KEMANUSIAAN Vol. 26, Supp. 1, (2019), 89–108 © Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2019. This work is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Constructing an Alternative Concept of Islamic Governance: A Maqaṣidic Approach MASZLEE MALIK * Office of the Education Minister of Malaysia, Level 18, No. 2, Tower 2, Jalan P5/6, Presint 5, 62200 Putrajaya, Malaysia maszlee@moe.gov.my Published online: 15 August 2019 To cite this article: Malik, M. 2019. Constructing an alternative concept of Islamic governance: A maqaṣidic approach. KEMANUSIAAN the Asian Journal of Humanities 26(Supp. 1): 89–108. https://doi.org/10.21315/kajh2019.26.s1.5 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.21315/kajh2019.26.s1.5 Abstract. The common perception of Islamic governance is a dark image of a non- democratic and autocratic system, or a dictatorship with iron claws, or the governance of the cleric elite with the infringement of people’s freedom under the banner of religion. This is mainly due to the fiqhi “legal positivistic” framework that is often used to explain issues concerning governance by mostly traditionalist and Islamicist scholars. Humanistic governance based on the preservation of the dignity of human beings, which has been the focal point in Islamic tenets, the inviolability of life, and responsible freedom should be explored and promoted as another alternative voice of the dominating conventional fiqhi legal positivistic hegemony. Thus, a new ijtihād (reasoning) in dealing with the subject is absolutely mandatory. This paper will look into a new approach to governance from the “consequentialistic” approach inspired by the general theory of Maqāṣid al-Shariʿah. This research will explore some conceptual grounds for the exploration by looking into the epistemological dimension of governance from Islamic sources and principles through “inductive qualitative method” to critically analyse the texts, as part of the deconstruction of discourse. Keywords and phrases: governance, ijtihād, Maqaṣid al-Shariʿah, modernity, tawhid * Maszlee Malik (Dr.) is currently the Education Minister of Malaysia and was previously an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, Kulliyyah of Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.