By Imam Wahba Az-Zuḥaylī
Translated by Mahdi Lock
Linguistically, ḍarūra, as Al-Jurjānī has said in his Taʿrīfāt, is derived from the word ḍarar[1], and it is something that befalls one and cannot be repelled.
Terminologically, it has many approximate meanings, including what has been stated by Al-Jaṣāṣ, Abū Bakr Ar-Rāzī: ‘It is fear of harm or the destruction of oneself or some of one’s limbs as a result of not eating.’[2]
In the Name of Allah, The All Merciful, The Most Merciful
In the Arabic language, the word maqāṣid comes from the word maqṣid or maqṣūd. The maqṣid is the place that it is intended while the maqṣūd is the objective that is intended. In the terminology of Uṣūl Al-Fiqh, the maqāṣid are the objectives and wisdoms that the Lawgiver has laid down for every ruling of the Revealed Law, realising advantages for His slaves in the life of this world and the Hereafter by bringing about that which benefits them and warding off that which harms them.