The Development of the Islamic Legal Theory and Maqasid al Shar’ia

This is a conversation with Shaykh Taha Al Alwani about the development of the maqasidi approach.

Dr. Zainab Alwani explains how Taha Jabir al-Alwani originated different methodologies aiming to reform the Islamic law. In his more than thirty books, Taha Jabir al-Alwani has written extensively about the need for ijtihād “independent reasoning” and has called for the Islamic heritage (al–turāth) to be critically examined, first-and-foremost by Muslims themselves. As a scholar, he aimed to develop comprehensive and systematic methodologies for instituting reform. Here the concept of maqāṣid al-sharīʿah was of particular interest to him, and he argued for three principles, in particular, to be the guiding lights of reform: tawḥīd, tazkiyyah and imrān. Dr. Alwani examined his works on the concept of Maqāṣid Qurʾāniyya and reform. She describes the nature of Islamic reform in al-Alwani’s thought and assess his critical methodologies for how to treat the Qur’an, Sunnah, and Islamic legal heritages.

Read the article here.