The Five Grand Universal Maxims
We have already noted that the juristic maxims (qawāʿid fiqhiyya) are not all of the same breadth. Some are overarching “major” maxims, while others are less comprehensive in the range of issues they cover. What follows is an outline of the major maxims together with a brief indication of their meanings.
The first of the major maxims: “Matters are judged by their objectives.”
Proof-text: The Prophet ﷺ said, “Actions are but by intentions.”
Lexical clarification: The word “matters” (umūr) is the plural of amr and refers to a situation or affair. “Objectives” (maqāṣid) is the plural of maqṣad and denotes will and resolve.
Meaning: The outcome of a legally responsible person’s acts and transactions varies according to the purpose and goal he has in mind. Whoever picks up a lost item intending to appropriate it for himself is a usurper, whereas one who picks it up in order to safeguard it, announce it, and return it to its owner when he appears is a trustee. Just as the worldly legal ruling of an act is determined by the doer’s intention, so too its recompense in the Hereafter—reward or punishment—depends on that intention. Despite its brevity, this maxim has a sweeping scope that embraces everything a human being says or does.
The second of the major maxims: “There is to be neither harm nor reciprocation of harm.”
This wording is drawn from a hadith recorded by al-Ḥākim, al-Bayhaqī, and al-Dāraquṭnī from ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit.
Meaning of the maxim: “Harm” (ḍarar) is to inflict injury or bring corruption upon another; “reciprocation of harm” (ḍirār) is retaliation in kind. Harm is forbidden because it is an act of aggression, and reciprocation of harm is likewise forbidden because it produces corruption without any legitimate benefit. Better than both is to make the aggressor liable for what he has damaged, as illustrated in the hadith about the bowl of ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her).
This maxim is one of the pillars of the Sharia and is supported by numerous proofs from the Quran and the Sunnah,