History and Career of Shiite Political Jurisprudence (Fiqh)

Shiite political jurisprudence (Fiqh), due to suspension of Shia from gaining political power in the Islamic history has not enjoyed the expected growth. Although the Imamiah (Twelver Shia) jurisprudence has experienced more substantial significant growth than Sunni jurisprudence, has gone through different periods and left behind valuable legacy, but Shiite political jurisprudence has not found the right opportunity to emerge. However, if we take political Fiqh as "knowledge of Sharia obligations in political behavior of the religious responsible man or women, regarding the type of Shia's interaction with other states established as an Islamic state, different periods have been described for Shiite political Fiqh. The present paper seeks to introduce different periods of Shiite political jurisprudence, how Shia's and Fuqaha (Muslim religious scholars) deal with the Islamic state, and reciprocally the states engagement with Shiism. The author argues five Shiite political periods and the characteristics and differences of each period: "the period of the Shiite sovereignty in the eras of the Great Prophet and Alavian", "the period of Taqiyyah, isolation and tolerance with the states during the long reign of Umayyad and Abbasids", "the periods of cooperation and collaboration with the Shiite Sultans", "the period of conditioning and limiting the Sultan's power and monitoring their performances" and "the period of the rule of Fiqh and Fuqaha".