Normativity, ethics, social philosophy: the paradigm of maqasid al-sharia as the foundation of "universal" legal morals
Dr. Lutz Rogler
This sub-project will examine intellectual-historical and current conceptual associations of an issue, which have found expression towards the end of the 20th century in the inner-Islamic discussion on the maqasid al-sharia (intentions or finalities of the Sharia). The concept of the maqasid, historically originating from the systematic of usul al-fiqh, was first established as a common ground in legal-methodological discussion, mainly among reformist circles. With the inclusion of ethical and social-philosophical aspects, the maqasid have gained the character of a "paradigm", which should serve as an "authentic" Islamic foundation for "universal" legal morals and facilitate new, "modern" normative orientations while preserving a specific Islamic legal-cultural identity. The principal concern of the sub-project is to reconstruct the intellectual-historical background which has formed the groundwork for the "upswing" of the maqasid concept since the 1980s, as well as to understand the translocal ideological movements which have given rise to the current discussion on "maqasid al-sharia" being an ethical, socio-philosophical paradigm with normative recognition rather than a legal-methodological concept.
|
