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Students in need of further financial assistance should contact the education team at education@almahdi.edu to enquire about the possibility of further fee waivers. 

 

This course aims to critically assess the third section of Muḥammad Riḍā al-Muẓaffar’s Uṣūl al-Fiqh, which deals with discussions over the authority of evidences (mabāḥith al-ḥujja). It will define what is meant by authority in Shīʿī legal theory and critically evaluate the authoritativeness and epistemic validity of the sources from which it is possible to derive Islamic law.

 

Lesson Breakdown

Lesson 1      Introduction to the course

Section 3: Discussions on the Authority of Evidence (mabāḥith al-ḥujja)

- Introduction (tamhīd)

                    Preface (al-muqaddima)

                   1. Subject matter of this topic (mawḍūʿ al-maqṣad al-thālith)

Lesson 2      2. The meaning of ‘authoritativeness’ (maʿnā al-ḥujja)

                    3. Signification of the word ‘amāra’ and ‘validated conjecture’ (madlūl kalimat al-amāra wa al-ẓann al-muʿtabar)

                    4. Generic conjecture (al-ẓann al-nawʿī)

                    5. Amāra and procedural principles (al-amāra wa al-aṣl al-ʿamalī)

6. The criterion in establishing the authority of amāra (al-manāṭ fī ithbāt ḥujjiyyat al-amāra)

Lesson 3      Live class

Lesson 4      7. Authority of knowledge is intrinsic/essential (ḥujjiyyat al-ʿilm dhātiyya)

Lesson 5      8. The criteria of authority of amārāt (mawṭan ḥujjiyyat al-amārāt)

                    9. Specific conjecture and absolute conjecture (al-ẓann al-khāṣṣ wa al-ẓann al-muṭlaq)

                   10. Prerequisites of the insidād argument (muqaddimāt dalīl al-insidād)

Lesson 6      11. Principle of shared liability between the expert and non-expert (ishtirāk al-aḥkām bayn al-ʿālim wa al-jāhil)

Lesson 7      12. The validity of the creation of amāra (taṣḥīḥ jaʿl al-amāra)

                    13. Is amāra an instrument or a cause? (al-amāra ṭarīq aw sabab)

Lesson 8      14. The benefit of compliance with the amāra (al-maṣlaḥa al-sulūkiyya)

Lesson 9      15. Is authoritativeness an analytical issue or an abstracted issue? (al-ḥujjiyya amr ʿitibārī aw intizāʿī)

                    Chapter 1: The Supreme Book (al-Kitāb al-ʿAzīz)

                   - Introduction (tamhīd)

                   - Abrogation of the Holy Book (naskh al-Kitāb al-ʿAzīz)

                   - The possibility of abrogation (naskh al-Qurʾān)

                   - The occurrence of abrogation of the Qurʾān and the principle of non-existence of abrogation (wuqūʿ naskh al-Qurʾān wa aṣālat ʿadam al-naskh)

Lesson 10    - The occurrence of abrogation of the Qurʾān and the principle of non-existence of abrogation (wuqūʿ naskh al-Qurʾān wa aṣālat ʿadam al-naskh) (continued)

                    Chapter 2: Sunna (al-sunna)

                   - Introduction (tamhīd)

                   1. Indication of the action of an Infallible (dalālat al-fiʿl al-maʿṣūm)

Lesson 11    1. Indication of the action of an Infallible (al-fiʿl al-maʿṣūm) (continued)

                    2. Indication of tacit approval of an Infallible (dalālat taqrīr al- maʿṣūm)

                    3. Mass transmitted narration (al-khabr al-mutawātir)

4. Solitary narration (khabr al-wāḥid)

Lesson 12    4. Solitary narration (khabr al-wāḥid) (continued)

                    (a) Evidences of the authoritativeness of the solitary narration from the Supreme Book (adillat ḥujjiyyat khabr al-wāḥid min al-Kitāb al-ʿAzīz)

- Introduction (tamhīd)

                    - First verse: āyat al-nabaʾ (al-āya al-ūlā – āyat al-nabaʾ)

Lesson 13    - Second verse: āyat al-nafr (al-āya al-thāniyya – āyat al-nafr)

Lesson 14    - Third verse - āyat ḥurmat al-kitmān (al-āya al-thālitha - āyat ḥurmat al-kitmān)

                    (b) Evidence of authoritativeness of solitary narration from Sunna (dalīl ḥujjiyyat  khabr al-wāḥid min al-Sunna)

                    (c) Evidence of the authoritativeness of the solitary narration from consensus (dalīl ḥujjiyyat khabr al-wāḥid min al-ijmāʿ)

Lesson 15    (d) Evidence of the authoritativeness of the solitary narration from the convention of rational people (dalīl ḥujjiyyat khabr al-wāḥid min bināʾ al-ʿuqalāʿ)

Lesson 16    Chapter 3: Consensus (al-bāb al-thālith: al-ijmāʿ)

Lesson 17    Chapter 3: Consensus (al-bāb al-thālith: al-ijmāʿ) (continued)

Lesson 18    Chapter 3: Consensus (al-bāb al-thālith: al-ijmāʿ) (continued)

                    Consensus according to Imāmiyya (al-ijmāʿ ʿinda al-Imāmiyya)

Lesson 19    Consensus according to Imāmiyya (al-ijmāʿ ʿinda al-Imāmiyya) (continued)

Lesson 20    Transmitted consensus (al-ijmāʿ al-manqūl)

Lesson 21    Transmitted consensus (al-ijmāʿ al-manqūl) (continued)

Lesson 22    Chapter 4: Rational Evidences (al-bāb al-rābiʿ: al-dalīl al-ʿaqlī)

Lesson 23    Chapter 4: Rational Evidences (al-bāb al-rābiʿ: al-dalīl al-ʿaqlī) (continued)

- Authoritativeness of reason (wajh ḥujjiyyat al-ʿaql)

Lesson 24    - Authoritativeness of reason (wajh ḥujjiyyat al-ʿaql) (continued)

                     Chapter 5: Authoritativeness of Apparent Indication (al-bāb al-khāmis: ḥujjiyyat al-ẓawāhir)

                   - Introductions (tamhīdāt)

Lesson 25    - Ways of establishing the apparent indications (ṭuruq ithbāt al-ẓawāhir)

                    - Value of the philologist’s view (ḥujjiyya qawl al-lughawī)

- Conceptual and assentive apparent indication (al-ẓuhūr al-taṣawwurī wa al-taṣdīqī)

Lesson 26    - The aspect of the authoritativeness of apparent indication (wajh ḥujjiyyat al-ẓuhūr)

i. ishtirāṭ al-ẓann al-fiʿlī bi-l-wifāq

ii. iʿtibār ʿadam al-ẓann bi-l-khilāf

iii. asālat ʿadam al-qarīna

Lesson 27    iii. asālat ʿadam al-qarīna (continued)

                    iv. ḥujjiyyat al-ẓuhūr bi-l-nisba ilā ghayr al-maqṣūdīn bi-l-ifhām

5. Authoritativeness on the apparent indication of the Qurʾān (ḥujjiyyat ẓawāhir al-kitāb)

Lesson 28    5. Authoritativeness on the apparent indication of the Qurʾān (ḥujjiyyat ẓawāhir al-kitāb) (continued)

                    Chapter 6: Popularity (al-bāb al-sādis: al-shuhra)

                   - First evidence: Its priority over the report of a just person (al-dalīl al-awwal – awlawwiyatuhā min khabr al-ʿādil)

                    - Second evidence: the generality of the rationale of āyat al-nabaʾ (al-dalīl al-thānī - ʿumūm taʿlīl āyat al-nabaʾ)

                   - Third evidence: the indication of some of the reports (al-dalīl al-thālith – dalālat baʿḍ al-akhbār)

Lesson 29    Chapter 7: Conduct (al-bāb al-sābiʿ: al-sīra)

1. Authoritativeness of the conduct of rational people (ḥujjiyyat bināʾ al-ʿuqalāʾ)

2. Authoritativeness of the conduct of religious people (ḥujjiyyat sīrat al-mutasharriʿa)

Lesson 30    The scope of the indication of conduct (madā dalālat al-sīra)

                   Chapter 9: Analogy (al-bāb al-thāmin: al-qiyas)

                   - Introduction (tamhīd)

                   1. Definition of analogy (taʿrif al-qiyās)

Lesson 31    1. Definition of analogy (taʿrif al-qiyās) (continued)

                   2. Components of analogy (arkān al-qiyās)

                   3. Authoritativeness of analogy (ḥujjiyyat al-qiyās)

i. Does analogy necessitate knowledge? (hal al-qaiyās yūjiab al-ʿilm?)

Lesson 32    ii. The evidence for the authoritativeness of conjectural analogy (al-dalīl ʿalā ḥujjiyyat al-qiyās al-ẓannī)

                   - The evidence from Qurʾānic verses (al-dalīl min al-āyāt al-Qurʾāniyya)

                   - The evidence from sunna (al-dalīl min al-sunna)

                   - The evidence from consensus (al-dalīl min al-ijmāʿ)

Lesson 33    - The evidence from reason (al-dalīl min al-ʿaql)

Lesson 34    4. Manṣūṣ al-ʿilla and analogy by priority (Manṣūṣ al-ʿilla wa qiyās al-awlawiyya)

                   - Manṣūṣ al-ʿilla

                   - Analogy by priority (qiyās al-awlawiyya)

                   - Note: Juristic discretion, public interest, and sadd al-dharāyiʿ (al-istiḥsān wa al-maṣāliḥ al-mursala wa sadd al-dharāyiʿ)

Lesson 35    - Note: Juristic discretion, public interest, and sadd al-dharāyiʿ (al-istiḥsān wa al-maṣāliḥ al-mursala wa sadd al-dharāyiʿ) (continued)

 

Prerequisites

Please note that level three courses are only available to those who have completed all courses in levels one and two. This is because the topics covered in level three require the historical and conceptual foundations which are built in levels one and two.

 

Hours of Study

88 hours

 

Assessment Method

Oral exam (50%)

Written exam (50%)

 

Course Instructor

Professor Seyed Mohammad Seyed Ghari Fatemi

Professor Seyed Mohammad Seyed Ghari Fatemi spent thirteen years studying in the Ḥawza ʿIlmiyya of Qom between 1981 and 1994, completing his advanced studies (dars al-khārij) in Arabic literature, legal theory, jurisprudence, philosophy, and Islamic theosophy under prominent scholars such as Ayatollah Ḥusayn ʿAlī Muntaẓarī, Ayatollah Sayyid Muḥammad Rūhānī, and Ayatollah ʿAbd Allāh Javādī Āmulī. Alongside his seminary studies, he also completed an LLB (1984) and LLM (1991) in Public Law at the University of Tehran. He received his PhD from the Faculty of Law at the University of Manchester in 1999.

He has been working with AMI since 1995 and currently lectures on Islamic legal theory. He is a Professor of Comparative Human Rights, Islamic Hermeneutics and Legal theory, and Philosophy in the Faculty of Law at Shahid Beheshti University (Tehran) where he supervises masters and doctoral students researching a range of topics. Seyed Fatemi is also a full member of the Academy of Sciences of Iran and a member of the Department of Biomedical Ethics at the Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences. He has previously taught in the Ḥawza ʿIlmiyya of Qom, at Mofid University (Qom), the University of Birmingham, and was a Visiting Associate Professor at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter.

He has numerous publications to his name in Persian and English and has organised and presented at dozens of conferences in the fields of law, Islamic studies, and bioethics. He is the author of Human Rights in the Contemporary World (Ḥuqūq-i bashr dar jahān-i muʿāṣir). The first volume of this work (An Introduction to Theoretical Issues: Concepts, Foundations, Scope and Sources) was first published by the UNESCO Chair for Human Rights and Shahid Beheshti University and is now in its eighth edition. The second volume (Analytical Essays on Right and Liberties) is in its fifth edition, and a third volume (Islam and Human Rights) is forthcoming.