KRITIK TERHADAP KONSEP MASHLAHAH NAJM AD-DÎN AT-TÛFI

Abstract

Critical Analysis on Najm ad-Dîn at-Tûfi’s concept of mashlahah. This study finds that at-Tûfi’s concept
of mashlahah has some weaknesses epistemologically and ideologically. First weakness is on its inconsistent
use of reason as a primary epistemology for the concept of mashlahah. On the one hand, at-Tûfi stated that
mashlahah is the most powerful argument (aqwa adillah al-syar’i). He has argued that if there is a contradiction
between the text and mashlahah, then mashlahah must be given preference (izâ ta’âradat al-mashlahah wa annas
faquddimat al-mashlahah). Similarly, in the methodology, he lacked exploration on the concept of mashlahah
with theories and clear definitions. For example, he argues that mashlahah is the most powerful argument in
mu’amalah, while the worship (muqaddarat) is the prerogative of God. However, he did not clearly define what
legal actions are included in mua’malah and what actions are included in worship (muqaddarat). At-Tûfi also
found “difficulty” in deciding between two things with the same mashlahah value theoretically, so he proposed
drawing lots (qur’ah). Second, the ideological weakness is visible from his mashlahah concept which is actually
rational, yet it is stuck in the power of texts.