Salim, Muhammad al-Haj. “Al-Istiḥsān al-Uṣūlī and Contemporary Fiqhī Ijtihad,” Year 7, Issue 27 (Winter 1422 AH/ 2001 CE), Pp. 15-41.

Abstract

Muhammad al-Haj Salim’s article presents istiḥsān (juristic preference) as an uṣūlī source in contemporary fiqh efforts. It addresses the relationship between istiḥsān  and istiṣlāḥ (public interest), and cites contemporary examples such as issues of banking, reform of education, endowments for purposes of daʿwah (Muslim outreach), manifestations of social solidarity, standardization of pricing in transportation, free education, and free health services, demonstrating that social integration is an independent source in Shariʿah. The article also demonstrates that there are fiqh branches that fall under this source, and that there is no rationale to appending it to istiḥsān, because appending it in the past created doubt regarding the Shariʿah, and we must not pursue that in the ta’ṣīl (framework established upon referral to principal Islamic sources) of contemporary realities.