Dr. Musafir bin Ali al-Qahtani's work contributes to the ever growing body of scholarly literature in the field of maqasid al-Shari'ah (higher objectives of Islamic law). Understanding Maqasid al-Shari’ah calls for the development of a juridicial sense that is finely tuned to the higher objectives and purposes of Islamic rulings, the aims of which are the formulation of a new methodology in understanding the revealed texts and the reform of Muslim thought and its application. The author draws attention to the importance of understanding various levels of maqasid, including distinguishing between primary aims (al-maqasid al-asliyyah) and secondary aims (al-maqasid al-tabi'ah). Al-Qahtani asserts that a positive understanding of the objectives of the Shari'ah should produce affirming human and cultural developments in Muslim societies. The real strength of this work, however, is in the author's application of higher objectives and aims to different areas of jurisprudence, such as in deriving and issuing religious rulings (ifta'). and to important social issues and problems present in Muslim societies, such as extremism, jihad, commanding right and forbidding wrong, social change, crisis of Muslim thought, countering religious excessiveness, the need for recreation and leisure, citizenship and nation-belonging, spreading beauty and harmony in Islam, and the role of Muslim women in society.
Title
Understanding Maqasid al-Shariah: A Contemporary Perspective
Dr al-Qahtani obtained his PhD in Usul al-fiqh (Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence) and MA in al-Siyasa al-Shar'iyyah (Sharia theories of Government). He serves as an expert at the Islamic Fiqh Academy of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and at the International Humanitarian Law of the Red Crescent Organization of the OIC, and is a visiting professor at the European Institute of Humanitarian Studies, France. He sits on a number of boards of scientific and social associations, including the Trustees of World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) and the scholarly committee of the Human Rights Commission, KSA. Dr al-Qahtani has published more than twenty research papers in peer-reviewed periodicals and international journals in addition to other co-authored studies. He has participated in more than seventy international conferences and more than forty national and international seminars. He is a regular writer in al-Hayat international newspaper, al-Turath and has published many articles in magazines, newspapers and websites as well as radio and television appearances. His most recent publication is Islah al-Mal: drasah fi al-Dawabit al-fiqhiyyah lil-mu'amalaat al-Maliyyah al-Mu'asiarh ma'a muqaddimah fi al-Iqtisad al-Islami (Reform of Finance: A study of the juristic rules on modern transactions with an introduction to Islamic Economics), Dar al-dhakaer, al-Khubar, 2014. Dr. Al-Qahtani is currently professor of the Islamic and Arabic Studies Department at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, KSA and Executive manager of Prince Abdul Mohsin Bin Jalawi Centre for Islamic Research and Studies, Dammam.