Islamic Normative Ethics in the Public Sphere: Maṣlaḥa and the Search for an Overlapping Consensus

Australasian Journal of Legal Philosophy, 2019

36 Pages Posted: 2 Apr 2020

Date Written: November 1, 2019

Abstract

This essay shows that the concept of maṣlaḥa (consideration of public interest) is best placed to formulate an Islamic contribution in the search for an overlapping consensus. I argue that maṣlaḥa, as a reason infused source for moral obligation, can develop into a normative construct capable of making positive and intelligible contributions to the secular public sphere. I first determine an access point for religious justifications in political liberalism that recognizes political capacity for Islamic normativity to be present in public deliberations. I take into consideration critical evaluations of the Rawlsian public reason proviso, and propose to adopt Jürgen Habermas’ paradigm of political liberalism as a theoretical point of reference. In particular, I show that maṣlaḥa can operate as a translation device, making Islamic moral positions intelligible to secular moral imagination. Turning back to the content of maṣlaḥa, I argue that its current jurisprudential accounts do not provide a fully-fledged vision of it that is ready to be used in the liberal plural landscape. To develop maṣlaḥa for that role, I propose to position its content within comparative normative discourse, namely consequentialism and deontology. I show that we should not exclusively understand the social good which maṣlaḥa is said to promote in utilitarian terms as per the common perception. Maṣlaḥa can also be understood in deontological terms. Ultimately, a vision of maṣlaḥa can evolve into an Islamic theory of human flourishing encompassing a pluralist normative insights oriented towards promoting what Martha Nussbaum calls human capabilities.

Keywords: Overlapping Consensus, Islamic Ethics

JEL Classification: K00

Suggested Citation

Elmahjub, Ezieddin, Islamic Normative Ethics in the Public Sphere: Maṣlaḥa and the Search for an Overlapping Consensus (November 1, 2019). Australasian Journal of Legal Philosophy, 2019, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3550874

Ezieddin Elmahjub (Contact Author)

Qatar University ( email )

+97450696237 (Phone)
3083 (Fax)

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