The Foundations of the Theory of Transformation in Islamic Jurisprudence and Law

Abstract

This article addresses the fundamental question of how stability and transformation can be reconciled within the Islamic legal system and how a limited body of legal rulings can respond to emerging events. To answer this question, the foundations of transformation and the universality of Islamic law must be properly understood and appropriately applied. These foundations transcend time and place and include reason, rational convention, justice, rationality, public interest, love, monotheism, the unity of humankind, knowledge, innate human nature, and human dignity. The article demonstrates that reason constitutes one of the sources of Islamic jurisprudence and serves as a complement to religion, even though it may, in certain circumstances, appear to conflict with transmitted textual evidence. Without recognizing the authority of reason, neither monotheism nor prophethood can be established. Moreover, except in the sphere of devotional acts, reason is generally capable of discerning the underlying criteria and purposes of legal rulings. From another perspective, despite the diverse orientations of Muslim thinkers, rational conventions—which represent the practical expression of collective reason—have been recognized and endorsed by Islam and Islamic jurisprudence. Recognition of this jurisprudential institution considerably enhances the capacity of Islamic law, enabling it to advance in accordance with transformations in human life and protecting it from weakness and isolation. The subsequent discussion of rationality as a sociological institution demonstrates that Islamic rationality is not limited to affirming independent rational propositions or to the rigid and austere debates concerning the intrinsic and rational nature of good and evil. Rather, with the exception of a limited number of cases, it is compatible with the prevailing rationality of each era across a broad range of fields. Islam does not conflict with generic, deontological, or holistic forms of rationality. By recognizing practical reason concerned with the management of worldly affairs, it does not entirely reject instrumental rationality either. Islam opposes only those forms of rationality that conflict with its fundamental principles and its principal divine objectives. Finally, the article examines justice as both a foundational principle and an overarching objective.