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Legal Reasoning with Maslahah - Part 1

In our times, many views and  fatwas  have been presented in the name of Islam opposing the law and contradicting the legal texts, which are used by its proponents as a justification of them with  maslahah  being at the forefront. Whenever legal texts are offered in response to this matter, proponents of  maslahah  argue by saying that  maslahah  necessitates this. Therefore, what is the position of  maslahah  within deriving legislation ( al-tashri c ) and is it valid to accept it as a legal evidence? Moreover, have any of the scholars reasoned with  maslahah ? The sources for deriving legislation are agreed to be the Qur’an and the Sunnah and with very little exception,  Ijma c [i]  and  Qiyas . [ii]  There are disagreements amongst scholars regarding the details and principles of these sources as well as the methodologies employed in reasoning with each source. However, the broader details and the greater disagreements are found regarding  Qiyas  which is defined as linking the new