• Another of these maxims is that when a person discharges someone else’s obligatory debt intending to seek reimbursement, he has the right to recoup what he paid, even if the debtor never authorised him to do so.

• Another is that a clear description of property held by someone who does not himself claim ownership counts as valid evidence for the claimant.

• Another is that whoever, by an unlawful means, hastens to obtain something before its appointed time is punished by being denied it.

• Among his comprehensive rules is that when benefits (maṣāliḥ) conflict, the higher benefit is given priority; and when harms (mafāsid) conflict and one of them must be borne, the lesser harm is committed in order to avert the greater. Innumerable questions of jurisprudence rest on this principle, for the Lawgiver instituted the Sharia to secure benefits or perfect them, and to diminish or eliminate harms as far as possible.

• Another of these maxims is that an unqualified statement of partnership in bequests, gifts, acknowledgements, the conclusion or annulment of contracts concerning tangible property, and the like, entails equal shares among all those included—unless there is evidence indicating preference among them. The same applies to indistinct property known to belong to those persons when the exact shares are unknown: they divide it equally.

The proofs for these principles drawn from the Quran and the Sunnah are manifest. They are comprehensive, highly beneficial foundations from which the judge, the mufti, and the student of knowledge all profit. They are among the beauties of the Sharia and one of the greatest proofs that what the Messenger brought is truth from Allah: its foundations are sound, its branches harmonious, its meanings just, and its structure guided by wisdom and benefit.

We shall therefore restrict ourselves to these maxims, for everything else follows from them; they make other rules dispensable, whereas nothing else can dispense with them. Allah knows best.