A Utilitarian Islamic Jurist: al-Shāṭibī

Utilitarianism is a theory of morality and law that aims for the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people. The two names that come to mind when utilitarianism is mentioned in Western thought are Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, the founders of the theory. Although this theory emerged in Western philosophy, theories that appeal to the concept of utility as the standard of rightness of moral and legal actions can be found in almost every tradition of thought. One of these traditions is Islamic philosophy. In particular, the theory of maṣlaḥa, which is one of the most important legal theories of Islamic legal thought, is a theory that accepts the concept of utility as a fundamental principle. In this article, we focus on the theory of maṣlaḥa of Abū Isḥāq al-Shāṭibī, one of the most prominent thinkers of the theory of maṣlaḥa. Our aim in this article is to point out the similarities and differences between maṣlaḥa theory and utilitarianism, thereby drawing attention to the functionality of the concept of utility as a standard of right or wrong for ethics and law, regardless of society and period.