The Criteria and Realms of Expediency in the Foreign Policy of the Islamic System of Government

Expediency as an á priori approach in jurisprudence, is taken to be a criterion of designing policies on a large scale in the foreign policy of the Islamic system and, as á posteriri approach, in addition to its application in view of certain general principles such as maintaining the Islamic system in military and disciplinary realms, the country’s independence, denial of the foreigners’ dominion, convergence of countries at an international level and prevention of harms, management of affairs, setting priorities in policies and resolving the conflicts, the common interests of the Islamic community on the basis of the Islamic ends in some such wider realms as security, economy, and rights. Given the application of expediency in all political systems and schools of thought, Islamic political system, due to the criteria and norms of the Islamic Law (ShariÝah) and morality, has taken a form of expediency different from other schools of thought and can be distinguished from the expediencies of other systems at an international level. While explaining the large-scale policies of the Islamic system at an international level, this research work seeks to study the criteria and realms of expediency in the foreign policy of the Islamic system and show the advantage of this type of expediency over other systems drawing upon descriptive-analytic and deductive approach. Accordingly, based on the ShiÝi readings, sources and principles, the ShiÝi jurisprudence is able to make the best use of the expediency originating in the doctrines of ShiÝi jurisprudence found in the Book of JihÁd, in the foreign policy of the Islamic state, showing that Islamic fiqh is quite efficient in running the society in various security, legal and financial realms.