One of the patterns you’ll see later legal scholars use in arguments is that “means having the legal status of ends” (للوسائل حكم المقاصد). It’s especially common when objectives of the Sacred Law [maqāṣd] are brought up.
I was interested in finding out who has the mention of this particular phrasing in Shamela. Searching for “حكم المقاصد” returns lots of hits, especially after 8th century AH when maqasidization and maximization were strong trends. But the first hit was somewhat surprising:
- Imam al-Rafi’i’s commentary on Imam al-Ghazali’s Al-Wajīz (3:324).
As for the slightly different phrase “…according to their ends” (بمقاصدها):
- al-Juwayni hints at it in Al-Burhān fī uṣūl al-fiqh (2:71)
- al-Subki mentions it in Al-Ashbāh wa al-naẓā’ir (1:12).
I N T E R E S T I N G.
For historical context:
- Imam al-Juwayni died in 478AH.
- Imam al-Rafi’i died in 623AH
- Al-Izz bin Abd al-Salam died in 660AH
- Al-Qarafi died in 684AH
- Al-Subki died in 771AH
- Al-Shatibi died in 790AH