Trans-religious Governmental Jurisprudence by Analyzing Jurisprudential and Legal Examples of “Istislah” in the Light of Public Expediency

The progress and development of human society causes new needs, especially in the field of social issues, the need to meet them while maintaining the purposes of Sharia is accepted by the Sharia, if the expediency is approved. The present study is aimed at answering the basic question that: What is the place of public expediency in the rules of Istislah that result in trans-religious governmental jurisprudence? Research findings show that the expansion of human society requires dealing with emerging issues that are based on the public expediency. Therefore, applying systematic Istislah under the authority of the spirit of Sharia is legal and rational and thus this kind of application of Istislah is from the presumptions of Sunnah or rationality that gives the social rulings based on public expediency a trans-religious character, so although Istislah is an unspecified resource, it is a mechanism generally governed by Sharia. Therefore, some Imami jurisprudents in subjects such as insurance, hoarding and intellectual ownership, and the legislator in  issues like public expediency and emerging legal issues that have a governmental aspect, relying on the public expediency, use Istislah in the form of tradition or reason.