The Capacity of Shiʻi Jurisprudence for Identifying Endowment as One of the Financial Resources of the Islamic Government in light of the Principle of the Guardianship of the Muslim Jurist

The necessity to form an Islamic government as a means of preserving the interests of Islam and Muslims is certain in ShiÝi jurisprudence. No doubt, to form a government and to run its related affairs requires access to financial resources. To do so, in the political jurisprudence (fiqh) of Islam, numerous resources have been recognized and studied, but no or scant mention has been made of endowment. However, making use of the various resources in ShiÝi fiqh, one is able to identify or create religious endowments which, as a state financial resource, can be put at the religious authority’s disposal in order to be used for the necessities, as well as the interests of the Islamic community. Drawing upon an organized analytical method, this article first seeks to identify the jurisprudential capacities for the important jurisprudential tasks, and then to study the defined authorities a religious authority has over the religious endowments. This research work rests on the hypothesis that there are various jurisprudential capacities in the ShiÝi dynamic jurisprudence to be used as one of the financial sources of the Islamic state; as the religious power and authority of religious authority and his jurisdiction over the public endowment is certain. This research work aims to prove the hypothesis in question.