Maslahah and the Purpose of the Law: Islamic Discourse on Legal Change from the 4th/10th to 8th/14th Century

384 Pages·2010·2.683 MB·English

by  Felicitas Opwis

Masḷ aḥa and the Purpose of the Law
Studies in Islamic Law
and Society
Founding Editor
Bernard Weiss
Edited by
Ruud Peters and A. Kevin Reinhart
VOLUME 31
Masḷ aḥa and the Purpose
of the Law
Islamic Discourse on Legal Change from the
4th/10th to 8th/14th Century
By
Felicitas Opwis
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2010
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Opwis, Felicitas Meta Maria.
Maslaha and the purpose of the law : Islamic discourse on legal change from the
4th/10th to 8th/14th century / by Felicitas Opwis.
p. cm. — (Studies in Islamic law and society ; v. 31)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-18416-9 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Istislah (Islamic law)
2. Common good—History. 3. Public interest law—History. 4. Islamic law—
Interpretation and construction—History. I. Title. II. Title: Maslaha and the
purpose of the law. III. Series.
KBP456.O69 2010
340.5’9—dc22
2010004497
ISSN 1384-1130
ISBN 978 90 04 18416 9
Copyright 2010 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishers,
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
For Joseph

CONTENTS
List of Tables and Diagrams ................................................................ xi
Acknowledgements ............................................................................... xiii
Introduction ........................................................................................... 1
Chapter One: The Emergence of Masḷaḥa as a Legal Concept ....... 9
I. Masḷaḥa and Istisḷāḥ and their Relationship to
Juristic Preference (Istiḥsān) ..................................................... 9
II. Masḷaḥa and Istisḷāḥ in Legal Writings Prior to the
5th/11th Century ......................................................................... 14
1. Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ ........................................................................ 14
2. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Khwārazmī .............................. 15
3. Abū Bakr al-Jasṣ ạ̄ s ̣ .................................................................. 16
3.1. Ratio Legis and Analogy ............................................... 18
3.2. The Relationship of Masḷaḥa to Rulings .................. 19
3.3. Ijtihād ................................................................................ 21
III. The Intellectual Background of the Discourse on
Masḷaḥa in Legal Theory ........................................................... 27
1. Moral Knowledge: Revealed or Rational? ......................... 28
2. Two Models of the Ratio Legis ............................................ 33
IV. Abū l-Ḥusayn al-Basṛ ī ................................................................ 34
1. The Epistemology of Masḷaḥa ............................................. 35
2. The Ratio Legis as an Aspect (Wajh) of Masḷaḥa ........... 38
V. Imām al-Ḥaramayn al-Juwaynī ................................................ 41
1. The All-Encompassing Religious Law ............................... 43
2. Considerations of Masḷaḥa in the Procedure of
Legal Analogy .......................................................................... 46
3. Five Categories of Rationes Legis and Their Ability
to Extend the Law ................................................................... 49
Chapter Two: Integrating Masḷaḥa into Legal Analogy
(Qiyās) ..................................................................................................... 59
I. Formal and Substantive Rationality in Incorporating
Masḷaḥa into Legal Theory ....................................................... 59
viii contents
II. Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad al-Ghazālī ..................................... 65
1. Introduction ........................................................................... 65
2. The Purpose of the Sharīʿa ................................................. 67
3. Verifying the Ratio Legis by its Suitability ..................... 80
III. Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī ................................................................. 88
1. Defining Analogy (Qiyās) in Terms of Logic ................ 90
2. Identifying the Ratio Legis of Rulings by Suitability ... 96
2.1. Defining Suitability ...................................................... 97
2.2. Determining Suitability .............................................. 98
2.2.1. Being a Real Masḷaḥa ...................................... 99
2.2.2. The Law’s Consideration ................................ 101
2.2.3. Relevance ........................................................... 105
2.2.4. No Countervailing Factors ............................ 107
2.3. Giving Preference in Case of Multiple Suitable
Characteristics ............................................................... 108
3. Is There Causality in God’s Law? ..................................... 113
3.1. Arguments by the Proponents of Causality .......... 114
3.2. Arguments by the Opponents of Causality ........... 118
4. Including the Unattested Masḷaḥa into Analogy ......... 121
Chapter Three: Applying Masḷaḥa in Legal Precepts (Qawāʿid) ...... 133
I. Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad b. Idrīs al-Qarāfī .............................. 133
1. Introduction ........................................................................... 133
2. Masḷaḥa as a Legal Precept ................................................ 138
2.1. Legal License Based on Masḷaḥa .............................. 143
2.2. Giving Priority to Analogy (Qiyās) over the
Singular Tradition Based on Masḷaḥa .................... 148
2.3. Justifying the Elimination of Pretexts
(Sadd al-Dharāʾiʿ) on Account of Masḷaḥa ........... 151
3. Masḷaḥa as Element of Legal Analogy ............................ 156
3.1. The Criteria of Necessity, Need, and
Complementarity ......................................................... 157
3.2. The Criterion of the Law’s Consideration ............. 161
3.3. The Criteria of General (ʿĀmm) and Specific
(Khāsṣ )̣ ............................................................................ 163
3.4. Masḷaḥa Mursala .......................................................... 165
Chapter Four: Using Substantive Legal Reasoning to Integrate
Masḷaḥa into the Law ........................................................................ 175
I. A Shift in Epistemology ........................................................... 175
contents ix
II. Ibn Taymiyya .............................................................................. 181
1. Introduction ........................................................................... 181
2. Masḷaḥa in Law-Finding ..................................................... 184
3. The Unattested Masḷaḥa ...................................................... 186
4. The Intellect’s Ability to Know Good (Ḥasan)
and Bad (Qabīḥ) ................................................................... 190
III. Najm al-Dīn al-Ṭūfī .................................................................. 200
1. Introduction ........................................................................... 200
2. The Ḥadīth “lā ḍarar wa-lā ḍirār” ................................... 202
3. Masḷaḥa as the Strongest Legal Indicant ........................ 204
3.1. The Meaning of Masḷaḥa and its Importance
in the Law ...................................................................... 205
3.2. The Legal Strength of Consensus Versus
Masḷaḥa .......................................................................... 209
4. Giving Priority to Masḷaḥa in the Law-Finding
Process ..................................................................................... 216
4.1. Rulings Concerning Acts of Worship and Fixed
Ordinances ..................................................................... 220
4.2. Rulings Concerning Civil Transactions and
Customs .......................................................................... 225
5. The Relationship between Specification (Takhsị̄s)̣
and Legal License (Rukhsạ ) ................................................ 236
Chapter Five: A Comprehensive Theory of Masḷaḥa ...................... 247
I. Ibrāhīm b. Mūsá al-Shātịbī ..................................................... 247
1. Introduction ........................................................................... 247
2. The Epistemology of Masḷaḥa: Certainty and
Universality ............................................................................ 251
3. The Purposes of the Sharīʿa ................................................ 257
3.1. The Certainty of Causality in God’s Law ............... 257
3.2. The Purposes of the Sharīʿa ....................................... 259
3.3. The Purposes of the Divine Law and the
Masḷaḥa of Humankind ............................................. 264
3.3.1. Mundane and Legal Masḷaḥas ....................... 264
3.3.2. The Nature of Religious Accountability
(Taklīf ) ............................................................... 267
4. How to Know God’s Intentions ........................................ 273
4.1. The Intelligibility of God’s Law: Acts of Worship
and Customs ................................................................. 273
4.2. Knowing God’s Intentions ......................................... 279
x contents
4.3. Judging the Legality of Acts by the Intention
of the Actor ................................................................... 286
5. The Law-Finding Process .................................................... 293
5.1. The Relationship between Universal and
Particular Legal Indicants .......................................... 294
5.2. Identifying Legal Indicants ........................................ 300
5.2.1. Textual Indicants ............................................. 302
5.2.2. Al-Shātịbī’s Typology of Textual Indicants ... 304
5.3. Independent Reasoning Based on
Non-Textual Indicants ................................................ 312
5.4. Establishing Priority Among Contradictory
Indicants ......................................................................... 320
Conclusions ............................................................................................. 335
References ................................................................................................ 355
Index .......................................................................................................... 363