The implications of the Safavid rule for the Shiite political Fiqh

Political Fiqh, like any other disciplines, has its own particular concepts, method, and course of intellectual development, was initiated in a specific condition, and underwent certain changes to be as it is today. Understanding a discipline requires tracking the way it was formed and the changes occurred to its basic concepts. Thus, to understand political Fiqh one has to find out how it was formed and what changes its concepts went through. The establishment of the Safavid rule and its practical and theoretical requirements prepared the grounds for the development of the social concepts of Fiqh and for the introduction of new elements to the Shiite political Fiqh. This paper elaborates on some aspects of these works.