Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1
Associate Professor, Department of Public Law, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran.
2
PhD, Department of Public Law, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction and Statement of the Problem:
Historical disputes over political authority after the Prophet and the emergence of sharp divisions among Muslims, along with the Shiite position that a political ruler must be appointed by God and the minority status of this view, gave rise to an approach among Shiite jurists that was generally delegitimizing toward worldly political authority. In the presence of the Imam, Shiites considered the present Imam the only person qualified to assume political power. Given new circumstances, such an approach required reexamination during the occultation. The first changes began with modifications in juristic rulings, and with the formation of the theory of general deputization (niyābat ‘āmma), efforts were made to ease the life of Shiites; this continued until Shiite rulers came to power. With the formation of the first Shiite centers of power, the role of jurists became more pronounced. This development marks a turning point in the evolution of jurists’ political and theological theories and created a space for putting theological and juristic ideas into practice. The theory of political power in Shiism is the result of centuries of juristic intellectual struggle. The jurists’ thought can be divided into two stages:
Delegitimizing customary political power and legitimizing it. By scrutinizing the changes that have occurred in Shiite juristic rulings, its developmental trajectory is examined, and the process of transition from delegitimization to legitimization is formulated based on primary sources. The passage from a theoretical orientation centered on disinterest in customary political power and lack of a coherent theory about it toward a situation in which that power becomes a theoretical concern and object of jurists’ attention is examined under two main concepts: delegitimizing and legitimizing.
Research Background:
In previous studies, the prevailing intellectual tradition in Shiism and Shiite political jurisprudence has generally been described as the development and formation of the theory of general deputization. It has been regarded as the authentic and sole theory put forward by jurists in Shiite jurisprudence without attention to how it formed and was established or the historical context in which it emerged and spread. However, referring to jurisprudential texts compiled in early periods shows that the widespread and initially accepted historical theory was delegitimization of power; from the Middle Ages and with the rise to power of Shiite rulers, the dominant discourse shifted toward legitimizing customary political power. Understanding the theory of general deputization in its current articulation is not possible without a careful consideration of the earlier theory.
Research Objective:
This study discusses the theory of general deputization and the currently prevalent theory in Shiite political jurisprudence as the intellectual development connected to its antithetical theory—namely, the delegitimization of customary political power—as a historically prior political theory, relying on texts composed by jurists and on how it was completed and developed.
Research Method:
The present research uses a library-based method and examines books authored by Shiite jurists in historical continuity.
Conclusion:
By closely examining jurists’ theories, which were historically analyzed from the earliest authoritative jurists in Shiism to the present, it can be argued that their primary intellectual concern was preserving the identity of the Shiite sect in accordance with the governing principles of their theological and juristic beliefs. At one period, given the social circumstances and the need to preserve the communal life of Shiites, their view of political power was negative, permitting interaction between adherents of the sect and political authority only out of necessity At another period, owing to changed social conditions, jurists’ theories moved toward defining a specific political position for the jurist as an active political and legitimizing agent in social and political dimensions and as one who carries out religious duties.
Although these ideas have not always been expressed uniformly, we currently face two differing approaches: a minority and a majority approach. The minority approach believes in delegitimizing political power and limits the legitimization of it to restricted matters, viewing the jurist solely as an overseer. The majority approach, also referred to as general deputization, especially with the development and formulation of the theory of the jurist’s absolute guardianship (wilāyat-i mutlaqah al-faqīh), regards the jurist as the legitimate ruler and executor of the sect in all affairs. An idea that formed in the early period of jurisprudence, through the development of theological and juristic concepts, gradually became one of the most important political theories in Shiite political theology, managing to formulate a theory in accordance with the necessities of the lives of adherents that, for the first time, defined and preserved Shiite political and religious identity together in its present form.
One key reason for the change in juristic thought and the examination of the capacities present in hadith texts for forming elements that legitimize power is their increasing engagement with political institutions. After several centuries, the growth of the Shiite population and the establishment of political powers by them made outright denial impossible; continuing the previous approach of absolute rejection would have been self-defeating and would have created difficulties for Shiite life.
Therefore, jurists—especially after the Safavid shahs came to power—sought, by rethinking hadith texts and discovering new capacities, to provide some form of legitimation for customary power, to preserve the newly established and widespread Shiite power, and to consolidate the existence of Shiites, who until then had been struggling to assert themselves within the political community.
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