An Analysis and Evaluation of the Existing Criticisms of Shahid 9 adr's Thesis of the  Discretionary Sphere of the Law (Mantiqat al-Farāgh)

The ‘Discretionary Sphere of the Law’ or Mantiqat al-Farāgh is an innovative compound term coined by Shahid Seyyed Muhammad Bāqir ‹adr, though as a thought has its roots in the Islamic state established by the Prophet Muhammad. Mantiqat al-farāgh, literally, means a sphere in jurisdiction devoid of any juridical decision. However, the adoption ofthis thesis is not supported by the narrations and thus its falsity is quite clear and as such one can say: the discretionary sphere of the Law does mean a sphere devoid of obligatory decisions. Nevertheless, in a judiciary sphere where there is no obligatory decision, under certain conditions, a Muslim ruler can interfere and change the non-obligatory decision into obligatory decision. This idea may bring about some problems because this idea recognize a Muslim ruler’s special prerogatives (rights) concerning issuing governmental decisions as something legal, which contradicts either the idea that how somebody other than God can make law or have the right to legislate law, while this authority is peculiar to God, the Lord of the Worlds, or the idea that Islamic injunctions are eternal and unchangeable, so how a Muslim ruler can change these divine injunctions into some other governmental decisions. The present article seeks to refer to five serious objections raised by Muslim scholars as well as the appropriate answers which meet them.