What is the jurisprudence of balancing [priorities/considerations], and what is Islam's stance on it?

The jurisprudence of balancing (Fiqh al-Muwazanat) is defined as prioritizing between conflicting interests and harms, to advance or postpone that which is more appropriate. Evidence for this can be found in the Quran, such as the story of Moses and Al-Khidr, where Al-Khidr committed minor harms (puncturing the ship, killing the boy) to avert greater harms (the king confiscating the ship, the boy's tyranny and disbelief which would have harmed his parents). The Sunnah also indicates this; for example, not demolishing the Kaaba and rebuilding it on the foundations of Ibrahim, for fear of alienating people who were new to Islam, and the command to let the Bedouin urinate in the mosque and then pour water over his urine, to avert a greater harm.

Early jurists did not explicitly use the term "Fiqh al-Muwazanat," but they discussed its essence, emphasizing the repulsion of the greater of two harms by enduring the lesser, and prioritizing the stronger interest over the weaker. This jurisprudence is based on prioritizing major interests over minor ones, public interests over private ones, and necessities over needs, and so forth, prioritizing the more important over the merely important.