Ep.46 Understanding Maqasid al Shari'ah with Dr. Osman Umarji
We live in a world where Islam is subject to an almighty project of reform. In this difficult environment, the simple truths of Islam and the age-old process of arriving at such truths have been muddied by modernist constructions that at their heart hope to reconcile Islam with a dominant ideological narrative. Certainly, Islam has always had a spirit of renewal and has always accommodated change, yet the filter to adjudicate this change has remained the tradition. This is why never in Islamic history did scholars stray away from usul al-fiqh as the means by which Allah’s truth is revealed.
In today’s rather poisoned landscape where kings and presidents endow scholarly positions through patronage and western liberal states seek to promote a ‘reformation’ from within, there is a call to modernise Islam to make it compatible with the modern liberal world. Yet what looks like a benign endevour hides a multiplicity of falsehoods. In reality, the west looks to emasculate Islam from its vibrancy so that it fits neatly into a secular paradigm. By this, Islam no longer acts as a liberating movement that stands up to injustice but a placid religious faith that can be shaped by political beliefs and reprehensible moral positions.
To give this campaign a fig leaf of legitimacy, the traditional principle of maqasid al shariah, loosely translated as the general goals of the shariah, has been co-opted by liberals and secularists as a means to open up Islam to the so-called universal values of liberalism. But what is the traditional conception of al-maqasid, when was it developed and what are the implications and limits of this principle on Islamic thought and Shariah? Can this notion be used to legitimate usury, accept corrupt leaders or secular political parties and can the principles of shariah change laws when moral and political opinions change in society?
To take a deeper look at this idea, Muhammad Jalal and Riaz Hassan spoke to Dr. Osman Umarji. Dr Umarji is a director at the Yaqeen Institute. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a master’s and PhD in Educational Psychology from UC Irvine. He has studied Islam at al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt and lecturers widely in Usul and Fiqh and other Islamic and contemporary topics.