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Purposes of the Shari'ah

Course Description: This course deals with an authentic jurisprudential science related to most of the Sharia sciences. It focuses on establishing principles and foundations to understand the Legislator's intent in legislation, and utilizing these principles and foundations in inferring rulings, understanding texts, and deriving rulings for contemporary events and issues based on these principles and foundations. It includes the principles of Sharia objectives (maqasid), their history and literature, evidence for considering Sharia objectives, methods of knowing them, the most important classifications of objectives and their general and specific rules, their relationship with proofs of Sharia, and matters related to scholarly reasoning based on objectives.

Credit hours: 3

Prerequisites: ISF 245

Objectives of the course :

1. The student understands the principles of the science of Maqasid al-Shari'ah, its origins, and its key works.
2. The student knows the evidence for considering the purposes of Islamic law and the methods of knowing them.
3. The student will know the divisions of objectives and be able to distinguish between them.
4- The student will know the rules of general and specific objectives.
5. The student knows the relationship between objectives (maqasid) and the principles of jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh), jurisprudential rules (qawa'id fiqhiyyah), and the sources of Sharia.
6. The student will be able to apply the objectives of Sharia to specifics, incidents, and new issues. .

Course outputs :

Knowledge and understanding:
1. The student knows the principles of the science of Maqasid al-Shari'ah, its origins, and its key works.
The student knows the evidence for considering the purposes of Sharia.
3. The student knows the methods of knowing objectives.
4. The student should understand the relationship between Maqasid (purposes/objectives) and Sharia (Islamic law) evidence, and the reality of Ijtihad (legal reasoning) in applying Maqasid and its controls.
Skills:
The student distinguishes between legitimate and illegitimate purposes.
2. The student deduces the relationship between the legal objectives and the legal evidence.
3- The student should be able to distinguish between necessary, الحاجبة (hājiba), and improving intentions.
4. The student will be able to distinguish between intentions (maqasid) and things that resemble them, such as interests, causes, and wisdoms.
Values, autonomy and responsibility:
The student commits to Islamic values and standards. .
2. To know how to handle group situations, make decisions, and solve problems.
3 - The student will be able to deal with information sources and their analytical tools, balance judgments and opinions, and choose the most correct option from multiple choices.

Additional information:

Course Topics:
First: Principles of Maqasid Science, its Origin, and its Works:
1 – Introduction to the Objectives of Sharia.
2 – The Relationship Between the Purposes of Islamic Law and: Legal Rationale (Ilal), Rulings (Ahkam), and Benefits (Masalih).
3- The Relationship Between the Science of Maqasid al-Shari'ah, the Science of Usul al-Fiqh, and Juristic Maxims.
4 - The Subject of the Science of Maqasid al-Shari'ah
The difference between the objectives of Sharia and the objectives of the accountable person.
6 - Deriving the Science of Maqasid al-Shari'ah.
7 – The Importance of Knowing the Objectives of Islamic Law and the Benefits of Studying Them.
8 – The Emergence of the Science of Maqasid al-Shari'ah.
9 - Prominent Works in the Science of Maqasid al-Shari'ah, and Places of Research on Maqasid in the Shari'ah Sciences.
Second: Evidence for considering the objectives of Sharia, methods of knowing them, and their divisions.
1 - The justification of Islamic legal rulings and its connection to the objectives of Islamic law. .
2 - Evidence for Considering the Objectives of Islamic Law. .
3 - Ways to know the purposes of Sharia. .
4 – Divisions of Maqasid al-Shari'ah based on multiple considerations.
5 - Differentiating between necessary, complementary, and enhancing objectives.
6- Ranking the higher purposes of Islamic law according to their degree of strength and importance.
7 - Statement Supplementing the Three Objectives.
Third: Rules related to the objectives of Sharia and the means of preserving them:
1- General principles of the objectives of Sharia. .
2 – Special rules for the purposes of Islamic law.
3 – Means of preserving the objectives from the perspective of existence.
4. Means of preserving the objectives against negation
Fourth: The relationship of objectives with legal evidence:
1 - The relationship of Maqasid to the Quran, Sunnah, and Ijma'. .
2 – The Relationship of Maqasid to Qiyas .
3 – The Relationship between Maqasid and Maslaha Mursalah.
4. The relationship between objectives (maqasid) and istihsan.
The relationship between objectives and blocking/opening avenues (of harm/benefit).
Fifth: The reality of ijtihad by applying objectives and its controls and examples:
The meaning of ijtihad through the application of objectives.
2 – Controls for invoking Maqasid (objectives) in argumentation.
3. Applying what has been studied in this topic to some jurisprudential branches and contemporary incidents, according to the control of ijtihad by implementing the objectives.

Last updated: 2026-04-27