Multi-Phase Ijtihad; a Suitable Method for Deducing Economic Jurisprudence Problems

The economic topics and transactions in Islamic doctrine are often of a confirmatory nature. The economic theorists develop transaction methods and instruments according to the society’s needs. Then the financial jurists examine those methods and instruments within the framework of Shariah’s principles and rules, and choose between them. The challenge faced by economic jurisprudence studies is that this topic is interdisciplinary and there is no valid research methodology in this field. On the one hand, the economic theorists don’t have sufficient proficiency in the jurisprudential complexities regarding financial instruments and they can’t infer the required Shariah-based rules, and on the other hand, these instruments are so complex that one can’t trust a simple fitwa (judgment) in which many of the aspects, details and applications of the issue have not been described.
This paper tries to provide a reliable method for inferring the economic jurisprudential issues. In this model, called multi-phase Ijtihad, after presenting a detailed analysis of the issue, the researcher examines its jurisprudential aspects. Then, after considering the views of economic jurisprudence experts on the issue and processing the information, the arguments will be summed up. In case of disagreement, the researcher exchanges views between the experts. When he gets confident, stating the critical points, he presents the issue to the Fiqh scholars in order for them to say their opinion about it, and if they approved, the final jurisprudential rule will be obtained.