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Chapter 10: Avoidance Of Disadvantage Has Priority Over Considerations Of Benefit

An essential understanding of jurisprudence is that 'the obligatory or recommended' yield benefits and advantages to individuals and/or society, and conversely, that 'the prohibited or discouraged' harm and disadvantage individuals and/or society.

This is based upon Allah Almighty's Most Beautiful Name, 'The Wise' - Al-Hakim. His wisdom vis-a-vis creation indicates that all things have been created in the best and most appropriate manner, and, vis-a-vis legislation, that rulings are not based upon vanity but rather that extreme consideration informs all rulings that deal with people and their actions.

In the introduction to his book Al-Makasib, Shaykh Murtada al-Ansari details a hadith from Tuhaf al-Uqul in which Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) reflects on the incomes of civil servants, tradespeople, manufacturers and landlords, and discusses the lawful and unlawful activities of each.

With regard to manufacturing, Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) mentions the following:

  1. Manufacture that provides the necessities of life such as building, clothing, furniture, ironmongery, pottery, weaving, etc., is lawful as it contributes to the quality of life.

  2. Manufacture of tools and equipment that have the potential to be used for both ill as well as beneficial purposes, such as cutlery, writing equipment, etc., are lawful when used for beneficial purposes, but not lawful when not used beneficially.

  3. Manufacture of tools and employment that has no beneficial aspect in the eye of ‘The Lawmaker’, such as weapons of mass destruction; publications that promote immorality; intoxicating beverages and gambling, are all unlawful.1

It is clear that the basis of all lawful activities is their benefit to individuals and society as a whole, and that the basis of activities being unlawful is that they engender harm and disadvantage.

In chapter 5, ‘Islamic law does not occasion harm’, we noted that everything that causes harm is not permissible and must be immediately halted. What happens when we are caught between two situations and must choose only one? The fuqaha's answer to this question is:

Avoidance of disadvantage has priority over considerations of benefit.

This means that before advantages may be evaluated, consideration must be directed to the avoidance of everything that is or may be disadvantageous.

For example:

  • Regardless of the benefits to be accrued from reduced unemployment, improved balance of payment figures, or increased corporate export revenue, etc., according to Islamic law, armament manufacturers are accountable for all the damage that results from their products being used to destroy the lives of innocent men, women and children.

It is clear that the need to avoid harming others has greater priority than benefits and the accumulation of wealth.

  • The consequences of loss of privacy and security must be considered before the advantages of improved vistas that result from the removal of walls or hedges.

  • The effects of the trade in drugs are an illustration of why avoidance of difficulty has priority over considerations of benefit.

  • In the promotion of goods and services, advertisers 'tempt' prospective customers with crass propositions, without any regard whatever to the ethical values they flout or the immoral stances they inculcate.

The Basis Of This Principle

  1. The hadith from Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) quoted above.

  2. The principle that Islamic law does not occasion harm (see chapter 5).

  • 1. Al Makasib Vol. 1, pp. 10-11. Edition 1420. Qum.