A summary of the concepts of the Ahl al-Sunnah.
Wherever the law of Allah is found, there lies the true interest.
Whatever Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, has legislated in His Book and upon the tongue of His Messenger, peace be upon him,
whether it be obligatory or recommended acts,
or permissible, prohibited, or disliked acts,
He, the Glorified, legislated them only for the benefit of humanity and their welfare in this world and the Hereafter.
Thus, wherever the law of Allah is found, there lies the true interest.
Interests in the balance of the Sharia.
Interests in the balance of the Sharia are of three types:
Recognized, nullified, and unrestricted (masalih mursala).
Recognized interests:
These are interests that the Sharia has attested to by accepting and validating them through specific evidence.
It has legislated a ruling to realize them.
These are interests that cannot be rejected,
and there is no disagreement regarding the legitimacy of adopting and implementing them.
Examples of this include:
The interest of preserving life,
for which the ruling of retaliation (qisas) was legislated.
The interest of preserving wealth,
for which the cutting of the thief's hand was legislated.
The interest of preserving the intellect,
for which the prohibition of intoxicants was legislated.
And so on, to the end of such examples.
Nullified interests:
These are interests that the Sharia has attested to by invalidating and rejecting them.
Examples of this include:
The interest of earning wealth through usury (riba), gambling, or games of chance.
The Sharia has invalidated these by prohibiting both usury and gambling.
Likewise, the perceived interest in banning polygamy
due to the expected harm arising from problems and jealousy between a woman and her co-wife.
The Sharia has disregarded this interest and did not consider it,
in order to realize a higher interest,
which is the increase of offspring, the facilitation of chastity,
and the protection of the soul.
Unrestricted interests (masalih mursala):
These are interests for which no specific evidence has come in the Sharia to either validate or nullify them.
They are "unrestricted" from the constraint of being explicitly recognized or nullified.
However, they contain a meaning suitable for a ruling to be legislated for them.
Furthermore, they fall under the general principles of the Sharia
regarding the consideration of interests and the warding off of harms.
Examples of this include:
The compilation of the Qur'an, the establishment of administrative registers, and the codification of sciences,
such as the Arabic linguistic sciences, the principles of fiqh, and the science of hadith terminology.
And other such interests that no rational person would doubt are in harmony with the Sharia.
Among the conditions for adopting an unrestricted interest:
That it does not contradict a Sharia proof from a text, consensus (ijma'), or analogy (qiyas).
And that adopting it does not result in the loss of a higher interest.
The difference between unrestricted interest and innovation (bid'ah):
Unrestricted interests only apply to matters where the meaning is rationally understood.
They have no place in purely devotional acts (ta'abbudat),
for which no specific rational meaning is sought.
Such as the details of ablution, the number of units in prayer, and the specification of fasting to a particular time,
or the standing at the sites of Hajj, and so on.
This is one of the most important distinctions between unrestricted interests
and the innovation that occurs in acts of worship based on pure devotion,
or in matters of creed, as these are fixed and established foundations.
The ruling on agreeing upon an unrestricted interest:
If the scholars or specialists reach a consensus on an unrestricted interest,
it is not permissible to act contrary to it.
If consensus is not reached, the one in charge acts upon the opinion of the majority of scholars.
The overlapping of interests and harms:
Interests and harms are rarely pure and isolated.
Rather, the norm is their intermingling or competition.
In such cases, the Muslim acts according to the general rules regarding this,
such as: warding off harm takes precedence over bringing about benefit,
prioritizing the higher of two interests over the lower,
and committing the lesser of two evils.
The competition of interests:
Prioritizing one interest over another when they compete
is done according to the following criteria:
First: Prioritizing an interest that is certain over one that is merely speculative.
Second: If the two interests are equal in their certainty,
the public interest is prioritized over the private.
Third: If the two interests are equal in their realization and general benefit,
the greater interest is prioritized over the lesser.
The objectives of legislation are derived from the texts of the Sharia, not rulers over them.
The general objectives of legislation are only known through examining the texts of the Sharia and its interpretive rulings.
By deriving the objectives from them, the texts are the foundation, and the objectives are the branches derived from them.
Therefore, it is impossible for any text or interpretive Sharia ruling to contradict a general objective of the legislation.
Such claims are only made by people of deviation and desire; when they were unable to confront the texts, they resorted to reinterpreting them
according to their misguided understanding of the general objectives of Islam.
They call this adopting the "purposive" (maqasidi) understanding of Islam instead of the "textual" understanding.
Examples of this include their claim that usury was only prohibited because of injustice,
so any form of it that does not lead to injustice is permissible—we seek refuge in Allah from deviation and misguidance.