FEATURE
Thinking Bioethically: Using the Maqasid al-Sharī‘ah to Understand Islamic Morality A reasoned approach to the controversies around medical marijuana BY ANAS M. QATANANI AND AASIM I. PADELA
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he increasing marketing and use of medical marijuana — which is any part of the marijuana plant that you use to treat health problems — raises ethical questions for Muslims: What are our stances on medical marijuana use and public policy given that the Qur’an forbids intoxicants (5:90) and consequently Islamic law prohibits the recreational use of drugs? Some argue that if such a substance helps to preserve someone’s life or their coping with illness-related harms Islamic law should accommodate such use. They suppose that since Islam prioritizes the saving of life, medical uses of marijuana cannot be categorically banned. Others hold that the prohibition is categorical. In order to resolve this quandary, Muslims must deeply understand the values, and apply the rulings of, the Sharī‘ah. However, many of us do not have the requisite knowledge of Islamic law for such reasoning exercises. Hence we often stick with implementing fiqhi rules, simplifying Islam into a rulebook of dos and don’ts, right and wrong, halal and haram. Such simplistic application has the potential to empty our deen of its intrinsic moral message and turn our acts into soulless habits. To combat robotically-performed activities and give heart to our practices, scholars teach us the Divine wisdoms and legal rationale behind fiqhi rulings. For example, the importance of salah (prayer) is taught through reflection on the Arabic root word silah (connection) which motivated us to think of prayer as a way to connect with our Creator; such teaching reminds us of the ultimate purpose of our existence and gives motivates us to beautify our obligatory acts. 51 ISLAMIC HORIZONS
The maqasid al-Sharī‘ah (the overarching objectives of Islamic law) reveal the otherworldly interests being served through our acts of obedience and the human values and interests reflected in its rulings, thereby re-framing the human actions as the center of those rulings. Moreover, they offer a framework for applying the Sharī‘ah when human interests are not immediately clear. The Sharī‘ah includes legal rulings and moral guidance derived from scholarly understandings of the Quran, the Sunnah and other religious sources. The principles of Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) both outline and prioritize the religious sources
of knowledge, which are used to guide the derivation of legal rulings (fiqh). Usul al-fiqh provides a methodology that allows scholars to extend the Shariah to different times and places. It is important to recognize that the Sharī‘ah serves our benefits and interests (tahqeeq al-masalih) in both this life and the Hereafter. For example Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 1350) said: “Verily, the Sharī‘ah is founded upon wisdom and welfare for the servants [believers] in this life and the afterlife. In its entirety it is justice, mercy, benefit, and wisdom. Every matter which abandons justice for tyranny, mercy for cruelty, benefit for corruption, and wisdom for foolishness is not a part of the Sharī‘ah even if it was introduced therein by an interpretation” (I’lām al-Muwaqqi’īn 3/11). Since the Sharī‘ah is fountainhead of Islamic morality, and it seeks to serve our (human) interests, jurists must discern the interests the Sharī‘ah validates in order to extend and apply its rulings. And we, as lay people, can better understand the rationale behind the rulings if we were to understand the human interests the Sharī‘ah seeks to preserve.
THE MAQASID Imam al-Shafi’i (d. 820; al-Shafi’i, “Risala: Treatise on the Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence” [Islamic Texts Society, reissue ed., 1997]) was arguably the first scholar to write formally on the maqasid al-Sharī‘ah. He used the Quran, Sunnah and Sharī‘ah to describe core values Islamic law is designed to preserve “the five essentials”: religion (deen), life (nafs), mind (‘aql), progeny/integrity (nasl) and property (maal). These overarching objectives undergird Islamic law, and identifying these makes it possible for us to
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