Conceptual Scope and Limitations of Instances in Reason of Wisdom in Mullā Aḥmad Narāqī's View

From among four reasons, the lowest identical point is about wisdom. The various meanings of this word and its position not being elaborated in the chapters of the principles of jurisprudence have increased the ground for unfolding misunderstanding. In this situation separate examination of the views of each expert can reduce the probability of being ensnared in equivocation and help reaching mutual understanding. Mullah Ahmad Narāqī, one of the important uṣūlīs in the early period of the revival of uṣūl (principles of jurisprudence), meticulously discusses the dimensions of reasons for wisdom. But his ideas have been less noticed. Despite accepting the authority of wisdom and its theological and uṣūlī bases, he has expressed contemplative conditions for invoking this reason and has important considerations about the rule of concomitance, whose result is the systematization of the ruling by means of wisdom and he jurisprudent's adherence to them reduces the efficiency of wisdom in drawing inference. Narāqī has also criticized the invocations of other jurists to reason by relying on his uṣūlī principles. In this paper, with a special approach to a lesser known work of Narāqī, his views and critiques about the reason of wisdom are discussed.