امامیہ سیاسی فقہ کے مختلف اَدوار اور تاریخ کا جائزہ

A Review of Different Periods and History of Imamiyyah Political Jurisprudence

Abstract

The Shiite political fiqah (jurisprudence) has gone through fundamental changes during several periods. This research paper enlightens the history of Imamia political fiqah. It shows that Imamia political fiqah has gone through five important periods:

The 1^st period is known as Shiite fiqah supremacy. This period is in fact, the rulings period of the holy prophet (PBUH) and Imam Ali (as). In this period, the Holy prophet (PBUH) and Amir-ul-Momineed Ali (as) left political heritage, since they were ruling the state. The letters written by Hazrat Ali (as) to his commanders like Malik Ashtar, indeed, highlight the core principles for political obligations.

The 2^nd period is known as the “Period of Taqqiyah” or the period of “concealment”. This period starts from Banu Umayyad’ rule and continues still a Shiites’ rule came into being.

The 3^rd period started when some Shiites’ rulers like Safavid and Qachar helped Shiites’ Jurists (Mujtahideen) to complete their research projects. In this period, Shiite jurists tried their best to spread Shiite school of thought by writing books and establishing institution and seminaries. 

The 4^th period consist of the struggles to monitor and limit Absolute power of Kings. This period starts from «Constitutionalization movement» in Iran which resulted producing crucial work on Shiites’ political fiqah. In this period, the topic of discussion was not rulers succession rather people talked about constitution, rule of law, parliament, shura committee and people representation in legal institutions. 

The 5^th period of the Shiite political fiqah is the time of wilayat-e faqih (rule of jurist). The Islamic revolution in Iran led by Imam Khomeini (in 1342) raised new issues in Shiites’ political fiqah.