Shaikh Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur is the most renowned Zaytuna Imam and one of the great Islamic scholars of ‎the 20th century. The publication of this translation of Shaikh Ibn Ashur’s Treatise on Maqasid al-Shari’ah is a ‎breakthrough in studies on Islamic law in the English language. In this book, Ibn Ashur proposed Maqasid as a ‎methodology for the renewal of the theory of Islamic law, which has not undergone any serious development since ‎the era of the great imams. Ibn Ashur – quite courageously – also addressed the sensitive topic of the ‎intents/Maqasid of Prophet Muhammad (SAAS) behind his actions and decisions. ‎

He introduced criteria to differentiate between the Prophetic traditions that were meant to be part of Islamic law and ‎the Prophetic actions/ sayings that were meant to be for the sake of specific purposes such as political leadership, ‎court judgment, friendly advice, and conflict resolution. But Ibn Ashur’s most significant contribution in this book has ‎been the development of new Maqasid by coining new, contemporary, terminology that were never formulated in ‎traditional Usûl al-Fiqh. For example, Ibn Ashur developed the theory of the ‘preservation of lineage’ into ‘the ‎preservation of the family system’, the ‘protection of true belief’ into ‘freedom of beliefs’, etc. He also introduced the ‎concepts of ‘orderliness’, ‘natural disposition’, ‘freedom’, ‘rights’, ‘civility’, and ‘equality’ as Maqasid in their own ‎right, and upon which the whole Islamic law is based. This development opens great opportunities for Islamic law to ‎address current and real challenges for Muslim societies and Muslim minorities.‎