Article Details
Vol. 2 No. 1 (2026): January
Maqasid al-Sharia and Forced Displacement: An Islamic Ethical Analysis of Women’s and Children’s Protection in Borno State
Abstract
Purpose: This study examines the conditions and vulnerabilities of women and children internally displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno State, Nigeria, through the analytical lens of maqasid al-sharia (the higher objectives of Islamic law). It seeks to explore how Islamic ethical frameworks can inform protection responses in Muslim-majority humanitarian contexts.
Research Methodology: The study employs a PRISMA-ScR guided scoping review of academic literature, humanitarian reports, and policy documents published between 2010 and 2025. The review systematically synthesizes evidence related to displacement-induced risks affecting women and children.
Results: The findings indicate that internally displaced women and children face persistent threats, including gender-based violence, food insecurity, disrupted education, psychosocial trauma, and economic marginalization. These conditions reflect systematic violations of the core maqasid, particularly the preservation of life, dignity, intellect, lineage, and property.
Conclusions: A maq??id-based framework provides a coherent ethical foundation for aligning Islamic values with contemporary humanitarian protection norms, while offering a normative critique of harmful practices within displacement settings.
Limitations: The study relies on secondary data sources and does not include primary field research, which may limit contextual specificity.
Contribution: The article contributes to interdisciplinary debates on faith-sensitive humanitarianism by integrating Islamic legal theory into rights-based protection discourse in conflict-induced displacement contexts.
Keywords
How to Cite
Download Citation
References
- Ajayi, T. F. (2020). Women, internal displacement and the Boko Haram conflict: broadening the debate. African Security, 13(2), 171-194. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/19392206.2020.1731110
- Balogun, A. D., Salleh, M. A. B., & Ahmad, A. A. (2020). The effects of Boko Haram insurgency on the internally displaced children in Nigeria. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 10(2), 786-813. doi:https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v10-i2/7010
- Brown, A., Mackie, P., García Amado, P., Barratt, S., & Kriš?i?nait?, A. (2024). Urban protracted displacement and displacement economies. Environment & Urbanization, 36(2), 278-299. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/09562478241277087
- Clark-Kazak, C. (2021). Ethics in forced migration research: Taking stock and potential ways forward. Journal on Migration and Human Security, 9(3), 125-138. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/23315024211034401
- Demsie, G. T. (2024). The psychosocial experiences of internally displaced children due to armed conflict in the case of north east Ethiopia: Implications for intervention. Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 42(1), 165-179. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21430
- Duursma, A. (2022). State weakness, a fragmented patronage-based system, and protracted local conflict in the Central African Republic. African Affairs, 121(483), 251-274. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adac012
- Fadil, N., Moors, A., & Arnaut, K. (2021). Envisioning Hijra: the ethics of leaving and dwelling of European Muslims. Contemporary Islam, 15(1), 1-16. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-021-00461-7
- Heleta, S. (2025). On education during war and displacement and the importance of rebuilding the sector after violent conflict: A personal reflection. Perspectives in Education, 43(2), 212-218. doi:https://doi.org/10.38140/pie.v43i2.9248
- Hilhorst, D., Melis, S., Mena, R., & van Voorst, R. (2021). Accountability in humanitarian action. Refugee Survey Quarterly, 40(4), 363-389. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdac001
- Ibrahim, Z., Karimullah, S., Assaad, A., Septiani, R., & Okur, H. (2025). Integration of Maqasid al-Shariah in the Criminal Law Reform to Achieve Justice and Human Dignity. Jurnal Hukum Islam, 23(1), 105-144. doi:http://doi.org/10.28918/jhi.v23i1.04
- Jordans, M. J., Pigott, H., & Tol, W. A. (2016). Interventions for children affected by armed conflict: a systematic review of mental health and psychosocial support in low-and middle-income countries. Current psychiatry reports, 18(1), 9. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-015-0648-z
- Kadir, A., Stevens, A. J., Takahashi, E. A., & Lal, S. (2025). Child public health indicators for fragile, conflict-affected, and vulnerable settings: A scoping review. PLOS global public health, 5(3), 1-23. doi:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0003843
- Kasdi, A. (2019). Actualizations of Maqashid Al-Shariah in modern life: Maqashid al-Shariah theory as a method of the development of islamic laws and shariah economics. Justicia Islamica, 16(2), 247-268. doi:https://doi.org/10.21154/justicia.v16i2.1666
- Kelly, J., Holmes, M., Gibbons, N., Matabaro Tom, A., & Voors, M. (2024). Conflict, displacement and overlapping vulnerabilities: understanding risk factors for gender based violence among displaced women in eastern democratic republic of Congo. The Journal of Development Studies, 60(12), 2022-2049. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2024.2376398
- Liden, K. (2019). The protection of civilians and ethics of humanitarian governance: beyond intervention and resilience. Disasters, 43(2), S210-S229. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12335
- Lugova, H., Samad, N., & Haque, M. (2020). Sexual and gender-based violence among refugees and internally displaced persons in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Post-conflict scenario. Risk Manag Healthc Policy, 13, 2937-2948. doi:https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S283698
- Marshall, K., Roy, S., Seiple, C., & Slim, H. (2021). Religious engagement in development: What impact does it have? The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 19(1), 42-62. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2021.1983347
- Mattos, S. M., Cestari, V. R. F., & Moreira, T. M. M. (2023). Scoping protocol review: PRISMA-ScR guide refinement. Revista Enfermagem UFPI, 12(1), 1-12. doi:https://doi.org/10.26694/reufpi.v12i1.3062
- Okoli, A. C., & Nnaemeka Azom, S. (2019). Boko Haram insurgency and gendered victimhood: women as corporal victims and objects of war. Small Wars & Insurgencies, 30(6-7), 1214-1232. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/09592318.2019.1650473
- Owonikoko, S. B., & Momodu, J. A. (2020). Environmental degradation, livelihood, and the stability of Chad Basin Region. Small Wars & Insurgencies, 31(6), 1295-1322. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/09592318.2020.1776092
- Peters, M. D., Marnie, C., Tricco, A. C., Pollock, D., Munn, Z., Alexander, L., . . . Khalil, H. (2020). Updated methodological guidance for the conduct of scoping reviews. JBI evidence synthesis, 18(10), 2119-2126. doi:https://doi.org/10.1097/XEB.0000000000000277
- Puspita, H. E. (2025). Corporate Governance of Islamic Banks, Earning Management and Firms Value: A Conceptual Framework. Dirham: Journal of Sharia Finance and Economics, 1(2), 79-88.
- Raftery, P., Howard, N., Palmer, J., & Hossain, M. (2022). Gender-based violence (GBV) coordination in humanitarian and public health emergencies: a scoping review. Conflict and health, 16(1), 16-37. doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-022-00471-z
- Rawashdeh, O. H., Azid, T., & Qureshi, M. A. (2017). Philanthropy, markets, and Islamic financial institutions: a new paradigm. Humanomics, 33(4), 563-578. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/H-08-2016-0063
- Riniawati, R., Fatoni, A., & Badina, T. (2025). Comparative Analysis of the Performance of Cryptocurrency Bitcoin, Sharia Stocks, and Gold as Investment Alternative. Dirham: Journal of Sharia Finance and Economics, 1(2), 113-130. doi:https://doi.org/10.35912/josfe.v1i2.3811
- Sabates-Wheeler, R., & Barker, J. P. (2024). The place of religious inequalities within international development and humanitarian response frameworks: Lessons from Iraq. World Development, 173, 1-11. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106417
- Salihu, H. A., & Shodunke, A. O. (2024). Crisis in crisis: Boko Haram violence, orphaned children, and the precariousness in human survival in Northeast Nigeria. Medicine, conflict and survival, 40(3), 233-255. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/13623699.2024.2361382
- Saputri, Y. D., & Noviarita, H. (2026). Optimization of Professional Equipment in Improving Economic Welfare in Zakat Financial Institution. Dirham: Journal of Sharia Finance and Economics, 2(1), 15-24. doi:https://doi.org/10.35912/josfe.v2i1.3932
- Sempijja, N., Mora Brito, P., & Moutaouakil, Z. (2023). Countering the Islamic State in the Lake Chad Basin: A case for a security-development-governance nexus? Cogent Social Sciences, 9(1), 1-9. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2023.2209988
- Stark, L., Seff, I., & Reis, C. (2021). Gender-based violence against adolescent girls in humanitarian settings: a review of the evidence. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 5(3), 210-222. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/s2352-4642(20)30245-5
- Sukri, A., & Fauzan, A. (2025). Maqasid Al-Shariah and Child Protection: A Holistic Approach to Preventing Early Marriage. KARSA Journal of Social and Islamic Culture, 33(2), 600–636-600–636. doi:https://doi.org/10.19105/karsa.v33i2.21696
- Tohari, C., Fawwaz, H., & Swadjaja, I. (2022). The ijtihad construction of islamic law based on the Maqâshid Al-Syarî'Ah approach in the Indonesian Context. Prophetic Law Review, 4(2), 195-221. doi:https://doi.org/10.20885/PLR.vol4.iss2.art4
- Tricco, A. C., Lillie, E., Zarin, W., O'Brien, K. K., Colquhoun, H., Levac, D., . . . Weeks, L. (2018). PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR): checklist and explanation. Annals of internal medicine, 169(7), 467-473. doi:https://doi.org/10.7326/M18-0850
- Wagner, Z., Heft-Neal, S., Bhutta, Z. A., Black, R. E., Burke, M., & Bendavid, E. (2018). Armed conflict and child mortality in Africa: a geospatial analysis. The Lancet, 392(10150), 857-865. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(18)31437-5
- Wilkinson, O., Logo, K. H., Tomalin, E., Anthony, W. L., De Wolf, F., & Kurien, A. (2022). Faith in localisation? The experiences of local faith actors engaging with the international humanitarian system in South Sudan. Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 7(1), 1-15. doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s41018-021-00113-8
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.