that calls one to it.
As for the invalidity of acts of worship, that is self-evident. With regard to ordinary customs, they bring no reward in the sight of Allah when they proceed merely from desire or habit rather than from a divine command or prohibition; in that respect, their occurrence and non-occurrence are alike.
Second: Following caprice is a censured path even when it is found within something outwardly praised. Once it is clear that raw desire, by its very nature, stands opposite to the very framework of the Sharia, then whenever it crowds the Sharia’s requirements in practice it becomes a cause for alarm: it leads to the suspension of commands and the perpetration of prohibitions, and, when indulged, can breed a fierce, habitual stubbornness in the soul.
Third: Pursuing one’s own whims in legal rulings opens the door for a person to manipulate those rulings in order to achieve his private aims.
Issue Two: Dividing the objectives (maqāṣid) into primary and secondary
The objectives of the sacred law are of two kinds: primary objectives and secondary objectives.
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The primary objectives are those in which the legally responsible person has no personal share; they are the indispensable necessities acknowledged in every religious tradition. They are said to involve no private stake because they safeguard the common good.
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The secondary objectives are those in which the servant’s share has been considered. Through them he attains what his nature seeks—gratifying lawful appetites, enjoying permitted pleasures, and addressing personal needs.
Divine wisdom has decreed that religion and worldly life can be properly established and sustained only by inner motives that impel a human being to procure what he requires. Thus Allah created in him the urge for food and drink when hunger strikes, so that this impulse would move him to seek whatever means he can to relieve that want; and all the other appetites function similarly—they are the causes that lead a person to their respective ends. Then He created Paradise and Hell and sent the messengers so that they might make clear that one’s permanent abode is not in this world,