Mission Statement

The al-Maqasid Centre in the philosophy of Islamic Law (markaz dirasat maqasid al-shariah  al-islamiyah), was established in London by HE Ahmed Zaki Yamani, as a project of al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation. It promotes reseach in the philosophy of Islamic law through publications, lectures, seminars, courses, and conferences, and via its website: http://al-maqasid.net/ar1. The Centre’s Advisory and Experts Boards bring together a host of distingushed Islamic scholars with a wealth of their knowledge and expertese that combines richness and diversity.

The Centre participates in the renewal of Islamc law and thought by theoretical and practical methods, through the following:

  • encouraging studies and research which contribute to the Islamic philosophy of law, inside and outside the academic world.
  • Co-operating with Islamic universities and Islamic studies departments in order to include al-maqasid in their curricula or syllabi.
  • Calling upon scholars to elaborate on the correlation between contemporary ijtihad and maqasid, so as to facilitate understanding the wisdom behind, and objectives of, Islamic rulings.
  • Giving special consideration to new research in the theories of priorities, utility, consequences and universal principles of Islamic Law.
  • Calling upon scholars and Islamic institutes of fatwa to illustrate the link between the Islamic texts, fatwa and maqasid.
  • Refuting attempts to misuse the idea of maqasid in order to "deconstruct" the Islamic principles and fundamentals.
  • Promoting and publishing biographies of scholars who contributed to the study of maqasid.
  • Incorporating maqasid theories in the methodology and philosophy of various social sciences and humanities.
  • Reinforcing the link between the study of maqasid and the study of the basic rules of the Islamic law.
  • Establishing a comprehensive maqasid encyclopaedia.

 

Activities

To achieve its aims the Centre pursues the following activities:

  • Holding lectures, seminars, workshops and conferences, to develop new theories and methodelogies of ijtihad (free reasoning) for renewl of Islam.
  • Publishing related essays, books and research papers in various languages.
  • Collecting relevant literature and manuscripts, classifying and indexing them, and making them available for scholars and researchers in all domains of Islamic studies.
  • Establishing a specialized library and publishing a comprehensive bibliography.
  • Encouraging Islamic studies departments and programmes outside traditional Islamic institutes, to conduct research that shows the universality of Islamic law in all cultural contexts.
  • The Centre also grants awards for the best PhD theses written on maqasid of the Islamic law.
  • Publishing introductory leaflets and simplified pamphlets on the maqasid of Islamic Law.
  • Sponsoring versatile students and young researchers and encouraging them to study the philosophy of Islamic law, the maqasid.