Maqasid al-Shari’ah: a pathway for protecting children’s right to health

Abstract

Children all over the world have legal instruments for their protection. These rights are also accorded them under the Shari’ah. The protection of children covers all aspects of children’s life such as education, freedom of movement and right to health. Despite the existence of provisions under Shari’ah relating to the protection of children’s health, yet children are suffering from various diseases such as malaria, diarrhea and other communicable diseases. It has been proven that over 800,000 children have been suffering for health problem as a result of inadequate health facilities or medical expert as well as malnutrition. This suffering is due to the nonchalant attitude of some parents or government towards the application of Shari’ah on one hand, and ignorance of the objectives of Shari’ah known as Maqasid-al Shari’ah in relation to health of children on the other hand. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the right of children to health under Maqasid al-Shari’ah such as darurriyat, hajiyyat and tahsiniyyat. Qualitative method is adopted and in doing so, analysis of both primary and secondary materials is be used. The primary data sources include the Quran and Hadith. The secondary sources include journals, judicial authorities, unpublished dissertations/theses, articles from newspapers and magazines while data will also be obtained through online data bases. Some of the instruments used include tools from other disciplines as well. The study concludes that full implementation of children’s right to health under Shari’ah will promote the health of children and assist them to develop mentally and physically.