سُمِّيَت المصلحة مصلحةً لأنّ بناء الحكم عليها يكون وفقَ ما يُظنّ أنه الأرجح في جلب المنافع أو تحصيلها ودفع المضار. ووُصفت بالإرسال (أي المرسلة) لخلوّها من دليلٍ شرعيّ يدلّ على اعتبارها أو إلغائها من جهة الشارع. وتظهر أهميتها عند القائلين بها فيما يلي من أمور:

The Maslahah has been called a Maslahah because the building of a Hukm upon it is in accordance to what is thought to be most likely to bring or attain the benefits or repel the harms. And it has been described with Irsaal (i.e. Mursal) because it is devoid of a Daleel Shar’iy for its consideration or its cancellation from the side of the Shaari’. Its significance for those who use it is seen in the following matters:

المصالح المرسلة، لمن أخذ بها، تمثل مجالاً واسعاً للاجتهاد، إذ يمكن للمجتهدين أن يُقيموا عليها عدداً كبيراً من الأحكام فيما لا نصّ فيه ولا إجماع، وذلك فيما يستجد من المسائل المتعلقة بأمور العباد ومصالح البلاد.

1 - Al-Masaalih Al-Mursalah, for those who have adopted it, represents a wide scope for Ijtihaad where it is possible for the Mujtahideen to establish a great number of Ahkaam upon it, for that which has no text or Ijmaa’ for it. This applies to the newly arising issues related to the affairs of the ‘Ibaad (servants, people) and the Masaalih (interests) of the land.

2 - وقد بنى هؤلاء الفقهاء الذين تبنّوه كثيرًا من الأحكام عليه عبر العصور المختلفة منذ عصر الصحابة إلى زماننا هذا، في الأزمنة التي كانت فيها الشريعة الإسلامية مصدر التشريع. ومن ذلك، كما ذكرنا من قبل، اتفاق الصحابة في زمن أبي بكر الصديق رضي الله عنه على جمع المصحف، ثم اتفاقهم في زمن عثمان بن عفان رضي الله عنه على نسخ المصحف، وإتلاف ما كان مكتوبًا بلهجات مختلفة.

2 - Those Fuqahaa (who have adopted it) have built a lot of Ahkaam upon it through different time periods since the era of the Sahaabah until our recent time, within the times when the Islamic Sharee’ah represented the source of legislation. This included, as we have mentioned previously, the agreement of the Sahaabah in the time of Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq (ra) to compile the Mushaf and then their agreement to make a copy of the Mushaf in the time of ‘Uthmaan Ibn ‘Affaan (ra) and to destroy what had been written with different dialects.

3 - New incidents and occurrences continuously arise, and the Masaalih (interests) change accordingly, in addition to changing times and conditions. Needs and essential matters or necessities appear in society that differ from those that existed previously, and this calls for particular Ahkaam (rulings). For this reason, in their view, it is necessary to take these matters into consideration and to open room for the Mujtahideen to deduce and extract the Ahkaam for the issues that occur in accordance with the Masaalih. If this were not done, then the interests of the people would be constrained by the Sharee'ah and the legislative needs of society would not be met. The Masaalih Al-Mursalah would thus represent the source for these new Ahkaam. Here it is in Arabic script: 3 - تَتَجَدَّدُ الْحَوَادِثُ وَالْوَقَائِعُ بِاسْتِمْرَارٍ، وَتَتَغَيَّرُ الْمَصَالِحُ تَبَعًا لِذَلِكَ، إِضَافَةً إِلَى تَغَيُّرِ الْأَزْمِنَةِ وَالْأَحْوَالِ. فَتَظْهَرُ فِي الْمُجْتَمَعِ حَاجَاتٌ وَضَرُورِيَّاتٌ أَوْ لَوَازِمُ تَخْتَلِفُ عَمَّا كَانَ مِنْ قَبْلُ، وَهَذَا يَسْتَدْعِي أَحْكَامًا خَاصَّةً. وَلِهَذَا السَّبَبِ، فَإِنَّهُ مِنَ الضَّرُورِيِّ فِي رَأْيِهِمْ أَخْذُ هَذِهِ الْأُمُورِ بِعَيْنِ الِاعْتِبَارِ، وَفَتْحُ الْمَجَالِ لِلْمُجْتَهِدِينَ لِاسْتِنْبَاطِ الْأَحْكَامِ وَاسْتِخْرَاجِهَا لِلْمَسَائِلِ الَّتِي تَقَعُ وَفْقًا لِلْمَصَالِحِ. وَلَوْ لَمْ يُفْعَلْ ذَلِكَ، لَتَقَيَّدَتْ مَصَالِحُ النَّاسِ بِالشَّرِيعَةِ، وَلَمْ تُلَبَّ الْحَاجَاتُ التَّشْرِيعِيَّةُ لِلْمُجْتَمَعِ. وَهَكَذَا تُمَثِّلُ الْمَصَالِحُ الْمُرْسَلَةُ مَصْدَرًا لِهَذِهِ الْأَحْكَامِ الْجَدِيدَةِ.

3 - New incidents and occurrences are continuously occurring and the Masaalih (interests) change in accordance to that, in addition to the changing times and conditions. Needs and essential matters or necessities appear in the society that differ from those that existed previously and this calls for particular Ahkaam. For that reason, in their view, it is necessary to take these matters into consideration and open up room for the Mujtahideen to deduce and extract the Ahkaam for the issues that occur in accordance to the Masaalih. If this was not done, then the interests of the people would be constrained by the Sharee’ah and the legislative needs of the society would not be met. The Masaalih Al-Mursalah would as such represent the source for these new Ahkaam.