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 usul 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.

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 usul 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.

With the end of the early Islamic period, Muslim scholars came to sense that a rift had begun to emerge between the teachings and principles of Islam and Muslims’ daily reality and practices. The most important means by which scholars sought to restore the intimate contact between Muslims and the Qur’an was to study the objectives of Islam, the causes behind Islamic legal rulings and the intentions and goals underlying the Shari'ah, or Islamic Law. They made it clear that every legal ruling in Islam has a function which it performs, an aim which it realizes, a cause, be it explicit or implicit, and an intention which it seeks to fulfill, and all of this in order to realize benefit to human beings or to ward off harm or corruption. They showed how these intentions, and higher objectives might at times be contained explicitly in the texts of the Qur’an and the Sunnah, while at other times, scholars might bring them to light by means of independent reasoning based on their understanding of the Qur’an and the Sunnah within a framework of time and space. This book represents a pioneering contribution presenting a comprehensive theory of the objectives of Islamic law in its various aspects, as well as a painstaking study of objectives-based thought as pioneered by the father of objectives-based jurisprudence, Imam Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi; in addition, the author presents us with an important study of al-Shatibi himself which offers a wealth of new, beneficial information about the life, thought and method of this venerable man.

This unique volume celebrates the 750th anniversary of the death of one of the world's mystical giants, Muhyiddin Ibn'Arabi, known throughout the Muslim world simply as the Shaykh al-akbar (the greatest teacher). This text brings together, for the first time, works by eminent scholars and students of the Shaykh from many different countries.

Current applications (or rather, misapplications) of Islamic law are reductionist rather than holistic, literal rather than moral, one-dimensional rather than multidimensional, binary rather than multi-valued, deconstructionist rather than reconstructionist, and causal rather than teleological. There is lack of consideration and functionality of the overall purposes and underlying principles of the Islamic law as a whole. Further, exaggerated claims of ‘rational certainty’ (or else, ‘irrationality’) and ‘consensus of the infallible’ (or else, ‘historicity of the scripts’) add to lack of spirituality, intolerance, violent ideologies, suppressed freedoms, and authoritarianism. Thus, a maqasidi approach takes juridical issues to a higher philosophical ground, and hence, overcomes (historical) differences over politics between Islamic schools of law, and encourages a much-needed culture of conciliation and peaceful coexistence. Moreover, the realization of purposes should be the core objective of all fundamental linguistic and rational methodologies of ijtihad, regardless of their various names and approaches. Thus, the validity of any ijtihad should be determined based on its level of achieving ‘purposefulness,’ or realizing maqasid al-shari’ah.

Generating precise comprehension of the Quran and the true meaning of its verses is arguably the essence of the most important of the Islamic sciences, Qur’anic exegesis or tafsÏr. Since the passing of the Prophet many scholars have worked hard to bring a proper understanding of the meaning of the Qur’an to Muslims, and indeed to the world at large, as fully as possible, in an attempt to widen knowledge of the guidance contained therein, and how to live life in accordance with its principles. The result has been a wealth of historical Muslim literature on the subject which has come to be known as Ulum al-Tafsir or the sciences of tafsir, a systematic exegesis of the Qur’an following several methodologies. This work traces the evolution of Qur’anic exegesis, from the time of the Prophet, the Companions, the Successors, the early mufassirun (exegetes) with independent tafsir works, to the present day. In doing so, it addresses some major issues including to what extent has tafsir been influenced by differing theological traditions (classical, mystical sufi, persian), political and sectarian interests etc. and how interpretation has differed in some cases, mainly pertaining to juridical, theological, historical, and linguistic issues. Certain scholars and Qur’anic commentaries have stood the test of time and stand in greater prominence to others. Their works are introduced, and different methodologies compared and critiqued. What we are left with is a broad yet important overview of a subject which otherwise can be too complex and extensive for the ordinary reader to grasp acting as a valuable addition to his/her understanding and study of the Qur’anic text.

In this path breaking study, Jasser Auda presents a systems approach to the philosophy and juridical theory of Islamic law based on its purposes, intents, and higher objectives (maqasid). For Islamic rulings to fulfill their original purposes of justice, freedom, rights, common good, and tolerance in today's context, Auda presents maqasid as the heart and the very philosophy of Islamic law. He also introduces a novel method for analysis and critique, one that utilizes relevant features from systems theory, such as, wholeness, multidimensionality, openness, and especially, purposefulness of systems. This book will benefit all those interested in the relationship between Islam and a wide variety of subjects, such as philosophy of law, morality, human rights, interfaith commonality, civil society, integration, development, feminism, modernism, postmodernism, systems theory, and culture.