Operationalizing Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah for Sustainable Development: A Public Policy Framework

Awais Ali; Faiza Ashraf; Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Siddique

Authors

Awais Ali Research Scholar, Department of Islamic Studies, Jamia Islamia Lasania, Ali Pur Syedan, Narowal
Faiza Ashraf PhD Research Scholar, Department of Islamic Studies, GC Women University, Sialkot.
Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Siddique Assistant Professor, Faculty of Shariah and Law, International Islamic University, Islamabad.

Abstract

Sustainable development is inherently a problem of public choice: governments must allocate scarce resources, balance present and future interests, manage social and environmental trade-offs, and justify priorities across health, education, welfare, economic growth, institutional integrity, and ecological protection. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a universal policy architecture, but their implementation in Muslim-majority settings can benefit from normative frameworks that connect development priorities to locally authoritative conceptions of justice, welfare, responsibility, and public interest. This article develops a public policy framework for operationalizing maqāṣid al-Sharīʿahthe higher objectives of Islamic lawwithin sustainable-development governance. Methodologically, it combines doctrinal analysis of primary Islamic sources with a critical integrative review of public-policy and sustainability scholarship. The study finds that maqāṣid should not be reduced to a one-to-one checklist mapped mechanically onto the 17 SDGs. Its distinctive policy value lies in prioritization, harm prevention, public-interest reasoning, intergenerational responsibility, distributive justice, and evaluation of policy coherence. The article proposes a Maqāṣid-Based Sustainable Public Policy Framework (MSPPF) that links normative objectives to a seven-stage policy cycle: problem definition, objective setting, option appraisal, budgeting, implementation, monitoring, and adaptive review. It also introduces a policy appraisal matrix covering necessity, benefit-harm balance, distributional justice, rights and dignity, ecological integrity, future generations, evidence, participation, and accountability. The framework is designed as a transparent public-reasoning tool rather than a substitute for legislation, democratic institutions, sectoral expertise, or empirical evidence. Recommendations are offered for governments, legislatures, regulators, Sharīʿah and ethics councils, development-finance institutions, civil society, data agencies, and researchers.