Humanological Principles of the Right for Self-Determination According to Imāmī Humanology

Self-determination is a civil right held by some people to have been brought for people by human right conventions. Since rights based on Islamic doctrines cannot be understood and analyzed without an account of the human nature implied by these doctrines, it can be claimed that the Imāmī school of thought recognizes the right for self-determination as an undeniable right of people given its characterizations of the human. In this paper, we consider and analyze Quranic verses and Imāmī hadiths concerning the human nature, and then conclude that Imāmī humanological principles, including axiological and theoretical principles, demonstrate the self-determination right for all humans. As suggested by the Imāmīyya, the human choice is a theoretical humanological ground for the right for self-determination. Humans choose their fate, and are responsible for their choice. The human intrinsic dignity, as an axiological humanological principle, establishes the self-determination right for individual citizens in virtue of their humanness and regardless of their interior and exterior properties. Another axiological principle establishing the right for self-determination is the human place as God’s successor.