Book Description

Shaikh Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur is the most renowned Zaytuna Imam and one of the great ‎Islamic scholars of the 20th century. The publication of this translation of Shaikh Ibn Ashur’s ‎Treatise on Maqasid al-Shari’ah is a breakthrough in studies on Islamic law in the English language. ‎In this book, Ibn Ashur proposed Maqasid as a methodology for the renewal of the theory of ‎Islamic law, which has not undergone any serious development since the era of the great imams. ‎Ibn Ashur – quite courageously – also addressed the sensitive topic of the intents/Maqasid of ‎Prophet Muhammad (SAAS) behind his actions and decisions. ‎ He introduced criteria to differentiate between the Prophetic traditions that were meant to be part of ‎Islamic law and the Prophetic actions/ sayings that were meant to be for the sake of specific ‎purposes such as political leadership, court judgment, friendly advice, and conflict resolution. But ‎Ibn Ashur’s most significant contribution in this book has been the development of new Maqasid ‎by coining new, contemporary, terminology that were never formulated in traditional Usûl al-Fiqh. ‎For example, Ibn Ashur developed the theory of the ‘preservation of lineage’ into ‘the preservation ‎of the family system’, the ‘protection of true belief’ into ‘freedom of beliefs’, etc. He also ‎introduced the concepts of ‘orderliness’, ‘natural disposition’, ‘freedom’, ‘rights’, ‘civility’, and ‎‎‘equality’ as Maqasid in their own right, and upon which the whole Islamic law is based. This ‎development opens great opportunities for Islamic law to address current and real challenges for ‎Muslim societies and Muslim minorities.‎