What is Islamic legal maxims?

Answer 1

The legal maxims of Islamic Jurisprudence (Al-Qawa`id Al-Fiqhiyyah) which are treated by many of scholars as the maqasid (or goals and objectives) literature, are statements of principles that are derived from the detailed reading of the rules of fiqhon various themes. These detailed expositions enabled the jurists, at a later stage of development, to reduce them into abstract statements of principles. The actual wordings of the maxims are occasionally taken from the Qur'an or Sunnah but are more often the work of leading jurists (fuqaha') that have subsequently been refined by others throughout the ages. It has often been a matter of currency and usage that the wordings of certain maxims are taken to greater refinement and perfection.http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Special:Wysiwyg?tid=wysiwyg#_ftn1 The legal maxims are designed to facilitate a better understanding of the Shari'ah and their development in a general sense is parallel with that of the fiqh itself. These were developed mainly during the era of imitation (taqlid), as they are in the nature of extraction (takhrij) of guidelines from the detailed literature of fiqh that were contributed during the first three centuries of Islamic scholarship.http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Special:Wysiwyg?tid=wysiwyg#_ftn2

Special:WysiwygKamali , M. Hashim,.1998. "Maqasid Al-Shariah: The Objectives of Islamic Law", Newsletter of the Association of Muslim Lawyers and the Islamic Foundation's Legal Studies Unit, vol.3, issue 1, April-June. pp.13-19.

Special:WysiwygIbid.