Study of the Rule of “Protecting Borders of a Muslim Country”

Political science studies indicate that the development of a society depends upon the following factor: ensuring security, whether of land, water or air borders. Preserving borders in the Islamic political system is of great significance. There exist Qur’anic verses and traditions in Islamic doctrines that directly ask Muslims to preserve borders (frontiers) of Muslim countries. ImÁmiyyah or Twelvers’ figh attaches great importance to border guards and maintenance of Muslim territories. However, despite the eminent position of border guards in the political system of Islam, the issue in question has remained a jurisprudential rule at the level of a recommended one. However, in view of the wide-ranging and important discussion of border guards in Islam, the issue can be discussed as a jurisprudential rule. From among the cases where a qualified competent Muslim jurist can exercise his authority in enacting laws is the use of ‘jurisprudential rule’. The important feature of this jurisprudential rule lies in its wide application. With this jurisprudential rule in hand, various issues can be tested against this rule which, in turn, helps to discover the desired legal prescript (judgement) in the least possible time. Drawing upon the descriptive-analytic method and based on the Qur’anic, traditional, rational sources as well as jurisprudential discourses, in this article an attempt has been made to stablish the fact that protecting borders (border guards) is considered obligatory in the ImÁmiyyah jurisprudential system and to cast light on the discussions raised on the rule of border guards of Islamic countries.