Secondary Principles

One of the most important distinctive features of the eternal Shari’a is the harmony of its regulations with changes that naturally arise in human life. As a matter of fact, religion is the flexible model and way of life.Considering the flexibility of the religious principles, it seems necessary to examine the secondary principles as one of the things permitting change. In differing the inflexible from flexible principles, on the one hand, and considering the reasons triggering the change of the principles, on the other hand, any change in the appellation of a principle changes a primary principle into a secondary one. As religious principles are sometimes dependent on their specific appellation, the change from the primary into secondary principle becomes necessary if the principle has been given a new appellation due to the specific circumstances existing for the person observing the principle, even though the principle itself has not undergone any change.This way of initiating change in the religious principles is performed by Shari’a scholars, and the justifying evidence for its righteousness assures its place in the rank of observable principles. In consequence of this, the reason for the preference of a secondary principle over a primary one as such is important. In taking the oral justifying evidence into consideration, the preference of the secondary principle is due to the dominance of its justifying reason over the preliminary principle. Considering, on the contrary, the logical justification, the principle is dependent on the strongest evidence. Then the conflicting laws for a principle are necessarily attached importance to rather than the oral justifying evidence.