Jazakallahu khair for the question

In general on issues that are shariah obligations or prohibitions we have not been given the autonomy to decide which is more beneficial or harmful – that is the sole dominion of the legislator. What the article was about is that those very obligations are more beneficial for us and those acts that have been prohibited are harmful for us.

However there are specific circumstances where overt hardship may be encountered and therefore one of the following may occur.

1) There already exists in the primary sources dispensations for those circumstances e.g praying while travelling, not having to fast when travelling, tayamum instead of wudu in the absence of water or when sick, allowing unlawful food/drink to prevent death etc

2) The qualified jurists resort to secondary sources of Shariah such Maslahah or Istihsan to arrive at juridical rulings that are more beneficial or serve the needs of the people. E.g. lease contracts and made to order contracts which if we followed Qiyas they would not have been permitted but are permitted through Istihsan according to the Hanafis.

3) Where a particular situation conflicts with the five necessities (daruraat) or some particular need (haja) that is construed as necessity (darura)– qualified jurists may permit something that would have been normally unlawful e.g European Fiqh Council fatwa on taking out a mortgage to purchase one residential home to alleviate the hardship of the community.

As for those who take maqasid al-shariah to negate or abolish Quranic texts or hadith texts they are misguided and are one of two extremes, the other extreme being taking everything literally without any allowance of established usooli principles, qawaaid fiqhiyah or maqasid al-shariah to temper or formulate the legal implications of the primary texts.

At the end of the day the balanced approach is to differentiate what is fixed in shariah and what is changeable and to fully respect the texts and the particulars of fiqh (juziyyat) whilst aligning their interpretations with the universals (kulliyaat) and purposes of shariah. This is of course the task of the highest level of Muslim jurists and not for mere speakers, masjid imams or duaat per se.

Allah knows best

According to the Hanafis – Zakat can be paid at any time – meaning the payment would be valid- but should not be unnecessarily delayed.

Scholars have allowed the payment of zakat through relief organisations – but they advise that you check the organisations policies on how they handle zakat monies which need to meet specific shariah requirements. Whilst other scholars have not allowed this if the organisations take admin costs from the zakat funds.

Masalama

Just want to add that this is how I became more committed to the deen, bi idh nillahi… by pondering on the benefits of following Islam.

Question: How do we weigh conflicting dunyawi and ukhrawi benefits and/or harms and when does what takes precedence? Specifically, I’m referring to issues that are religious obligations or prohibitions that may entail hardships and/or ‘harms’ in this life. Also, what’s your take on the trend to use legitimate Islamic sciences such as Maqasid ash Shari’ah to abrogate/nullify Quranic and Prophetic directives with apparent impunity?

Monjur Ali
From UK (East London)

I think its important for people to have some fundamentals in fiqh and usul-al-fiqh to fully appreciate qawaaid fiqhhiya and maqasid asharia in a practical working fashion. I remember reading some of Imam Al-Shatibi’s Theory of the Higher Objectives in English a few years back prior to my shariah studies and I didn’t really fully grasp or appreciate the material.

Further reading (English)

1. Imam Al-Shatibi’s Theory of the Higher Objectives and Intents of Islamic Law. Ahmad Al-Raysuni

2. Ibn Ashur: Treatise on Maqasid Al-Shariah. Muhammad Al-Tahir Ibn Ashour

3. Maqasid Al-Shariah as Philosophy of Islamic Law: A Systems Approach. Dr Jasser Auda

4. Towards Realization of the Higher Intents of Islamic Law: Maqasid Al-Shariah: A Functional Approach
~ Gamal Eldin Attia

All available online at Amazon etc

I’ll try to post something similar for books in Arabic soon inshallah.

Mashallah, brilliant article! Especially for dawah.