By Inda Hanum Samsi

Summer Internship, IIIT
ƒ Topic Area : Fiqh and Islamic Law (Shari'ah).

ƒ Research Topic : Shariah Law Revisited ‐ Its Relevance 

in the Modern Society and the Roles of Ijtihad in 
Protection and Preservation of the Ummah.

ƒ Research Question : Is it possible for the method of 
Ijtihad to open new means to find solutions to the 
Modern Societies’ conflicting interest without 
sacrificing the Islamic core principles and values?
In the project, instead of coming up with new
findings and data, I will make use of some of the
IIIT and other publishers books, journals and
papers on the area that I will be researching on.
Also, given only five weeks to complete the
project, it will be more feasible to take this
approach of researching and citing existing
resources to find answers to the research
question. The paper will start with defining some
of the popular terms in Fiqh and Islamic Law.
Then, the key ideas in fiqh, Islamic law and its
sources will be elaborated.
Next, the paper will go in depth to research and
comment on the roles of Ijtihad in the modern
society and how it could help in finding a
balance in today’s modern and secular
world. The paper will conclude with my finding
on the roles of Ijtihad in the society and my
finding on its relevance in opening new means to
alleviate the increasing conflicts of different
interests in the modern society. The paper will
be presented in a website format.
ƒ What is Shariah (Islamic law)?
ƒ The Importance and Goals of Shari'ah.
ƒ Is there a problem with the Islamic Law? 
ƒ Confusion in Defining Terms.
ƒ Islamic Law: Myths and Realities.
ƒ What is Fiqh?
ƒ Rulings of Sacred Law.
ƒ Usul al‐Fiqh.
ƒ Theoretical Fiqh ‐ irrelevant?
ƒ What is Maqasid Al‐Shariah?
ƒ Dimensions of Maqasid
ƒ Traditional classification of maqasid
ƒ Necessities
ƒ Needs
ƒ Luxuries
ƒ Is There a Problem with the Traditional Classification of 
Maqasid al‐Shariah?
ƒ The Public Good and the End Goals of Islamic Law: al 
Maslahah and Maqasid al Shariah
ƒ What is Quran and Sunnah?
ƒ Approaching the Quran and Sunnah.

ƒ If one takes a verse from the Quran or any particular hadith,

without going back to the other hadith or to the Prophet’s
practice and without relating it to the maqasid, one is likely
to misunderstand and misinterpret the Shariah… This is why
al‐Imam al Shatibi in his book The Treatise insisted that to
understand the Shariah one has to comprehend and know
its end goals (al maqasid). This only happens when one is
knowledgeable about the verses of the Quran and the
hadith; why, how and when they were revealed, the reason
behind the revelation, which hadith are eternal and which
were temporal…etc. –Yusuf Al‐Qaradawi.
ƒ What is Ijtihad?
ƒ The Degrees of Ijtihad
ƒ Why do we need Ijtihad?
ƒ How do we do ijtihad?
ƒ Shariah Law ‐ Relevant? 
ƒ Roles of Ijtihad ?
ƒ Research Question : Is it possible for the 
method of Ijtihad to open new means to find 
solutions to the Modern Societies’ conflicting 
interest without sacrificing the Islamic core 
principles and values?