Criminal Ijtihad in Light of the Objectives of Sharia: A Theoretical Framework for Integrating Stability and Change in Islamic Penal Rulings

Abstract

Islamic criminal jurisprudence has long faced the challenge of reconciling the stability of Sharia-based rulings with the need to respond to changing social, legal, and technological conditions. This challenge is particularly significant in criminal law because penal rulings directly affect life, liberty, property, dignity, and individual security, and both excessive rigidity and unrestricted transformation may undermine criminal justice. Using an analytical and comparative approach, this study examines the capacity of the objectives of Sharia to provide a theoretical model of maqasid-oriented criminal ijtihad. Its main objective is to develop a framework that preserves definitive principles and authoritative texts while allowing controlled transformation in interpretation, factual characterization, implementation, ta‘zir, and criminal policy. The findings indicate that stability in Islamic penal rulings is neither uniform nor absolute. A distinction should therefore be made among the fixed normative core of criminal rulings, their interpretive dimension, and the sphere of penal policy. In hudud, the basic ruling and prescribed punishment demonstrate a relatively high degree of stability, while ijtihad remains relevant to factual determination, conditions of enforcement, evidentiary requirements, and impediments to liability. Qisas occupies an intermediate position between stability and flexibility, particularly because forgiveness and settlement create possibilities for restorative responses. Ta‘zir and criminal policy provide the broadest field for adaptation, in which public interest, justice, proportionality, human dignity, rehabilitation, and effectiveness may guide legal decision-making. The article ultimately proposes a structured framework for maqasid-oriented criminal ijtihad consisting of accurate identification of the legal subject, analysis of relevant evidence, determination of the degree of normative stability, identification of applicable objectives, evaluation of benefits and harms, and selection of a proportionate response. This framework can facilitate the integration of fidelity to Sharia with rationality, flexibility, and responsiveness in contemporary Islamic criminal justice.