The Classical Islamic Law of Ḥiyal (Legal Stratagems (LS)): A Concise Introduction

Abstract

The application of Ḥiyal, which is Ḥilah, means legal stratagem (LS), is a highly discussed topic in Islamic jurisprudence. Moreover, Ḥiyal are being categorized into permissible and impermissible types by the majority of Islamic juristic. Recently, the Islamic financial industry has been commonly using the LS as a financial mechanism on an appeal of economic necessity (Maslahah). It adopts a doctrinal analysis of the primary and secondary data and documents including the Quranic ayahs, hadith and fiqh principles relevant to Ḥiyal and its application. The primary materials include scholarly texts on Quran, hadiths as well as fiqh books, compilation of article and relevant to the subject. This article briefly explains the application of LS and assesses its debate amongst Islamic juristic scholars about the permissibility of LS acceptance in structuring Islamic financial products. However, all legal stratagems are not permissible in Islamic law. Therefore, this study attempts to discuss both permissible and impermissible LS and gives a brief idea about the juridical and customary definitions of the LS and illustrates the broad-ranged classifications mentioned by the earlier scholars.