Beyond Material Progress: Reassessing Human Development Through Maqasid Al-Quran

This article explores human development as a holistic process grounded in the Quran’s maqasid (higher objectives), moving beyond modern approaches that often centre narrowly on material and economic indicators. While development thinking shifted in the late twentieth century to focus more directly on human welfare emphasizing education, fair distribution, and protection of rights such frameworks emerged late and struggled to prevent rising poverty, unemployment, and inequality. In contrast, this study describes the Islamic perspective as reflected in the Quran, which integrates the spiritual, ethical, and social dimensions of development, and deduces how these maqasid lay the foundation for a balanced model of human flourishing. Drawing on classical and contemporary scholarship, this article outlines core objectives such as refining character, protecting human dignity and life, promoting knowledge and freedom, ensuring justice, and affirming humanity’s role as khulafaʾ (vicegerents) on earth. The article concludes that the Quranic maqasid offer a comprehensive, ethically anchored framework for human development that remains profoundly relevant today, emphasizing that genuine progress must harmonize spiritual purpose, moral integrity, and collective responsibility to achieve sustainable human well-being.