---
title: "What is Maslaha (public interest)? | IslamicOpenFinance™"
description: "Benefit or public interest, considered in reaching rulings where the texts are silent, within the principles of Shariah."
url: https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/maslaha/
lang: en-GB
source: "IslamicOpenFinance"
---

[Glossary](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/) / [Shariah fundamentals](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/#fundamentals)

Shariah fundamentals

# Maslaha (public interest)

Benefit or public interest, considered in reaching rulings where the texts are silent, within the principles of Shariah.

Maslaha means benefit or public interest, and maslaha mursalah refers to an interest that the texts neither confirm nor reject explicitly. AAOIFI's standard on fatwa allows a jurist, after the texts, consensus and analogy, to consider public interest and juristic preference as a basis for a fatwa, and its partnership standard accepts public interest as a basis for modern administrative and accounting procedures. Bank Negara Malaysia's Shariah contract framework links attaining benefit and preventing harm to the objectives of Shariah.

## Sources

- [AAOIFI Shari'ah Standards, English edition (full text, PDF): Shari'ah Standard No. 29, methods of fatwa, maslahah mursalah](https://aaoifi.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Shariaa-Standards-ENG.pdf)

This entry explains a term; it is not a Shariah ruling. Approving a product is for each institution's own Shariah board and regulator.

## Related terms

[**Maqasid al-Shariah** The objectives of Shariah: protecting people's interests and averting harm, used to guide how rules are applied.](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/maqasid-al-shariah/) [**Istihsan (juristic preference)** A recognised method of preferring one ruling over a strict analogy when a stronger consideration justifies it.](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/istihsan/) [**Ijtihad (independent juristic reasoning)** The effort of a qualified jurist to derive a ruling on a question the texts do not settle directly.](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/ijtihad/) [**Usul al-fiqh (principles of jurisprudence)** The discipline that studies the sources of Shariah and the methods for deriving rulings from them.](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/usul-al-fiqh/)

**Shariah fundamentals**

1. [Riba](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/riba/)
2. [Gharar](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/gharar/)
3. [Maysir](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/maysir/)
4. [Shariah](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/shariah/)
5. [Fiqh al-muamalat](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/fiqh-al-muamalat/)
6. [Maqasid al-Shariah](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/maqasid-al-shariah/)
7. [Riba al-nasiah](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/riba-al-nasiah/)
8. [Riba al-fadl](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/riba-al-fadl/)

[All 221 terms](https://islamicopenfinance.com/glossary/)