmful. The sharia has prohibited things that harm the brain, such as alcohol, such as drugs. So Allah wants us to think and use our minds in an appropriate manner.

Number four, the protection of progeny. Our children are sacred. Nobody has the right to take them away from us to harm them. Because of this, Allah has encouraged families, He's encouraged marriage, He's encouraged having children. And He has prohibited every avenue that destroys marriage, such as fornication. Anything that goes against the sanctity of family has been forbidden.

Allah wants us to have children and take care of them and love them. So He's legislated upon us to take care of our children. We would do so anyway, it's humanity. Even non-Muslims take care of their children, but it is wajib upon Muslims to take care of their children. They get rewarded for feeding their children. Conversely, children are obliged when they grow up to take care of their parents and to treat them with respect. Allah, one of His goals is the protection of family.

And the fifth goal, the protection of property and wealth. What you own, that you have acquired legitimately, nobody is allowed to acquire illegitimately.

The Revolutionary Nature of These Principles in Arabian Society

Now, these are things that when we hear them now, they're so simple and common sense. I want you to go back 14 centuries in tribal Arabia. Ask yourself, were any one of these five goals in existence? The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) came and he didn't just come with a radical theological shift. He came with a complete different legal system, a complete philosophy of rights that was non-existent before his coming.

There was no liberty to practice as you preached. There was no liberty to do as you preach in terms of religion. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) wanted to worship Allah alone. The Quraysh would not let him do that. They would not allow him to preach and worship Allah alone. They wanted to kill him because of it.

The protection of human life, the weak would devour the poor. Sorry, the strong would devour the weak. You know the statement of Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, when he was standing in front of the Negus, what did he tell him? He said, "O Emperor, O Negus, we are from a society where the strong devour the weak, the rich take advantage of the poor." This is the society of Arabia, paganistic, jahil society.

As for rights of progeny, what rights did they have when you could raid any tribe and take their children as slaves? When you could kill and rape as you please and there was no law as long as you

belong to a certain tribe. If you were a Qurayshi, you could literally get away with murder of a non- Qurayshi. You were elite. You were the kramdala kramd, the highest of society. If you raped, pillaged, robbed, plundered, there is no law above you. You are Qurayshi, you are the law. You're the nobleman.

If you go to Hawazin, you go to Thaqif, you go to these low class tribes, who's gonna prevent you from, who's gonna take the law into their own hand? The life of a Qurayshi is more sacred than that of any other human being.

The Farewell Pilgrimage and Human Rights

And when the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) gave the farewell pilgrimage, what did he do? He abolished all of those conceptions of jahili law. There is no superiority, forget Qurayshi over non-Qurayshi, of an Arab over a non-Arab. This is a radical paradigm shift, a radical restatement of human values.

Similarly, the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said, "Your property, your lives, your honor is sacred. Each one of you, what you own, your life, your blood, it is sacred." (Bukhari hadith 1739, Muslim hadith 1679)

No human being is allowed to touch that. This is in the farewell pilgrimage, is it not? You all know the farewell pilgrimage, the khutbah that he gave. These goals are enshrined in that farewell pilgrimage. And the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) came with a complete restructure of how jahili society was.

These are the five primary maqasid. And if you think about it, really these five maqasid can be summarized into three. Number one, the protection of religion. Number two, human life and intellect and sanity and progeny come under human life. Because to be a human, fully human, you must have a mind to think and you should have a family as well. And number three, the protection of property and wealth. These are really the three primary goals. The five can be summarized into these three.

The Supporting Needs and Embellishments

As for the other two categories of maqasid, the supporting needs and the embellishments, really we don't want to get into those. They're basically of a lower level than the five primary ones. And the supporting needs basically are the needs that make life bearable and easy. And their absence, it doesn't bring about chaos, but rather it makes life a little bit difficult.

So of the examples of the supporting needs, Allah has allowed the sick person to diminish their prayer and their fast. Allah has allowed the sick person or the traveler to reorient certain minutiae of the law to make things easy for him. Suppose Allah had not done so, it would make things difficult, but it wouldn't make things impossible. The first five will make life impossible. If your life is not sacred, if anybody can kill you, you're not gonna live a comfortable life. So the first five are the primary. Underneath them are the supporting needs. Underneath those are the embellishments.

And that is the finer matters of purity, of dressing and garments, of proper etiquettes of eating and drinking, etc. So these are the third level, the kamaliyat.

The Connection to Western Legal Development

Now, like I said, I don't want to talk in a lot of detail about the maqasid. Really the purpose is to show that the maqasid have some role in the formulation of the constitution of this country. So, how did this come about?

Before we get to the constitution of America, let's talk about two documents that were of significant importance and precursors to the American constitution.

The Common Law of England

The first of these is the common law of England. Now, the common law of England, it was a law that was enacted in the 11th or 12th century of the common era, basically after Christ, in the 11th or 12th century. And what it basically did was it, for the first time in the history of England, unified British law. Before this time, the common laws are on the 1220s or 1230s. Before this time, there was no universal law in England. Before this time, local judges were simply somebody they respected, not trained in any academy. A judge is not trained, he's simply a respected townsman. And he will judge according to his heart, according to what he thinks is right. There's no standard law that all of the country will be unified over.

So, this is called the common law of England. It is argued by one of the leading legal jurists of our times, John Makdisi. John Makdisi wrote a groundbreaking article around 8 years ago. This article is entitled, "The Islamic Origins of the Common Law." This is the title of the article. And this was published in a very famous law magazine. And he showed that many features of British common law were taken directly from Islamic law. Directly.

Of them, believe it or not, the right of trial by a jury of peers. Now, this is not mainstream Islamic law, but this is law in certain sections of the Maliki Madhab. Some of the sections of the Maliki Madhab, some of the scholars allowed and requested that any type of judge should judge over a group of peers as well, who will listen to basically both sides of the argument. Now, think about it. The concept of having peers judge you is not something that will come to mind just automatically. The very fact that this thing existed in Maliki law, and there is a direct link as we're gonna come to, this is a very interesting fact.

Other things as well which we don't wanna get into, but certain economic practices, very specific economic practices are prohibited that were prohibited in Maliki law as well. And in fact, even the medium of transmission has been recorded. And that is there was a certain Thomas Brown of England who went to Sicily and he studied Islamic law in Sicily. Now, Sicily had been one of those freed Islamic

states. Freed meaning it had been a Muslim state, then the Christians came and they freed it. So it was our land and then it became Christian land. But the laws of Sicily amazingly were very much Islamic.

When the king of Sicily basically came to power, the laws were so perfect, he basically continued to apply them. So this Thomas Brown of England went to study in Sicily, and then he returned and he became the exchequer of King Henry III. And he was the main one who began formulating the common law. So the concept of having a shari'ah was introduced to Thomas Brown. And when he returned to England, he said, why are we judging every city and every province differently? We should have a common law. That's why it's called the common law, right? We should have a common law, a shari'ah if you like, that the entire country is bound by.

And so for the first time in the history of England, a common constitution, a common legal framework was enacted. And this is a very direct, if you like link between Islamic law and this common law.

The Magna Carta

The second major document, and I refer you back to this article, we don't have time to go into all of it, but you can look this up, it's called "The Islamic Origins of the Common Law" by John Makdisi. The second major document that we'll talk about is the document that all of you are aware of, the Magna Carta.

What is the Magna Carta for those of you who might possibly not be aware of it? The Magna Carta is one of the most significant documents in Western legal history. And for the first time in Western civilization, the people forced the king to listen and obey to a law that was higher than the king. This is the Magna Carta. That's the gist of the Magna Carta.

Initially for thousands of years, the king was the law. Nobody has the right to dictate anything to the king. What the Magna Carta did was said, no, the king must obey a law higher than his own. And this is what is basically the Magna Carta.

Now, once again, there are links between the concept of Magna Carta and Islamic law. And quite a number of authors, including the famous political theorist, Rose Wilder Lane, who died 1968. She wrote a book, and not just a book, but actually a number of articles as well, and other legal theorists as well, that she basically showed a direct connection between the returning crusaders who witnessed Islamic law in practice, who interacted with the Muslims, who knew that Salah ad-Din al-Ayubi was not a king of the Muslims, but rather he was a Muslim amongst other Muslims, who saw for the first time a leader that was subject to a law higher than the leader himself.

And so when they returned back, they came back with these notions of, why does the king have the right when he's a mortal to tell us what to do? There must be a law higher than the law of the king. And there are quite direct, once again, links between this concept and the Magna Carta.

And I refer you to a book written by Rose Wilder Lane, entitled, "The Discovery of Freedom." Where she very explicitly claims, and she proves in her own way, that the notion of rights within the Magna Carta, the notion of noblemen, of gentry, of leaders, was taken directly from the Muslims.

And she also points out, that when the Spanish Christians were freed from Muslim, if you like, rule, and the Catholics reconquered Spanish Catholic Spain, the Catholics who had been under Islamic law, refused to come under the Christian law, until the Christian king agreed to some type of sharia that bound him. Now again, this is unprecedented, where a group of people tell the king, sorry, you can't do with this as you please. There are certain rules and restrictions.

So the Spanish Christians, the Muslims are gone, so they're letting the Christians come in. The Spanish Christians, refused to allow the king to rule them, until the king agreed to the same rights and privileges that the Muslim Khalifa had given them, a Magna Carta of sorts.

John Locke and the Philosophical Foundations

Now, these are two very important, two very important documents that lay the foundation for the Declaration of Independence, the English Common Law and the Magna Carta. And the both of them are occurring roughly at the time when Christians are first interacting with Muslims, when Christians are coming back from the Crusades, when Christians are going to Andalusia and returning back to Andalusia. And they're seeing for the first time, what Islamic law is. And they're trying to import these practices into Western lands.

With this prelude, let us move on to the Declaration itself. And in particular that phrase, certain unalienable rights, that amongst these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Now, we don't really need to read in too much to see a connection with the maqas of the shariah.

And in fact, historically it's very, very simple. The single most important philosopher who held the imagination of the founding fathers, the one philosopher whom all of the founding fathers were extremely, extremely impressed with and affected by, was none other than John Locke. You've all heard the name of John Locke, right? John Locke of course died 1704. He didn't see the beginning of America. But he's writing in a generation before the founding fathers. And John Locke is writing a lot of these concepts.

Now, who is John Locke? John Locke is a British philosopher. He was an avid reader. He had graduated from Oxford with a bachelor's and master's at a time when hardly anybody ever went to university. And at Oxford, he had studied with the greatest orientalist in the English-speaking world, Edward Pocock, who died 1691. Edward Pocock had traveled to Istanbul and had studied there for many years. He had translated many classical Arabic works into English.

And in fact, it is well known, this is not just a far-fetched theory, you can read this up. It is well known that John Locke obviously studied with Pocock, this is well known. And that he read many of these translations. And therefore, many western authors have pointed out similarities between the translations of these writings by Pocock and eventually John Locke's theories themselves.

And if you're really interested, just one point here, Ibn Tufayl's famous book, Al-Hayy Ibn Yaqadhan. For those of you who are not aware of this, this is a philosophical treatise. What would happen if a child grew up on a desert without any knowledge? What would this child think? Okay, this is the setting of this Islamic philosophical treatise. This treatise is pretty much, the whole ideas of it are found in John Locke, pretty much in its entirety. Of course, he never mentioned it, but it's found there. And very specific examples from this Islamic treatise are found in the writings of John Locke, which clearly show that there is more going on here than simply two great minds at work.

Now, we'll never know the details of the lectures that Pocock gave to John Locke. We'll never know the details. But it is quite clear that the concept of rights that John Locke began to preach. Now, John Locke did not speak Arabic. Don't get me wrong here. John Locke studied with Pocock. Pocock is the guy who studied Sharia. Pocock is the guy who's traveled to Istanbul. He's lived there for a few years. He pretended to be a Muslim. He lived as a Muslim, he came back.

And now he's one of the few people in the English world who speaks fluent English and fluent Arabic and has studied Islam very intensely. So, Pocock is the teacher of John Locke. And John Locke's writings reflect many of those teachings. John Locke's writings reflect the fact that even the caliph should be subject to laws greater than his own, so on and so forth.

Comparing "Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness" with Maqasid

So, let us now compare this one phrase. Certain unalienable rights. Number one, unalienable rights. The concept of rights being unalienable is not a Western concept. It is an Islamic concept where each and every human being including the khalifa is subject to the laws of Allah.

This is a very Islamic concept. The very first speech that Abu Bakr gave was what? The very first speech. He said, "If I obey the law, keep me as your khalifa. And if I disobey it, correct me or kick me out." (As recorded in various historical sources)

This is the foundation of Islamic political thought. Even the khalifa is subject to laws. We find it certain unalienable rights. Also, of these is life. This is of the five zaruriyat, life. No king has the right to dictate my life. No person has the right to dictate what I wanna do with it. One of the clear zaruriyat, one of the five major principles is life.

Number two, liberty. Now, what does liberty mean for John Locke? When they're writing, what are they thinking of liberty? Religious freedom. Remember, Christians were repressed by Christians. They

were not allowed to worship the way they wanted to worship. When he's writing liberty, the primary connotation, this is again not farfetched, I'm not inventing this, this is a fact. The primary connotation of liberty is that I want to worship God the way I see fit. No king has the right to prevent me from doing so.

And there are many quotes here where he explicitly says, so I don't have time to get into that because of time constraints. I encourage you to read his "A Letter Concerning Toleration." "A Letter Concerning Toleration" where he explicitly says, "Is it not ironic that Muslims allow Christians more freedoms than Christians allow other Christians?" He says this explicitly. Is it not ironic that Muslims allow Christians more freedoms than Christians allow other Christians?

And he has another treatise called "A Third Letter for Toleration" where he also argues the same thing. And he explicitly argues for liberty of religion via the laws of the sharia. Now, so the second phrase as well, liberty is found in the laws of the maqasid.

The third, pursuit of happiness. Now, that's definitely not found in the maqasid. Well, John Locke himself in his writings, on more than one occasion, he repeats what he calls the natural rights of men. And he says they are, and I quote directly from his book, "life, liberty, and estate or property." That's from John Locke. Life, liberty, and estate or property, what you own. And that's exactly maqasid.

And that is why amazingly, and this is again, you can look this up, not some far-fetched theory. Look this up simply, we don't do the research. When Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, do you know what he wrote? He said of these, inalienable rights is "life, liberty, and property." The first penning of the constitution, life, liberty, and property, that is a cut and paste from the maqasid. That is directly taken from the maqasid. And then for some reason, maybe it didn't sound as exotic enough, he changed property to the pursuit of happiness.

Conclusion and Clarification

Now, to conclude here, I want to be very clear in what my line of thinking is. I am not suggesting that the constitution is taken from the maqasid. It is not. Neither am I suggesting a direct causal relationship. What I am suggesting, and not alone in suggesting this, is that Islamic law in general and the theory of maqasid in particular, helped influence specific European intellectuals, and philosophers, and thinkers, along with other factors as well, of a social, and political, and cultural nature. And that this was one spark, perhaps a primary spark, perhaps a primary spark that helped to bring about what is now called the enlightenment.

I also want to state very clearly that I am not of those who try to link everything positive in Western culture to Islam, and who somehow read in an Islamic utopia in Western society. There is no denying that the Western concept of freedom has now degenerated in ways even the founding fathers would object to. And freedom has now become hedonism, the pursual of one's sensual desires. And this

concept of freedom is beckoning us back to the very primitive days of jahiliyyah, where it is a free for all, where the rich get richer, and the stronger get stronger, and so on and so forth. So I'm not suggesting that.

And alhamdulillah, I have no inferiority complex that motivated me to try to find parallels and possible direct lines of influence between maqasid and the constitution. We have no need of such complex. Rather, what motivated me was a sense of pride in what our religion has to offer, a sense of awe in the magnificent structure that we built with Allah's permission, with Allah's divine knowledge, with what Allah had given us, we built this massive, intricate edifice that was so inspiring, it was so marvelous, that many other civilizations and cultures, including the western civilization, was influenced by it in its own way.

And as I stand here today in awe of that structure, along with that awe, there's also a profound sense of nostalgia, even sadness, because that structure is no longer up in existence. We can't really see it anymore. These are days gone by. And it is only found in books that we have to reconstruct with our own imaginations. And not only am I sad at the loss of such a structure, but even more sad that many Muslims themselves are not even aware of what our sharia had to offer, of the perfection, of the intricacy, of the grandiose majesty that was once ours.

And if in the course of this lecture, inshaAllah, I've inspired some of you, I have sparked my own spark inshaAllah, to make some of you want to go study more about Islamic law, about the maqasid, about the profundity of our religion, about the wisdom of Allah's laws and His teachings. If I have inspired some of you for this further study, then inshaAllah ta'ala, this is a great success and blessing from Allah.

I conclude by making du'a that Allah allows us to basically reinvent this spark and reinvigorate this feeling of pride that we had amongst the ummah, that we can once again be beacons of leadership to all of humanity in all fields as we once were. And that Allah blesses us with iman and taqwa and knowledge and good deeds.

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Second Khutbah by Shaykh Yasir Birjas

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The Human Need for Understanding

Of all the things man pursue in this life, knowing why and how is one basic and most essential need, human need. It provides gratification and satisfaction. It liberates both the mind and the heart from

the limitation of matter and the world and the life of this world. And the end result is usually and always would be happiness.

Believing in divine power as Muslims, believing in divine power solves many mysteries of this life. But there are still so many more of these mysteries needs to be resolved. And as Muslims, who believe in Allah being the creator, al-hakim, the all-wise. His creation for us displays this kind of sense, this sense of sophistication. Exhibits that most sophisticated system in all kinds of laws, nature and logic. Allah said that clearly in the Quran:

"Verily, all things we have created in proportion and measure."

Everything was created in proportion and in measure. Many recognize that today and many more don't. The dynamics of Islamic law or institution of law and sharia are part of his divine order.

The Scholarly Development of Maqasid

Scholars since the inception of Islam, they tried to explain in different ways and methods the purpose of halal and haram, what is permissible and what is prohibited and all that in between. They tried to explain every possible reason behind that and hikmah.

For generations, sharia, which is the source of law and its higher objectives, al-maqasid, as Shaykh Yasir explained, have always been a source of debate between the scholars of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah and their counterparts from scholars of all other different schools, theological schools, as well as among themselves the scholars of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah. The practical implication, though, of all these debates shaped Muslim societies all over the globe throughout history and the history of Islamic law.

The debate continues until this day and with it, Muslim societies are still being shaped, still being shaped even until this day around the ultimate discussion of maqasid al-sharia. The entire purpose of the debate over maqasid was always to bring people and that's the entire actual purpose of this maqasid. To bring people the answer to what they are seeking in this life and mostly basically to be content with the divine order of Allah.

That when they read and they follow that law, they feel content and happy with what's coming from Allah. Muslims, they want to feel free living their life and be happy at the same time that they are keeping eye on the divine order. They don't want to have double lives. Specifically today in the West, Muslims, they want also to live that happy life and at the same time, they are still following that divine order of Allah.

Contemporary Relevance of Maqasid

Today, this subject of maqasid has become more important than any other subject of law. You see

today, there are so many books coming out actually every now and then and many of these books when it comes to Islamic law, focusing on that particular area of the law which is maqasid al-sharia. The higher objectives and the intent of Islamic law.

Mostly because Muslim societies have changed dramatically and many more are forming outside their traditional geography and you are the manifestation of this change. Muslim presence outside their traditional geographical inherited land like in America and Europe today is a new phenomenon. Never in the history of Muslims, never in the history of Islam or Muslims, this happened before.

Muslims leaving the Muslim land to come living in a non-Muslim land in such a massive number willingly and by choice. Never happened before. And because of that, people are now today bringing generations after generations living and they are born as citizens of non-Muslim countries and at least societies no longer ruled by the Islamic law.

There is a huge gap between how Muslim societies are perceived to be like and what they are now. This huge gap is what justifies now the wondering and the questioning in the minds of so many people. The need to find solutions for the current challenge lies into the field of maqasid.

Maqasid as the Living Part of Islamic Law

Maqasid is considered the living part of the Islamic law. People are looking up to Muslim jurists and scholars to find them answers to their new challenges and challenging situations. And maqasid has always provided scholars and jurists with that flexibility to reconcile between the divine order and the real world. It is still doing it, but all within the spirit of sharia.

In an attempt to live as authentic Muslims as possible in an ever-changing world and society, Muslims are wondering more than ever about the meaning of authentic Muslim life. Today, it's probably more confusing than ever. And those who desire to live that authentic Muslim life, they're facing a challenge of defining what that authentic life means. What does it mean to be a Muslim and still live in the West? How can you reconcile between these two things without having any trouble feeling that guilt of manipulating the law?

Maqasid, throughout its long history, has the richest legacy of brilliant discussions ever produced by Muslim jurists and Muslim scholars. It has such a rich legacy that if you study, you see, subhanallah, brilliant minds, how they put all these things together. And it all comes out from the same source, the (صلى الله عليه وسلم) book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Prophet.

They are now in crucial need for people who live in the West, in crucial need to feel the happiness of life without the guilt of manipulating, again, that law. Muslim scholars, they knew that a discussion of Maqasid al-Sharia, regardless how far it would go, it has to still keep going and revolving around one

Historical Development Through Different Periods

Scholars of all shades of Islam, in order to bridge the gap between Muslims, Muslim life and what is in real life, have always resorted to that Maqasid. And the result was a complex mixture of ideas, discussions and rules. Some are traditional and some became very, very controversial for our time.

Briefly, I would like, inshallah, to discuss the historical development of the approach of Maqasid al-Sharia throughout the different periods of Islamic life. How did the change in lifestyle and society affect the study of law? And how its higher objectives and Maqasid, how were they changed because of that? How Maqasid was understood in the light of societal change? What is beyond the juristic reason and rationalization of Islamic rulings? What is beyond that for us today when it comes to Maqasid al-Sharia? And what is the impact of cultural change on the concept of law and Maqasid?

The Fundamental Objective: Bringing Meaning to Life

One thing to begin with, definitely, of the main Maqasid and objective of Sharia is bringing meaning to lives of people. There is no doubt. The whole purpose of Maqasid al-Sharia is to give you meaning for your life. Shaykh Yasir explained the different categories of Maqasid al-Sharia to the protection and preservation of life, religion, progeny, wealth and intellect and so on. But the meaning, the purpose of all these categories and explanations is to bring meaning to your life.

Because without having any meaning for that life, people would not have that freedom and the liberty to think, to do things and to feel happy even in their lives. So that is one fundamental objective, to bring that meaning to the life of people. And of course, in this case, time, location, geography would be completely irrelevant once people understand the purpose of their life and the meaning and the reason behind the law, the divine law that comes down to them.

Today, and in this generation, how many times have we encountered and heard the question from young people specifically, wondering and even now questioning some of the rules of Islam. Whether it's in devotional acts such as Salah, or finances such as issue of Riba, issue of Halal earnings and so forth, and even some of the civil issues such as marriage, divorce and so on. People are wondering so much about the rules of Sharia more than ever. And that's obvious because of the cultural pressure and the societal change that they're living in.

It is a very natural process though. And it tests the flexibility of the law based on that cultural change that is happening in the society. The more change would happen, the more the law would stretch basically its arms and we will see how this happens in the history of Islam.

The Divine Intent Behind Sharia

The premise here is that Sharia or Islamic rulings were enacted to serve divine intents and higher objectives. Not just to prove the Hikmah of Allah. It's not just to say Allah is all wise. We all know that as believers we are done with this. We believe in this. But now, what are the higher objectives behind them? What's the reason, the purpose behind the enactment of all these rulings and Maqasid al-Sharia? Allah by doing so brings meaning to the life of the believers, those who adhere to that rule.

The concept went through a long process of development. That concept went through a long process of development and evolved as generations of Muslim scholars and jurists contributed their works to it. And it is still viable until this day.

When Muslim jurists and Fuqaha wrote about Maqasid, classical categories emerged. And these are the Shaykhs explained. Like necessities, needs and accessories. Things that can be added to your life to enhance the quality of your life and they won't create any harm if they're missing. These now presented the relevancy of these Maqasid to the life of humans. They are now about humans to bring again meaning and purpose of life for humans to whom the law was sent to abide by.

And that's of course Muslims and non-Muslims. It doesn't matter. Obviously, that meant that the rules of Sharia were enacted to serve the masalih of human beings. And the masalih means the benefits and the interests of humans in this world and in the hereafter. Part of this also includes even the deterrence and removal of harm. In the juristic language, this is called means soliciting benefits and interest for man and preventing damage or harm.

Trying the best to bring everything that's beneficial and avoiding everything that is harmful. This is actually basically it's about bringing happiness. People usually, they pursue these things, they pursue interest and benefits for what reason? They want to feel happy. They want to feel good about what they're doing. At the same time, they avoid everything that might cause them harm or damage because it makes me feel sad, feel grieved about what they have done.

And it's ironically, it's even common today in the field of psychology to study this principle as one essential concept of human nature. If you study psychology, most of these modern theories of psychology already integrate this concept into their methods of therapy. When they speak with people, they try to find purpose for their lives. What is the purpose of your life? What makes you happy? What are you trying to do to get there? How are you trying to avoid to get to the state that you're living in or going through right now?

Modern therapists even interpret human behavior through that principle of the pursuit of benefit and the escape of harm, which is exactly the pursuit of happiness. And that is exactly the main principle of Islamic system and one primary maqsad, one primary actually goal and objective of sharia and law.

Al-Shatibi's Contributions

Imam al-Shatibi, rahimahu allahu ta'ala, who is considered like the founding father of this principle, of the system, of the discipline of maqasad al-sharia, has stated even that clearly with his own language, his own words in his book, Al-Muwafaqat, the classical work of maqasad. Saying, "Divinely revealed laws have all been established to preserve human beings' interests, both in this life and the life to come."

There are five major interests in the life of man that are to be preserved. And these are now what Shaykh Yasir explained. Faith, life, intellect, wealth and progeny. The laws of sharia have always been perceived through this higher principle at all times. Whatever law that comes down, it comes to preserve these purposes and these higher objectives.

And Muslims who wish to live authentic Muslim life, wish also to feel so happy that their human needs are met regardless where they live, at what time they would live, whether it's in the east or in the west.

Early Period: The Time of the Prophet and Sahaba

Studying the history of law, however, and the legislation in Islam, this simple concept does not stand out as clear as it should have been. One, probably, reason is that the organization of maqasad in its current form became perfect after a long debate which erupted among or between the different schools of thought in Islam, in both theology and jurisprudence. This gives Muslim jurists in our time the chance to explore what the process was before and how it's going to end up in the future.

This gives us today, at least, being part of this rich legacy of maqasad, gives us hope by going back and see what's the process that this maqasad went through and what we can contribute to today and in the future as well.

Early in the days of Islam and the time of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) in particular, maqasad appeared in a supportive style which presented its fundamental principle, al-ubudiyyah, the servitude to Allah. Shaykh Yasser alluded to this in his speech, that this is one of the highest objectives of maqasad.

Regardless how much you try to fetch the definition and interpretation of maqasad, it will all go back to that primary principle. Regardless what you do, what you think, how you interpret that, that primary objective should always be there in your mind. And that is al-ubudiyyah, which means the servitude to Allah.

That is exactly the highest objective of all these maqasad. No matter how detailed the discussion of maqasad became later in the history of the enactment of law, and no matter how sophisticated it became, the ultimate purpose of the creation and the higher objective of all laws and rules of sharia was to achieve that principle, the servitude to Allah. Allah stated that clearly even in the Quran:

"And I created not the jinns and humans except they should worship me and worship me alone."

So this is the ultimate goal of all these maqasad that would come later. The early generation Muslims, the sahaba and the tabi'een, had this as the ultimate objective of maqasad sharia for them. To become a true servant of Allah. Obedient and devoted.

And because Allah enacted the law for them, there was no much dispute over the rationale behind it. They were a very basic nomadic society. The concept of debate, intellectual debate, did not exist back then in that form or that fashion. So for them, they were satisfied. And they found this kind of happiness. They found this liberty in submitting themselves after being submitting to all these human laws of the tribal system and so on to some superior law. That's coming from Allah.

So when they did that, they felt liberated. They felt life and they felt happiness that is coming from Allah. For them, following the law would ultimately put their lives into the perspective of this principle. And achieving the goal of servitude and bring them happiness and gratification.

The examples from the life of the sahaba and the tabi'een are more than what we can count. And this very basic principle is very fundamental in the life of people regardless of their time. The way it brought happiness to early generation, it can still bring great happiness to the people of our time as well.

Example of Ribi'i ibn Amir

As an example for this, Ribi'i ibn Amir radiallahu ta'ala wa rahimahullah standing before the Persian commander, he went and he explained, he summarized the mission, the entire mission of this faith and Islam. And he spoke to him, why are you coming here for? He said, "We came to bring out the servants from the worship of the servants to the worship of the Lord of the servants. And from the tightness of this world to the vastness of this world and the hereafter." (Historical account from various Islamic sources)

He said, we came over here carrying the message. He said, we came to take people out from the worship of the creation to the worship of the creator. And from the tightness of this world and this life to the vastness of this life and the life to come. Very simple, we're bringing a message of happiness to the world. A superior law, a superior message that would make people live their lives and enjoy being with a kind sense of objective servitude to Allah. And they believe that it brings them happiness and indeed it did.

Simple message of liberation and happiness. And this was carried all around the globe and people are still today living it wherever they are.

The Law for People's Understanding

In explaining the law givers different objectives in establishing the law, especially during that particular time, basic time of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). Imam Al-Shatibi rahimahullah in his book Al-Muafaqat, he states clearly that one of these now objectives of the law giver Allah is to establish the law for people's understanding. People should understand the law. If they don't understand the law, what's the purpose of it? And that's why Allah revealed now the book and the law in a language that the people can understand.

Logically he says, because that society was an unlearned society. The Arabs were illiterate and the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was Nabi al-Ummiyeen. He was the prophet of all those illiterate people. And they only knew one thing, the art of speech, the language. That's why when the law came down, it came in that fashion, which is the art of speech. The Quran, the book of Allah. It came in Arabic for basic society.

So to prove this basic in this actually basic form, the law was revealed to unliterate people, the Arabs, and therefore was revealed in the language that they just can't understand. The significance of this now is that Allah sent the maqasid in their initial form, linguistic and textual form, which was easily understood by the least educated people.

Anyone can understand that. But it went through development again. And the first and the basic way of understanding the maqasid was linguistic. The Arabs, that's what they knew. And that's how they could understand and relate to the law through this linguistic now form. The capacity of the Arabs was linguistic capacity. And the higher objective came down with that capacity as well to begin with.

As an example, he said, Allah's statement:

"Surely we have sent you but a mercy to all the worlds."

This is now a general objective. This is now the people, they understand that one of their objectives is to bring this mercy to the entire world. But on a specific level right now, micro level, one rule of sharia, which is the rule of wudu, purification:

"Allah does not want to cause you any hardship."

So this is one of the objectives of rule. It's not that it has to be hard. But there has to be some sort of hardship that is bearable to man. So people understood there is a degree of hardship, but still this is bearable and it brings them happiness at the end of the day. Because that's the objective of the law, the servitude to Allah.

For generations, the obedience to the law regardless of its original objective was to achieve the higher maqasid al-ubudiyah. The servitude to Allah. That's how they understood it. There are numerous examples from the life of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم)

Examples from the Prophet's Life

Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha, she narrated the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم he used to worship Allah at night until his feet get swollen. And one time she asked him, "Ya Rasulallah, why are you doing that for? I mean if Allah has forgiven all your sins, it means you have reached your objective. So now just putting yourself to hardship, it's kind of irrational."

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he brought her back to that original objective. He said, "Shouldn't I be that grateful servant?" (Bukhari hadith 1130, Muslim hadith 2820)

It means if Allah has forgiven me my sins, it doesn't mean that I quit. Because I've gotten alhamdulillah where I wanted to go. No, it means I still need to preserve that objective in my life and be that true servant of Allah.

Umar bin al-Khattab radiallahu ta'ala anhu, the companion of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمone time when he was making his tawaf, he passed by al-Hajar al-Aswad and then he said, "By Allah, I know, you're just a stone. You cannot benefit me, you cannot harm me. Had I not seen the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم doing that, which means kissing you, I wouldn't have done that myself." (Bukhari hadith 1597, Muslim hadith 1270)

Umar bin al-Khattab radiallahu ta'ala anhu, he realizes that it's about servitude to Allah. Through following the example of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم the ultimate manifestation of this now following. He said, that's servitude to Allah.

However, he himself, Umar bin al-Khattab radiallahu ta'ala anhu, did not just deter himself from subjecting the Lord to scrutiny. He was one of these brilliant jurists who brought maqasa to the next level. Tried to rationalize what's behind it and use it. And for instance, in his rule, his Ijtihad resulted in increasing the punitive punishment of drinking alcohol and the temporary suspension of the punitive punishment for theft during the time of famine. That was a brilliant actual understanding of Umar bin al-Khattab to the higher objectives of the law.

The Need for Rationalization

People, they had inquisitive minds and they're still. And that's why even during that particular time as well, which is a very basic time, they questioned and wondered about some of the primary rules of Sharia. As an example, Mu'adhah, the female companion of Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anhu, she once asked, "What's wrong with menstruating women? They're obligated to make up for the days of Ramadan and they're not obligated to make up for the days when they miss their Salah."

So when they miss Salah, they don't make it up. But when they miss the fasting of Ramadan, they have to do that. And I'm sure many women probably and many even today are wondering why? What's the difference? That happened back then as well.

Now Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anhu, and remember she's coming from that same generation of submitting to the Ubudiyyah and the servitude to Allah. She surprisingly looked at her student and she said, which means, "What's wrong with you? Are you a kharijiyat? Are you one of those extremists?" Extremists of her time? She said, "No I'm not, but I'm just wondering." She has the full right to wonder and human beings wanted to know why. And we still today wonder. We want to know why. What's the objective of this?

Then she replied, Aisha she replied, "This used to happen during the time of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and we were commanded to make up for these days that we miss in Ramadan and we were never asked to make up for the Salah that we miss." (Bukhari hadith 321, Muslim hadith 335)

Aisha did not even try to rationalize that to her. That was irrelevant objective. The early generation of Muslims was satisfied with such rationale. But as more and more new Muslims joined the growing Muslim community, that solo answer was no longer valid or enough for them. They wanted more clarification, explanation to that. And that's when Maqasat al-Sharia started evolving to the next level.

The Cross-Cultural Shift

There was a huge cross-cultural shift in the Muslim community and society, especially in the new open land. That demanded change in the theoretical approach of the law. Not all the Muslim community and especially the body of Muslim jurists were ready to accept that new approach. Not all of them were accepting that. Which led to the establishment of two classical schools of thought in Islam, traditional Ahlul Hadith and the classical rational school of Fiqh and jurisprudence.

Although both schools seem to have taken two different courses in explaining the law of Sharia, Imam al-Khattabi denotes that both work independently even though they work independently but still though became restraining instruments to the other against each other from going far away from the main objectives of the Sharia. So eventually that difference even in interpretation and understanding became brought back again the objective of law. Not to go so far away from the main objective of the law.

Ahlul Hadith though maintained the orthodox approach of textual rational while the school of Fiqh went beyond the textual objectives to deeper meanings of the enactment of law.

Imam al-Shafi'i's Balance

Thereafter and not too long the consolidation of both became inevitable. Imam al-Shafi'i Muhammad al-Madris al-Shafi'i represents a new generation of Muslim scholarship. More organized and better equipped. Acknowledging both approaches Imam al-Shafi'i he wrote his book Al-Risala the very famous book which is considered like the first written book in the theory of law. In its sophisticated system.

In an attempt to create a balance between the textual approach and traditional rational approach of objective of the law without indulging too much in scholastic debate or philosophy. Both approaches though both approaches flourished side by side in a new different culture. Appealing to a wide range of students of knowledge and average Muslims.

But since the circumstances of Muslim society have changed the approach to the objective of law has changed ever since and continued to change thereafter until this day. With this however one thing remained intact during that particular time still the concept of iman the objective of the submission to Allah was still alive and you can read that in the book of Al-Risala the book of Imam al-Shafi'i whenever they speak about the reason, about the hikmah about the wisdom, regardless how they try to explain that from a linguistic perspective or even from a juristic perspective they always resort to the same principle that you should submit yourself to Allah that's the main objective of the law.

The Philosophical Challenge

The next generation later of Muslim jurists, scholars and even average people alike they all had to deal with a new challenge posed by an emerging school a new school of thought, the philosophical school. The injection of philosophical principles in Islamic theology posed a major threat to the concept of iman and the system or the belief system of Muslims the field of sharia and law was not immune either this now system introduced intellect as a source of law in its extreme methodology use of intellect intellectual and intellect existed in the time of the Prophet through the Ijtihad and even afterwards but during that time it was taken to a complete different level, become like the ultimate source of legislation during that time which would affect the theories of law for generations later.

Moving the interpretation of law from traditional approach towards a rational philosophical approach led to the formation of a new system of theories in sharia theological debates founded on kalam and scholastic theology managed their way into fiqh, jurisprudence and the theory of law including maqasid one of these debates was of Imam al-Razi, rahimahu allahu ta'ala who debated about the subject of ta'leel which means can we rationalize the orders and the commands and the acts of the lord and divine or not. Imam al-Shatibi rahimahu allahu in response to the majority of al-Sunni wal jama'a Muslim scholars they do believe that there is a hikmah and a wisdom and ta'leel for the actions and the orders of Allah generation later during that time of Imam al-Shatibi rahimahu allahu which brings us actually to similar scenarios that we live in today.

Imam al-Shatibi's Era and Its Parallels to Today

Imam al-Shatibi rahimahu allahu now he is receiving the legacy of the previous generations. Maqasid al-Sharia became theoretical subject very technical an issue of philosophical debate more than practical explanation of the law so generation later during his time which is the 14th century the

institutions of fiqh, madhabs or schools of law became well established and adherence to the text of these laws became the new culture and new challenge.

This would weaken the principle of maqasid because the objectives have become subjective to the existing law not to the divine text and it became a very technical issue Imam al-Shatibi rahimahu allahu he lived in Andalus, he lived in Andalus in Spain today and he tried to face the challenge and revive the original understanding of maqasid writing his famous book al-Muafaqat and later al-I'tisam he was also observing the circumstance of Muslims who fell under the rule of non-Muslims Spain and the cultural change in their lives demanded that he gives explanation and how even though in their own circumstances they can still live under the maqasid of sharia and subhanallah this is very similar to our time.

You know the time of Imam al-Shatibi rahimahu allahu was very close to the time of the reconquering the peninsula from up north and when Toledo fell in the hand of the Spanish people they actually inherited the huge legacy of Muslim scholarship libraries, books and so on and Muslims who lived there were welcomed they were not asked to leave primarily they were welcomed to stay there and Muslims they stayed there anyway because they believed that that was their land and they lived there all their lives and even they created their kind of lifestyle and so on and even the conquerors actually they welcomed them in because they were considering a classy society, a society that provides this kind of prestige so they stayed there but now they're encountering so many different circumstances living in a complete different culture.

Imam al-Shatibi rahimahu allahu ta'ala in an attempt to bring them to bring them back actually to the rules of maqasud al-shariah he issued so many fatwas to his understanding these fatwas to provide ease and liberation and happiness to the people of his time and that time. His fatwas during that time as quoted by Al-Wansharis in his book Al-Mi'yar, a very famous book that collected most of the fatwas for those for the people who lived in Andalus it caused him much trouble with the official act in traditional institutes of schools of thought to the extent that he was accused of heresy and innovation.

Ibn Taymiyyah's Contemporary Situation

Similar to his case was his contemporary sheikh Islam Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahu allahu ta'ala who lived on the other corner of Islamic society in Ash-Sham today's Syria. He encountered similar circumstances as the non-Muslim challenge, the weak state of Muslims in terms of iman and practice then what he thought is rigid interpretation of the text of the law. His approach to the subject of maqasud was filled with discussion of aqeedah and sheikh alluded to this in his speech that he brought a new dimension, fundamental objective of this law, the ubudiyah and servitude to Allah he even disputed the confinement of maqasud to the classical categories and argued that the subject of sound heart is one of the most objectives of sharia this is the one fundamental objective is to have

that sound heart and to have that love for Allah and to have that fear from him and to subject yourself to him, that's considered to him a very fundamental objective which basically serves this now purpose today, that regardless where you live how you live, you keep yourself subject to this higher objective to serve and serve Allah.

Ibn Taymiyyah and later on his student Ibn Qayyim brought a new dimension beyond the juristic one to the field of maqasud a spiritual dimension it seems that this dimension was very much needed after maqasud has shifted from its traditional form to that scholastic form and its technical form lacked the spirituality which was the essence of contentment and happiness to its adherents.

Contemporary Applications and Challenges

Today for Muslims who live in America and I conclude with this and the west in general, the debate over the maqasud is still going on a new field of fiqh was developed based on their very presence in the west there's a huge different actually field of fiqh designed specifically for the people who live in the west this is called fiqh al-aqaliyat which means the fiqh, the jurisprudence of the minorities and they're talking about Muslim minorities living in these societies over here.

Now that is so ironic subhanallah that this fiqh if you check the interpretations of these rules and what exactly has been added to it, you will find it that it's coming, it's springing out from the primary principles of sharia, maqasud al-sharia the fiqh of our time trying to give the people this justification for their lives and keeping under the general rule of maqasud al-sharia, it takes the material from that rich legacy of the maqasud on the academic field however maqasud is still lacking what al-shatibi, imam al-izzah ibn abdus-salam ibn taymiyyah and ibn al-qayyim a generation of scholars later brought back to it, that fundamental objective the servitude to Allah.

Many actually revisionists today are calling for an overall review to the Islamic legal system. They use maqasud to justify many of their controversial suggestions they presented allegedly to adjust the life of Muslims in our time suggestions range from devotional acts such as salah, which is related to the one objective and that is deen and religion to financials, which is property to liberty of life and progeny, such as civil rules and marriage and divorce the cultural pressure in the west was the main fact that provoked and shaped these discussions.

The Hope and Future of Maqasid

Muslims in the west being the subject of these suggested rules were caught into this debate and they are waiting to see what will end up at the end of probably this generation or this century until then, and as faithful believers living some very special circumstances as we live here in the west, they are trying as much as possible to adhere to the ruling of the faith trying to find life and happiness in both this world and the practice of this faith maqasud and the objective of the shariah are their hope for achieving that goal in life.

The study of maqasid al-sharia continues to evolve, providing Muslim communities worldwide with the tools to understand their faith's deeper purposes while navigating the complexities of modern life. Whether in the East or West, the fundamental objective remains the same: to achieve true servitude to Allah while finding meaning, purpose, and happiness in this life and the hereafter.

The rich intellectual tradition of maqasid scholarship, from the early generations through contemporary times, demonstrates the dynamic nature of Islamic jurisprudence and its ability to address the changing needs of Muslim communities while maintaining its core spiritual and ethical foundations.

"And Allah knows best, and success comes from Allah."

"Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire."

"May Allah send blessings, peace, and grace upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and all his companions."