Spirit of Sharia and its Functions: Focusing on Imamiyah Criminal Jurisprudence

In order to make inferences from divine law, Islamic jurists often refer to the letter of scripture and religiously-endorsed evidence in their isolated form or as a single proposition, whereas, other times, those who have a full command of the fundamental provisions aim to imitate the religious laws and grasp the overall spirit of the Sharia law, and assess the evidence through this holistic approach. Thus, the spirit of Sharia not only delineates the legislative will of the legislator, but it is also used by the jurists for interpretation of the legislator's will. In Imamiyah criminal jurisprudence, there are numerous references to the spirit or taste of Sharia. Islamic jurists have employed this concept in areas concerning issues with no textual evidence, the method for analysis of laws, the resolution of contradictions in laws, and the interpretation of religiously-endorsed evidence. The present study investigates and validates the concept of the spirit of Sharia, and explains its functions in criminal jurisprudence (criminalization), methods for interpretation of criminal subjects, and resolution of any possible contradictions.