The Methodology of Discovering natural rights in Martyr Motahari's Theory

According to evidence, Martyr Motahari is considered as one of the few theorists of natural rights in the philosophy of Islamic law. Such claim will be proven after considering interpretations and arguments of other theorists regarding Islamic law and rights and their thoughts gap with martyr Motahari is crystally clarified. The present research, focusing on Martyr Motahari's point of view, regards the issue as an introductory foundation of other topics, therefore less attention is paid to such differences in his ideas. This article tries to fully describe and analyze how Martyr Motahari reached the theory of natural rights in the intellectual thoughts of Shia (Imamia). Therefore, the main question of the research according to Motahari is whether or not the source and basis of laws and rulings in Islam is natural or legal. The following question is how these rights can be discovered. The research method hired here, is descriptive and analytical; the results depicts that according to Martyr Motahari, Muslims are the founders of natural rights in the sense of human rights. The essence of the right to follow the solidarity of theoretical and practical foundations, such as monotheism, harmony, creation, legislation, and the evolutionary system as mentioned in Islamic wisdom, is non-subjective, discoverable, and self-contained. The disringuished characteristic of Martyr Motahati's thoughts and teachings from other contemporary theorists is his ontological dimension and commitment toward recognizing the right of reason in ijtihad and the harmonious ratio of natural right and divine right in the epistemological legal dimension. By his deep awareness, he reveals an idea that although it moves under the principle of justice and following rules and rights from the real interests; meaning that he calls himself from the group of Shia Imamia, but in reality, he sees the essence of the right as legal and subjective. Therefore, while such thought declares that reference to nature to obtain rights is rejected, Martyr Motahari considers nature to be the sign of God and every natural talent is an evidence of a right. Powers and talents are signs of rights and efforts to reach the goal, ultimate end, actuality of that power and constitute the provisions of rights. Martyr Motahari, regarded the logical result of the principles and rules, such as justice at the source of reason, the companion of reason and Sharia, following the rulings from the real benefits and evils, the duality of the real and the apparent issues, etc., proposed and supported the theory of right and natural law in the legal epistemology of Shia /Imamia. The mentioned theory is in opposition to the prevailing thought among the contemporary thinkers of Shia's. The opposite theory separates the evidentiary aspect of rights from the affirmative dimension and argues that rights and duties are legitimate and subject in Islamic legal thought. The view, being similar to the Ash'ari view, is criticized by Martyr Motahari. According to him, Islam, in the guise of Sharia, is based on facts and reality, expressing the right and the law, not its author nor founder. Therefore, reason as a tool for recognizing truth, reality and nature is highly valued in legal epistemology. Of course, that never means all legislating nor rulings can be understood intellectually, but the correct true meaning is the possibility and openness of the intellect to understand the law, even if part of the above Sharia is to percept the intellect. But some people, by generalizing the exception to the entire Sharia law, have disabled reason and put the entire burden of a Muslim on worship, restrictly.