Shari`atists and the Law: In the Iranian Constitutional Revolution Era

More than a century ago, a great revolution occurred in Iran, the fundamental aim of which was to establish a rule of law system. Accordingly, the concept of law has been one of the most essential though challenging concepts of the constitutionalist movement in the country. This issue is so significant that we may seek the root of the Iranian constitutional crisis in the failure of providing a clear and workable concept of law. A serious impediment in this regard was the old concept and system of Shar`, which prima facie left no room for law. Shari`atist thinkers took two approaches to the relationship between law and Shar`: compatibility and incompatibility. Not only did the compatibility approach believe in the possibility of combination and sometimes identity of Shar`i and legal rules, it finally gave the upper hand to law and its requirements. One of the fundamental disputes related to the legislating authority. Shari`atists ultimately embraced legislation by the human being. Nevertheless, this brought about controversies and debates on the last prophet-hoodness of Muhammad (pbuh), religious innovation, and rational preference. This paper shall analyse the concept of law from the perspective of Shari`atist thinkers living during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution era, on the basis of their works and the related documents. This analysis will lay the historical and theoretical ground for the similar and still unresolved problem under the legal system established after the Islamic Revolution in the Country.