Islamic Banking and the Application: Microscope of Maqasid e Shariah

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to analyze the criticism leveled against Islamic banking in terms of fulfillment and protection of Maqasid or objectives. In the beginning, a brief introduction of Maqasid has been provided followed by its importance and position in Islamic principles of jurisprudence. In Islamic principles of jurisprudence, the Maqasid e Shariah are not an independent source of Shariah to use as a tool to derive the Islamic rulings or to check the status of any practice in terms of its permissibility or otherwise. Instead, the MS are the wisdoms which have been taken care of by Shariah in its rulings related to all the aspects of life. Different segments of a society have different and precise responsibilities towards fulfillment of MS and one particular segment cannot be held responsible for fulfillment of all the five objectives of Shariah. The practices of Islamic banks should be measured in terms of their full compliance with the principles of Shariah related to protection of wealth. Once the Shariah contracts are complied in letter and spirit, the MS shall be met as these contracts are prescribed by Shariah for the very purpose of fulfillment of MS. The article is concluded with recommendations on including the Zaroorah, Hajah and Urf in research areas of Islamic Banking.