TRETMAN IBADATA (OBREDOSLOVLJA) U TEORIJI CILJEVA ŠERIJATA (MAQĀṢID AL-SHARĪ‘AH)
THE PLACE OF RITUALS (‘IBĀDĀT) IN THEORIES OF OBJECTIVES OF SHARĪ‘A (MAQĀṢID AL-SHARĪ‘A)

Summary/Abstract: The term ʽibāda has two meanings: surrender or submission and a ritual or an act of piety. The paper points out that God has made it obligatory for believers to perform the basic rituals (daily prayers, fasting, paying zakat, and performing hajj), and that he has also set objectives and meaning for their prescription. The science of the objectives of sharīʽa starts from the premise that God revealed religion in its entirety out of compassion, for the general welfare and as something that enables people to achieve the good of this world and in the hereafter. From that standpoint, a believer should observe all the general and particular rules, including rituals. There is an ongoing debate among scholars about the special status of ʽibādāt in relation to other branches of Islamic law from the point of view of their meaning and the reasoning behind understanding their higher purpose when the text is “silent.” While all agree that in ʽibādāt, the emphasis is placed on submission and implementation, scholars disagree about how to interpret the objectives of rituals. Some take the view that it is not possible to know the objectives unless they are stated explicitly by God in Revelation, while others take the opposite view. However, human beings are creatures of reason that seek answers and ask questions with the aim of discovering the meaning and deeper senses of God’s words. For this reason, some scholars argue that interpreting the objectives is important, among other things, in the context of understanding the supernatural qualities (al-iʽjāz) of Revelation.

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