A Criticism on Etan Kohlberg`s Theory about the Position of Unlawful Child in Imamiyyah Jurisprudence

Dr. Etan Kohlberg is a famous contemporary Shi'iologist that in part of his paper entitled "The position of walad zina in Imamiyyah Shi'ism" has claimed that according to the fatwas of Imamiyyah jurists, the illicit child or the walad zina has an inferior and discriminatory position in Imamiyyah jurisprudence which deprives him of some legal rights. The significance of this claim urged the author to clarify the truth of this claim by studying the jurisprudential statements to which he has cited. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the research reached the following main results Due to the author`s completely different methodology which is based mostly on the theory of some ancient scholars, he has regarded their theory about the rights of unlawful child as the theory of all the famous Imamiyyah jurists, and hence, he has basically not let the western readers know the reality of the viewpoint of the contemporary jurists which is in the direction of securing equal rights for all unlawful children. Therefore, despite the author`s specialization and worldly reputation in Islamic jurisprudence and theology, he has not been able to base the jurisprudential data of his paper on the valid sources.