WEEK 3: Maqasid Shariah and Sustainable Development

Assalamualaikum w.b.t. and hello!

We covered the lectures for week 3 together with week 2 on 11th May 2025. The topic for week 3 is "Maqasid Shariah and Sustainable Development". 

Here are some insights I gained from this week's lecture:

• The five fundamental objectives of Maqasid Shariah are: faith, life, lineage, intellect, and wealth. 
• The building blocks for visioning consists of IIICE: 

Internationalisation + Integration + Islamisation = Comprehensive and Excellence 

Before beginning the class, prof asked several students to share their understanding of each term. I was asked to define "internationalisation", and I briefly answered: "going global". It is true, as internationalisation involves expanding globally and working with people all around the world. Additionally, integration refers to working and living harmoniously with people from different cultural backgrounds, while Islamisation encompasses the Tawhidic worldview where we should relate everything back to Allah s.w.t. and aim to become closer to Allah. All of these elements aim to achieve the greatest excellence.  

• Maqasid al-Shariah involves realizing the human well-being by enhancing welfare, or benefit (maslahah) of the people on one hand and preventing harm (mafsadah) on the other
• The ultimate objective of the Shariah is to promote and protect the well-being of people and nature, which lies in the safeguarding of the five fundamental objectives of Shariah as mentioned above. 
• Spirituality in Islam refers to an unconditional belief in the unity and sovereignty of Allah s.w.t and a person of spirituality is required to approach natural resources with humility and to work together with fellow human being for a safe, peaceful, and bountiful environment towards establishing a virtuous society and civilisation. 
• The concept of sustainable development was an integral part of the Muslim way of life since the seventh century. It is based on several Quranic verses which serves as guidelines for sustainable development. However, due to the influenced by modern west, the Muslim world failed to follow these guidelines and are suffering from the problems created by unsustainable development. 

To conclude, values of spiritual principles are the missing piece in the SDGs introduced by the United Nations to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. Therefore, if spirituality becomes a way of life, ensuring moral, ethical and human values, it is undeniable that sustainability is assured. 

That's all for this week. Thank you for reading!