The Comprehensiveness and Perfection of Shariah and its Development in the Age of Ghaibat

Given the comprehensiveness and the perfection of the Islamic Shariah, some questions are raised with regard to the fiqhi philosophy of a religious state including the question about the constancy and variability of the religious issues, the Shariah developments, and its consistency with the demands of the time.The essay deals with a number of critical questions including the followings:Are there constant and variable rules in Islam? If the answer is positive, then the question that arises is that when people do not have access to the innocent imam, are the jurists authorized to determine the constant and the variable rules? Assuming that such authority has been transferred to the jurists then what are the criteria at the disposal of the guardian jurisprudent to make decisions in this relation while taking the circumstances into consideration?Should the official rulings of the jurisprudent guardian -based on expediency- be given priority over the primary Islamic rules?Taking the above questions and the central role of expediency in Islam and in Shariah developments into account, this essay attempts to review different views including imam Khomeini’s and also ayatollah Sadr’s view, which is known as the discretionary area (mantaqat ulfaragh) of the Islamic jurisprudence.