It is usually said that
maslaha as a legal concept was first defined in a tangible manner by al-Ghazali (d. 1111) and that he made a breakthrough innovation in the evolutional history of
maslaha theory. But in my previous article (
Oriento 47: 2 [2005]), I analyzed the
maslaha theory of his master al-Juwayni (d. 1085) and clearly demonstrated that (al-Juwayni's) theory was innovative by comparison with former theories. The current article investigates three books of legal theory written by al-Ghazali, namely
Mankhul, Shifa' and
Mustasfa, to reconsider whether his achievement was this accepted notion. The findings show that most of the terms and the logic used in his
maslaha theory had been already used by al-Juwayni. However, al-Ghazali arranged his master's
maslaha theory in an easily comprehensible and methodical fashion. His master's theory, in contrast, was complicated and used many terms inconsistently, and what is more, he criticized harshly the interpretation and application of
maslaha by the Maliki school. This is why later scholars, especially Maliki scholars, quote al-Ghazali's
maslaha theory exclusively. Thus, the achievement of al-Ghazali in the history of
maslaha theory should be sought in his arrangement of his master's theory, because without that, it is hard to understand how later scholars could have evolved
maslaha theory and applied the con-cept in legal practice.
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