<em>Maqāṣid al-šarī῾a</em> en el pensamiento de Ṭāhar al-Ḥaddād e Ibn ῾Āšūr: el caso del ṭalāq

Abstract

This paper presents the use of the doctrine of maqāṣid al-sharī῾a in the thought of two Tunisian authors of colonial times, Ṭāhar al-Ḥaddād (1899-1935) and Muḥammad al-Ṭāhir Ibn ῾Āshūr (1879-1973), applying its analysis to the proposals that both scholars made with regards to the institution of ṭalāq (often translated as repudiation). It briefly exposes the origin and development of the theory of maqāṣid, as well as both author’s biography, in order to then compare al-Ḥaddād and Ibn ῾Āshūr’s opinions throughout the study of their main works, which are Imrā’atu-nā fī l-sharī῾a wa-l-mujtama῾ (Our Women in Islamic Law and Society), by al-Ḥaddād, and Tafsīr al-taḥrīr wa-l-tanwīr (Interpretation of Liberation and Enlightment) and Maqāṣid al-sharī῾a al-islāmiyya (The Purposes of Islamic Law), by Ibn ‘Āšūr. The paper concludes that, in both cases, maqāṣid al-sharī῾a was used to sustain reformist readings, but also to justify the persistence of patriarchal practices whose origins can not always be derived literally from the Qur’ān.