Exploring Sharia Judges’ Lived Experiences of Justice and Maqāṣid al-Sharī‘ah
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Abstract
The study of Islamic law continues to evolve as scholars seek to understand how justice is experienced, interpreted, and embodied within the framework of maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah the higher objectives of Islamic law. Within this field, growing attention has been given to the experiential dimension of Sharia judges, yet the depth of their lived moral and spiritual engagement remains insufficiently explored. Despite numerous doctrinal and analytical studies, little is known about how judges experience justice as a form of moral consciousness and spiritual devotion; thus, this research asks: how do Sharia judges internalize and manifest maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah in their judicial reasoning? Using an interpretative phenomenological approach (IPA), this study examines the reflective and spiritual experiences of twelve Sharia judges, uncovering the meaning structures that underlie their perception and practice of justice. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic and hermeneutic interpretation to identify essential themes of spiritual accountability, moral reflection, and the integration of divine intent with human judgment. The findings reveal that justice is experienced not as a technical act but as a dynamic moral and spiritual process in which judges embody maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah as a living ethical framework. These results offer a human-centered perspective on Islamic jurisprudence, highlighting the inseparable connection between faith, intellect, and moral responsibility. Overall, the study provides concise empirical evidence supporting a phenomenological understanding of Islamic legal consciousness, and offers a foundation for future interdisciplinary research on law as a lived spiritual experience.
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