Principle of Expediency in Islamic Lawmaking and Its Conformity to Family Law with an Approach Based on Imam Khomeini's Views

The principle of expediency is a basic principle in Islamic jurisprudence that encompasses the joint essence of all other rules. Imam Khomeini clearly believes that expediency is the basis for issuance of governmental rules to the extent that upon his order the Expediency Council was established in 1988 in line with observing this key principle in Islamic lawmaking. Therefore, clarification of this principle and its status, due to centrality and role in explanation and deduction of rules from the legal sources and requirements for lawmaking, particularly in family affairs, is necessary. This research study intends to clarify the principle of expediency as a superprinciple governing the Islamic lawmaking system upon contemplations on Imam Khomeini’s views, in order to give a picture of this principle in Islamic lawmaking system, and finally clarify the centrality of this principle in family system, while emphasizing priority of the collective expediency. This study concludes that despite fundamentals of Shia jurisprudence and Imam Khomeini’s emphasis on observing collective expediency in enacting laws and inclusion of the principle of expediency, the lawmakers did not – in some cases – refer to the expediency of family affairs in collective expediency and they have merely focused on occasional expediencies. Therefore, it is necessary for the lawmakers to bring this principle into conformitywith the secondary issues in family affairs (as the most important organ in a society) while observing the above-said requirements in line with meeting the demands and protecting the family system. It is, to that end, necessary to recodify and amend the pertinent rules and regulations.