Understanding the purposes of the Shari'a

By the expression maqâsid ash-sharî'a (aims of the Sharî'a ) , we mean the goals aimed at by the Texts behind the orders, the prohibitions and the permissions that they state, and the objectives that the annexed precepts ( ahkâm juz'iyya ) are fixed concerning the individual, the family, the society and the community. We can also define these finalities as designating the wisdom ( hikma ) which is hidden behind the precepts of the law. Indeed, behind every precept that God has decreed for the attention of His servants, there is a wisdom, which some will pierce and others will not. God is too pure to enact a precept gratuitously and without particular reason or to enact a law contrary to wisdom.

One can discover the purposes of the Shari'a by more than one means:

- or by examining the texts of the Koran and the Sunna which are motivated by the causes ( ta'lîl ) of the laws they contain, in order to draw from them the aims and objectives of Islam.

- either by counting the accessory precepts of the law (al-ahkâm al-juz'iyya) , by meditating on their meaning and by bringing them together, in order to pierce the essential purpose(s) hidden behind them , and which the Legislator intended when He enacted them.