---
title: "Al-Shatibi: 14th-Century Islamic Jurist | Model Diplomat"
description: "Al-Shatibi was a 14th-century Andalusian Mālikī jurist who systematized maqāṣid al-sharīʿa, shaping Islamic law's higher objectives."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/al-shatibi"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- Al-Shāṭibī was a 14th-century Andalusian Mālikī jurist who systematized maqāṣid al-sharīʿa, the doctrine of the higher objectives of Islamic law.
- What is al-Shāṭibī's most important work and its subject?
- What are the three tiers of objectives in al-Shāṭibī's theory?
- What was distinctive about al-Shāṭibī's methodology?
- Why is al-Shāṭibī significant for modern Islamic legal reform?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

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In his 1946 treatise Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿa al-Islāmiyya, the Tunisian reformer Ibn ʿĀshūr revived al-Shāṭibī's al-Muwāfaqāt to argue that Islamic law's objectives should guide modern juristic reasoning.

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[Human Rights Women Social Justice In Islam](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/css-islamic-studies-human-rights-women-social-justice-in-islam)[Islam And The Modern World Ijtihad Reform](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/css-islamic-studies-islam-and-the-modern-world-ijtihad-reform)

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