The Five Universal Maxims and Their Shafi'i Applications

The defining contribution of as-Suyuti's Ashbah wan-Naza'ir is its systematic exposition of the five universal legal maxims that the classical tradition identified as governing the entire field of Islamic jurisprudence. These five maxims — derived from foundational hadiths and accepted across all four legal schools — were presented by as-Suyuti as the organizing framework of his work, and their exposition constitutes the most influential section of the book.

The first maxim, 'matters are judged by their intentions' (al-umur bi-maqasidiha), derives from the famous hadith of Umar ibn al-Khattab: 'Actions are by intentions, and each person shall have only what they intended.' As-Suyuti applies this maxim to hundreds of legal cases: the validity of acts of worship requires the right intention; contract law distinguishes sales from gifts based on the parties' intentions; criminal law distinguishes murder from manslaughter based on intent. The maxim does not mean that any good intention purifies any action, but that the nature and validity of a legal act depend on the agent's purpose.

The second maxim, 'certainty is not removed by doubt' (al-yaqin la yazulu bil-shakk), is illustrated with equal breadth. If a person is certain of purity and doubts impurity, they are pure. If certain of impurity and doubtful of purification, they remain impure. As-Suyuti extends this to property law (a person who doubts whether they completed a sale transaction remains the owner), food law (a person who doubts whether meat was slaughtered lawfully applies the default ruling of prohibition in the case of specific animals), and family law.

The third maxim, 'hardship brings ease' (al-mashaqqah tajlib al-taysir), is the basis of the entire field of legal concessions (rukhsah). Travel, illness, compulsion, forgetfulness, ignorance, and widespread communal need all generate specific concessions that modify otherwise strict rulings. As-Suyuti catalogs these concessions systematically, showing that they are not arbitrary relaxations but principled applications of a recognized maxim.

The fourth maxim, 'harm is to be removed' (ad-darar yuzal), derives from the prophetic hadith 'no harm and no harming.' It justifies the legal concept of khiyar (option to rescind a defective contract), the prohibition of transactions that create unjust disadvantage, and the right of a judge to dissolve a marriage that is causing harm to the wife. As-Suyuti's applications span commercial law, family law, and neighborly relations.

The fifth maxim, 'custom is authoritative' (al-'adah muhakkamah), gives legal standing to the established practices of communities in matters where the textual sources do not specify. What counts as 'spending in a reasonable manner' on a wife, what constitutes 'customary' business practice, what is considered a 'known' period for borrowed items — all these are determined by reference to local custom when the text is silent. As-Suyuti's treatment of this maxim is among the most comprehensive in the classical literature.