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Of Higher Intentions and Lower Expectations. A report about a failed survey project on using maqāṣid al-shari‛ah as a means of comparative governance research

Bohlander, Michael

Of Higher Intentions and Lower Expectations. A report about a failed survey project on using maqāṣid al-shari‛ah as a means of comparative governance research Thumbnail


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Abstract

The author had planned to work on a monograph related to the potential of using the maqāṣid in Islamic jurisprudence, uncoupled from their religious foundations, as a tool for the conversation with secular law and legal thinking, which by and large has shed its own religious roots and proceeded to an ethics-driven approach based on public policy or interest, and/or systemic logical coherence. The premise of the research project was that lawyers largely think the same thoughts and that they use different building blocks to construct rather similar-looking houses. The main instrument of the research was a survey questionnaire with a series of case-based scenarios sent to a number of Islamic scholars to provide the answers to the scenarios from the Shari’ah perspective. The survey failed in its entirety, so the research turned into an attempt to find the reasons for the failure. This paper will set out reflections on why it went wrong.

Citation

Bohlander, M. (2015). Of Higher Intentions and Lower Expectations. A report about a failed survey project on using maqāṣid al-shari‛ah as a means of comparative governance research. European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance, 2(3), 187-211. https://doi.org/10.1163/22134514-00203001

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 12, 2015
Publication Date Sep 4, 2015
Deposit Date Dec 8, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance
Print ISSN 2213-4506
Electronic ISSN 2213-4514
Publisher Brill Academic Publishers
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 2
Issue 3
Pages 187-211
DOI https://doi.org/10.1163/22134514-00203001
Keywords Maqāṣid al-shari’ah, Islamic law, Secular legal systems, Trans-systemic legal conversation, Case-based approach.

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