Omar Al-Maqasidi's Ijtihad "The Punishment for Theft in the Year of Famine as a Model"

الملخص

Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the most honorable of prophets and messengers. Afterwards: This research addresses an important jurisprudential topic related to the objectives of Islamic law. It is a significant incident that occurred during the reign of the inspired innovator, the Commander of the Faithful, Umar ibn al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him). His ijtihad constitutes a school of knowledge and jurisprudence, a beacon for jurists and scholars in deriving rulings, upholding objectives, and confronting emerging issues. One such ijtihad concerns the failure to implement the punishment for theft during the year of famine. Among the problems raised regarding this issue are: Did Umar ibn al-Khattab suspend the punishment for theft, or did the perpetrators not meet the conditions that warrant the punishment? Or did they have an alternative and an excuse that waived the punishment? Or is this incident inaccurate? Accordingly, this research aims to answer these questions and determine the truth of this incident, Umar's ruling on it, and the principles upon which he based his ijtihad. What prompted me to study this incident was the suspicion that Omar suspended the punishment, and to attempt to clarify the truth of this claim, especially since I found no specific research on this incident, other than what was scattered in books. I followed several approaches in my research, including narrative, analytical, and deductive approaches. Through this research, I reached several conclusions, including: The authenticity of the hadiths related to the incident; that Omar waived the punishment due to famine, in consideration of the objectives of Islamic law and the preservation of necessities. Preserving life takes precedence over preserving wealth; or because the incident lacked its essential elements and conditions, due to the presence of a deterrent to the punishment, namely necessity; or because of a dispensation for those in need; or because of doubt; or by analogy with eating carrion and pork, due to the similarity in the reason; or because the failure to apply the punishment is a requirement of Islamic law. It is recommended to increase research and consideration of the issues in which the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, Imams, and jurists exerted ijtihad, and in which it appears that they differed from the apparent meaning, and to research the principles upon which they based their ijtihad and the objectives they took into account in their rulings.