نشریه علوم سیاسی
سال چهارم شماره 2 (پیاپی 14، تابستان 1380)

From the very beginning, the Political Fiqh could not play an efficient role in the social arena. But, now the question is whether the political Fiqh can satisfy all the individual, social, spiritual, political, economical, judiciary, and international needs of the time.Some have considered most affairs and issues related to the state as reasonable, and as a result, not related to Fiqh and inferrence.However, from the definition of Fiqh it can be underestood that any thing reasonable and confirmed by Sharia can be considered as a religious precept. In other words, since Faqihs have included reason and comman usage as the basis for Fiqh inferrences, any social and political precept which is based on reason is a Fiqh-related issue as well.In addition to reasoning and using Quran and traditions for inferring religious precepts, there are other sources such as: eternal evil and expediency, the eternal nature of man, variable and fixed issues, decrees related to the state, development of the objectives of Ijtihad, dynamic Ijtihad, and the role of time and space in Ijtihad

Abu Hamed Mohammad Ghazzali is a great Muslem intellectual and Faqih in the fifth century(AH). An outstanding feature of his political thought is the intertwining of ethics and politics. He views politics from the perspective of religion and ethics. Thus, politics, in his view, is not the science of power and of how to attain power, but the means for moral improvement and guiding human beings to salvation in this world and the other world. His ideas can de studied in two ways: Sultanate and Caliphate.

Shiism, like other Islamic sects, believed in the existence of sharia as a comprehensive guide from Allah. In the Islamic primary sources, as in Quran and traditions which are the primary basis for the political Fiqh, sharia entered the political life arena of the Moslems. From the early second century so far, Shiite political Fiqh started developing. This trend towards political Fiqh was strengthened by the Imams especially Imam Baghir, and thus called Imamiyye Fiqh. This article is to study the charactristics of the Imamiyye Fiqh.

In this article instances of the cooperation of Faqihs with despotic rulers within the framework of Welayat are presented. The writer believes the cooperation of these Faqihs can be accounted for resorting to their Fiqh-based belief. A close attention to the writings and speeches of these ulama will clarify that the main reason why these ulama cooperated with despotic rulers and accepted their sovereignty is the principle of Welayat-e Faqih.

Mohaghegh-e Helli is a Shiite Faqih living in the seventh century (AH). In his political thought, state is a necessity for societies and it is a just ruler who can help to improve societies and to remove social problem. He believes only the one who is well aware of the precepts of Allah and who is just and faithful is legitimate to rule. A grand Faqih possessing all the requirements, he believes, is potentially a legitimate ruler because he is the only one to represent the last Imam.After presenting the mutual responsibilities of people and ruler, he discusses the notion of enjoining good and forbidding evil, considering it as the implication of the acceptance of Welayat and state.

Shaykh Shams Al-Din Mohammad Ben Makki Ameli known as the First Martyr is an outstanding Faqih from Jabal Amel in the Ayyubids Period. Trying to spread Shiism in an anti-Shiite environment and to have relationships with the Sarbedaran of Khorasan in Iran, he was imprisoned and finally martyred.Relying on the relationship between religion and reason and the status of reason in religious precepts, he proposes his political ideas within the domain of the Shiite Fiqh, and studies the origin of the state according to this perspective. According to him, a desirable state can only be actualised by the prophet, the Imams, and a grand Faqih possessing all the requirements in the Period of Absence. The main point in his ideas lies in the specific conditions that he proposes for the dethronement of rulers. The status of people in the arena of political power and the mutual relationship between a person and the state are other important issues he discusses over.

The political views of Allameh Mohammad Baghir Majlessi on the sovereignty of Faqih, the most serious issue in the Shiite political Fiqh, are studied in this article. The theoretical basis, and the personal qualities of Islamic rulers in the Absence Period, when the twelfth Shiite Imam is absent from the earth, are also discussed here. Finally, the theory of "Legitimate Sultanate", attributed to Majlessi by some scholars, is challenged by the writer.

The emergence of rationalist and traditionist approaches among Moslems was the result of attention to different verses of the Holy Quran, some denoting reasoning and some denoting devotion. These different approaches to Quran led to the formation of Motazele and Ashaarites schools among the Sunnites and Osuliyyun (rationalists) and traditionists among the Shiites. This difference was the cause for many religious and socio-political conflicts.The development of rationalism in Imamiyye started in Bagdad in the fourth century (AH) and continued up to eleventh century, dominating Qum and Ray schools of thought. But, later, the intellectual and political changes resulted in the revival of traditionism among the Shiite scholars. And, as a result, traditionism dominated most intellectual schools in Iran, Iraq, and Bahrain in 12th century.However, with the scientific and practical measures of Allameh Vahid Behbahani and his followers and Shaikh Morteza Ansari, rationalism dominated once more.

The state in the Islamic society, as in any other human societies, is not only indicative of the existence of a set of institutions, but also indicative of the existence of specific views and actions called the Islamic civility. However, acquiring a complete Perception of the form and structure of the state requires underestanding of general theories which intend to define, describe, and explain the state as it actually is.Each of these theories is, in fact, a project to explain the nature of the state in the world of Islam and probably measures to act upon.In this way, a number of articles have been written to compare, underestand, and evaluate different theories of the state in Islam within the systemic analysis approach. The first article is to present the general picture and charactristics of the Islamic political system.

This research is to study the Iranian society in the first era of the Qajar Reign. An important feature of this era lies in its traditional socio-political structure's not being affected by the Western civilization. Thus, the political behaviour of this society is naturally and to a great extent harmonious with the Iranian historical background. In this historical juncture, the roots of authority in the Iranian political culture can theoretically be based in religion and traditions. These two sources of authority are the subject matter of this study.

An important achievement of the political thoughts of Shiism is the theory of Welayat-e Faqih over which the Shiite jurists discussed in the Period of Absence of the twelfth Imam. Ayattollah Lari, while writing explanatory notes on the book Makaseb written by Sheikh Ansari, wrote a book called "Welayat-e Faqih" in which he presents a discussion over Welayat-e Faqih. He believes that a Faqih, besides having Welayat (sovereignty) over public affairs has many other positions rooted in the positions of the Imams, some of which are the right to act upon non-litigious legal affairs, the right to Ijtihad and to infer divine precepts, the position of judgement and ruling over people.

This article is to find an answer to the what and how of society with reference to the works of Ayatollah Motahhari. In addition, other Moslem scholar's answers to the question are presented and compared to those of Ayatollah Motahhari and finally evaluated. The writer believes that though Motahhari's reasoning for the existence of society is problematic, his justification for the possibility of the actualization of society is strong and plausible. In addition, the reasons he quotes is only limited to Quranic verses.

Having a deep underestanding of despotism, Ayatollah Taleghani developed a Shura-based system to secure the rights and the political participation of people. Shura, including rural councils, provincial councils, and the Islamic Consultative Assembly, is religiously based on traditions and Quranic verses which allow the people to proceed towards high humanitarian and social goals. To compare Shura with parliamentarian systems, it can be said that in the parliamentarian systems they are the powerful groups that rule, but in the Shura-based models the Shura secures the presence of the people in the social arena and their political participation.

From the MashrootÅ movement onward, a new discourse in the Shiite political Fiqh took over which implied that the responsibilities for Faqihs to rule over the Islamic society is not suspended during the Period of Absence. As a result, the discourse of "the suspension of ruling during the Period of Absence" was discarded. This discursive change in the Shiite political Fiqh was the result of the formation of a new form of Ijtihad in the Shiite political Fiqh, which dominated the Shiite scientific atomsphere. The extension of researches within the framework of Ilm Al-Qsul, the impact of the school of thought of Mullah Sadra, the improvement in the social status of Faqihs, and the inadequacy of despotic systems of ruling are the main causes of the formation of this new discourse.