Historical Development and Significance of Islamic Legal Maxims (Al-Qawa’id Al-Fiqhiyyah)

Abstract

The legal maxims of Islamic law or jurisprudential maxims or Shari’ah maxims (al-qawa’id al-fiqhiyyah) are the general rules of the Islamic law that can be applied in various issues which come under the common rulings. The legal maxims comprise statements involving general principles, derived from jurisprudential rulings, which can be implemented in specific cases of Islamic law. They play an important role in the formulation of Islamic law because they are used as principles for the deduction of any further rules of Islamic law. Many cases can be referred to these maxims for the solutions and they can determine the legitimacy or illegitimacy of certain cases.