الاستحسان
al-Istiḥsān
Juristic preference: setting aside an established ruling for a case because another ruling is fairer.
What it means
Istiḥsān means to hold something to be better. In the law it names the practice of leaving a ruling that strict analogy would give, in favour of another that is more equitable in the particular case. Faruqi describes it as the acceptance of a rule because its equity is superior to that of an already established law. The Hanafi school developed it, and the Maliki school used a close counterpart. Other jurists, among them al-Shafiʿi, objected that it could let personal taste displace the revealed texts. Its defenders replied that it rests on evidence from the sources, such as necessity, custom or the public good, and that it protects the spirit of the law against rigid analogy.
Often misunderstood as
It is sometimes translated “personal preference” or “arbitrary opinion”, while it is a disciplined method that requires a reason grounded in the sources.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 52, listed as AL ISTIḤSĀN. The definition is restated here.