Doubt of the Islamic Legal Maxim of Dar’ (درا) (Hudud Avoidance in the Case of Doubt) in the Law of Iran

The principle of Dar’ (درا) as a assurance to protect defendants (the accused) from the imposition of punishment in the circumstances of doubt in their guilts. For the first time in the Islamic penal code (1392) in the formation of the canon and comprehensive has been noted. It is possible to be stablished the doubt of Dar’ in the process of the judicial proceeding by the magistrate whether he privately has doubt about the defendant’s guilt or a the defendant’s claim creates doubt. The Islamic penal code of Iran has not a parallel about the sufficiency of such claims and minds approach for the abolition of the punishment. Sometimes the Islamic penal code accepts the merely claim and sometimes it stipulates the possibility of the rightness without presenting criterion for it. In this paper with analytic-descriptive method, the sources of Shi'a-Imamiyyah jurisprudence have been investigated. The consequence of this research shows that the inclusion of this maxim requires to assume the possibility of the doubt related to the accused person. And according to the objective standard based on usual (customary) persons’ judgment such possibility is logical. A strong possibility is not necessary. Therefore, the apparent contradictions of the regulations which are originated from some negligence in the process of the legislation should be interpreted with considering the precedent and specially the Islamic jurisprudential bases in the aforementioned frame work.