Hājah In Islamic Finance: Mastering The Doctrine Of Need In Sharīʿah Decision Making

Abstract

Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) are compelled to operate in a highly regulated environment without jeopardizing the Sharīʿah governance framework. To deal with arising challenges, Sharīʿah decision-makers sometimes rely on the doctrine of ḥājah (need) as a device to enact a concessionary ruling. However, critiques argue that ḥājah has been used as a pretext to circumvent Islamic commercial law. This paper is an attempt to develop a possible criterion for making a legitimate need-based Sharīʿah solution for IFIs. The research concluded that a Sharīʿah vetted ḥājah can be leveraged by Sharīʿah decision-makers as a tool to address a legitimate challenge faced by individuals or corporations keeping in view the proposed parameters.