Maqasid

Maqasid is an Arabic word for goals or purposes. In an Islamic context, the term can refer to the purposes of Islamic faith, zakat (charity tax), pilgrimage, or of the Qur'an's and Sunnah's text.

In terms of Shariah, there are five foundational goals (maqasid al-Shariah). These are the preservation of:

The above represents the commonly understood conception of maqasid developed by the 12th century Islamic scholar Al-Ghazali (d. 1111 CE). The most significant development of the maqasid occurred in the 14th century through the writings of Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328 CE). Jurist Imam Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi (d.1388) also wrote on Maqasid Al-Sharia in his work Al-Muwafaqaat fi Usool al-Sharia. He defined maqasid al-shariah as "the attainment of good, welfare, advantage, benefits and warding off evil, injury, loss of the creatures". According to al-Shatibi, the legal ends of Islamic law "are the benefits intended by the law. Thus, one who keeps legal form while squandering its substance does not follow the law."

However, it was not until modern times that Islamic scholars have shown a renewed interest in the maqasid. This scholarship began with the work of the Tunisian scholar Muhammad Al-Tahir Ibn Ashur (d. 1973 CE). Since the turn of the century, a number of Islamic scholars including Mohammad Hashim Kamali, Professor Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee, Ahmad Raysuni, Halim Rane, Jasser Auda, and Tariq Ramadan have all advocated the maqasid approach and contributed to its development.

Sheikh Muhammad Abu Zahra believed that Shariah was a "mercy to humanity" with three major goals: "nurturing the righteous individual", "establishing justice", and "realization of benefits".

...
Wikipedia