MAQASID AL-SHARIAH AND THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS: A GOVERNANCE RESEARCH AGENDA BEYOND 2030

Abstract

This article advances governance as the missing link between maqasid al-Shariah and the Sustainable Development Goals and sets a research agenda for the post-2030 settlement. A narrative review with conceptual analysis synthesises approximately eighty scholarly, multilateral and policy sources across Islamic studies, development theory, public administration and sustainability governance, combining thematic synthesis with critical appraisal. The convergence literature has established conceptual compatibility and built financial instruments while leaving governance analytically peripheral. Four independent literatures triangulate one diagnosis: goals without institutions steer discourse, finance without governance reproduces form over substance, social finance without stewardship underdelivers, and plans without administration remain rhetoric. The tradition’s own resources of amanah, hisbah and siyasah are commensurable with quality-of-government, accountability and ethical leadership scholarship and yield falsifiable propositions. The article specifies translation pathways for policymakers and a five-direction, time-bound agenda, from maqasid-based metrics to voice in the post-2030 negotiation, positioning the tradition as a normative contributor to the successor framework.