The Principle of the Urgency of the Implementation of Shari’ah by Rulers and Exceptions to it

The Islamic government is charged with using its outmost power to implement the social orders of Shari’ah in society, and essentially the Islamic state is an instrument for the implementation of the Islamic rules. The norm is that the Shari’ah orders must be implemented in full and without delay, but sometimes it is not possible to implement some of them promptly, and, according to the order of the Sacred Legislator, only the rules which are impossible to implement can be suspended under such conditions. But what are the basic principles and arguments endorsing the principle of the urgency of the implementation of Shari’ah in the Islamic state, and what are the exceptions to this principle? Using the descriptive-analytical method, the present paper seeks to answer these questions, and after demonstrating the duty of the rulers in implementing Shari’ah, it addresses the basic ideas related to this principle, stressing its jurisprudential foundations and exceptions. Finally, it is concluded that essentially the Divine commandments must be implemented without delay, and the abandonment of this principle requires a definite reason and is only possible in certain cases specified by the Sacred Legislator. Therefore, the gradual implementation of Shari’ah without a specific standard which leads to the cessation of Divine ordinances, although temporarily, cannot be accepted.