Paradigm Shifts in Islamic Law and Governance: From Formalism to Justice, Ethical Politics, Contextual Fiqh, and Dialogical Authority

Abstract

Contemporary Muslim societies are experiencing profound transformations that challenge the adequacy of traditional approaches to Islamic law and governance. This study examines four interconnected paradigm shifts that increasingly shape contemporary Islamic thought: the movement from legal formalism to justice-oriented jurisprudence, from the ideal of the Islamic state to ethical politics, from normative fiqh to contextual fiqh, and from hierarchical authority to dialogical authority. Employing a qualitative meta-synthesis design, the study systematically analyzes 138 scholarly works published between 2000 and 2026 and synthesizes their theoretical and empirical insights through thematic analysis. The findings reveal that these transformations are not isolated developments but mutually reinforcing dimensions of a broader intellectual reorientation within contemporary Islamic discourse. Justice emerges as the normative foundation of legal interpretation, ethical politics as its institutional expression, contextual fiqh as its methodological framework, and dialogical authority as its epistemological basis. Together, these shifts reflect growing efforts to reconcile fidelity to Islamic tradition with the demands of pluralism, democratic participation, human dignity, and social change. The study proposes an integrated framework for understanding contemporary Islamic legal and governance reform and argues that the future vitality of Islamic thought depends not on preserving inherited forms, but on realizing the ethical objectives that those forms were originally intended to serve.