Fiqh as the identity and characteristics of religious knowledge in pesantren has been developed in accordance with the development and dynamics of society. This study is focused on the development of fiqh in pesantren with special reference on Ma'had Aly as-Salafiyah as-Syafiiyah, Islamic boarding school Situbondo. As one of higher education in pesantren, Ma'had Aly Situbondo is projected to be a center of development in jurisprudence. It become a fiqh center in Indonesia. The development of fiqh in Ma'had Aly has a different characteristic from that is developed in other pesantren in general. In this pesantren usul fiqh is placed in the most central position in the study of Islamic law. It is intended to give a concrete respond to the various issues and problems that frequently occur in the community.

Institusi hukum bekerja bukan untuk dirinya, melainkan untuk sesuatu yang lebih luas dan lebih besar di luar dirinya berupa terwujudnya keadilan di tengah masyarakat. Baik hukum Islam maupun positivisme Barat mempunyai pretensi sama menyangkut tujuan akhirnya untuk menata masyarakat sesuai aturan hukum yang berlaku. Percikan perbedaan tak dapat dielakkan ketika para Juris tidak sebangun dalam melihat pola hubungan antara hukum itu sendiri dengan manusia sebagai subjeknya. Menghadapkan manusia pada hukum bukan saja melahirkan pilihan teori-teori hukum yang rumit, tetapi sekaligus juga berimplikasi pada munculnya mazhab-mazhab pemikiran hukum yang sangat dinamis. Lahirnya positivisme-empiris dalam hukum Barat, serta munculnya sejumlah mazhab pemikiran dalam hukum Islam, seperti ahl al-ra’y dan ahl al-hadis, tidak bisa lepas dari persoalan dinamika hubungan manusia dengan hukum.

This article seeks to explore the importance of maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah as a theory to address the development of Islamic law in the contemporary world. Following the need to respond to modern challenges in Muslim society, the theory of maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah needs to be worked out optimally so that the results of legal provisions do not shift from the primary objectives of the state and government formation. The fundamental goal is to create benefits for the nation and state. The trend of the emergence of nation-states with multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-cultural, even multi-religious populations demands the need for tools for sophisticated religious analysis such as the theory of maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah. In the context of a nation-state like Indonesia, maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah can be used as a theoretical perspective to determine the legal standing of the debate about Pancasila and transnational ideology, which has recently been widely discussed in the community. Pancasila is an agreement of the Indonesian founding fathers to maintain the unity and integrity of the nation amidst the diversities. This article describes the role of maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah in the study of Islamic constitutional law, the dynamics of Islamic law, and the Pancasila as the ideology of the state.

Both Islamic law and western positivism have similar pretension related to the final aim in arranging the community according to the existing regulation. The stain of differences can not be avoided when the jurists are not in line with human as both subject and user in observing the relation pattern among the regulations themselves. The focused problem of this research is; first, how are the rational and traditional paradigms in the ideal tradition of Islamic law?Second, what are the rational and traditional paradigms in the ideal tradition of western law? Third, how is the implication of the difference of Islamic law and western positivism in the perspective of philosophy studies? This research is a qualitative research using a philosophic approach. The data collecting technique was conducted through the literacy study. This research has concluded as the following; first, a traditionalism group tends to keep the tradition that has been organized as the formal consideration in the law excavating activities. On the other hand, a rationalism group proposes the using of common sense that is often simply called into qiyas (analogy) in the series of istinbath law process. Second, according to the traditionalism view, deciding the law is in the normative and positivism (empiric) view which are always based on facts and empiric experiences, while rationalism view, the reality can be known or several truths about reality can be known without depending on the observation, experience, and the use of empiric method. Third, the difference is implied to the law relating to the social classes as its subject. If the law touches morality, so the law substance is not absolute and final, but it depends on the aspect of advantage as the source.

Ma’had aly diperkirakan akan menjadi lembaga pendidikan tinggi khusus berbasis pesantren yang mengajarkan ilmu-ilmu Islam. untuk perluasan lembaga ma’had aly di seluruh Indonesia, pemerintah melalui kementerian Agama telah menunjuk Ma’had Aly Situbondo sebagai proyek percontohan. dalam perjalanannya, ma’had aly situbondo, yang didirikan oleh almarhum KHR As’ad Syamsul Arifin di awal tahun 1990 telah melakukan percepatan pemikiran agama, khususnya dalam fiqh dan ushul fiqh, yaitu bidang ilmu pengetahuan yang menjadi pusat tumpuan. dalam upaya untuk menanggapi berbagai masalah hokum yang terjadi di masyarakat, ma’had aly situbondo menerbitkan laporan berkala mingguan dan membentuk forum ilmiah lain, seperti lembaga bahtsul masa’il, lembaga layanan masyarakat untuk hokum Islam, dll.