An Inquiry into Imamiyyah Jurists' Approach to the Question as to Whether Religious Opponents are Believers or Unbelievers

The attribution of infidelity or Islam to religious dissidents has been one of the most important issues that has always preoccupied Muslim thinkers. The present research, using a problem based approach, has made a pervasive inquiry into the jurisprudential texts and has extracted at least three views in this respect. The results of the research indicate that although the theory of absolute infidelity of religious opponents is observed in the opinions of some Shi'a Akhbari jurists, this view does not have a strong support and a significant number of jurists have distinguished between the obstinate and non-obstinate opponent and also between a negligent and guilty opponent. They hold that the attribution of infidelity to religious opponents, assuming their lack of guiltiness and stubbornness, has no justification and is controversial. The present study, by adopting a descriptive-analytical method, has counted the existing statements and has measured and evaluated the documents of each of the views. Finally, it has found the recent view in accordance with the Imamiyyah criteria.