International Journal of Business and Social Science Vol. 11 • No. 10 • October 2020 doi:10.30845/ijbss.v11n10p6 69 Spirituality in Maqasid for the Empowerment of Human Well-Being ABU DARDAA Mohamad 1 Research Centre for Dakwah and Leadership Faculty of Islamic Studies Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia KHAZRI Osman Research Centre for Dakwah and Leadership Faculty of Islamic Studies Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia AHMAD IRDHA Mokhtar Research Centre for Dakwah and Leadership Faculty of Islamic Studies Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Abstract Spirituality is a process of soul empowerment in Islamic teachings that is based on the concept of Takziyat al-nafs. It comes in the form of internal purification and external development in order to curb the bad wills and habits of human that may lead to damaging the soul. It is seen here as in parallel with one of the discussions in maqasid al-shariah namely hifz al-nafs. Therefore, this study aims to assess the existence of tazkiyat al-nafs in the maqasid al-shariah itself in general and in the hifz al-nafs in particular to see its role in empowering the human well-being. This study is a qualitative study with content analysis design. The findings show that tazkiyat al-nafs is one of the branches of the maqasid al-shariah contained in the discussion of hifz al-nafs. However, it has been overlooked in the scholars’ dicussions in the past and present although it has an important position in empowering the human well-being. Keyword: Spirituality, Tazkiyat al-Nafs, Maqasid al-Shariah, Hifz al-Nafs, Human Well-being. 1. Introduction Studies on the both concepts of tazkiyat al-nafs and maqasid al-shariah have been prolonged and developed over the time. They extend beyond the boundaries of the country, ethnicity and continent for the Muslims. Both fields of knowledge are two branches of knowledge that must be studied carefully and require the strength of discipline in Islamic and Arabic studies with deep understanding before a researcher can master them well. If not, the mistake of understanding the meaning of both will drive more towards harm than goodness as the history proves that the early Muslim scholars did not dare to speak arbitrarily about them, especially the part of maqasid. The example of that in tazkiyat al-nafs is proven by the words from al-Ghazali (1990) as he stated in his Ihya’ ulum al- din: “Only a small number of the scholars are able to master the proper understanding, meaning and scope of these terminologies. Many mistakes occured were due to ignorance about the meaning of these terms and their similarities with various other terms.” While the example for maqasid al-shariah is as its contemporary expert from Morocco, Said Kamali (2013) puts it: “The Muslim scholars from the old age untill this age are like stars in the sky in terms of their massive numbers. However, only a few of them were brave to talk about maqasid al-shariah.” Studies on these two aspects of Islam must therefore be done with careful and thorough. In addition to that, studies on the existance of tazkiyat al-nafs within the concept of maqasid al-shariah is indeed a valuable asset to the Muslim nation in particular, and to the treasure of knowledge in general. 1 Dr. Abu DardaaMohamad is a lecturer at the Faculty of Islamic Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43650 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. Email: dardaa@ukm.edu.my