The Jurisprudential Study of the Authorities of the Muslim Ruler in Enacting Two Interferring (Mutazāhim)Decrees

Given the importance of preserving the Islamic regime and the Islamic society, a Muslim ruler, whenever finds it expedient, can make special laws and regulations and issue special orders as government decrees. Attention to the nature of a government decree shows that this kind of decree is not among any of the primary and secondary rules, rather in case two decrees meet by accident at the same time (being mutazāhim), a government decree may cause the provisional inexecution of the two dcrees. That is to say, sometimes in enacting decrees, when two decrees – whether be two primary decrees or two secondary decrees – meet by accident at the same time, a Muslim ruler, considering both the interests of the Islamic regime and the maxim “the primacy of more important instances over the important ones” can choose and enact one of the decrees which is more important and the most useful one and ignore or inexcute the other decree temporarily. As soon as this problem is resolved, the primary decree returns back to its first state and becomes operative. In this article, the question has been dealt with on the basis of theoretical and fundamental investigation drawing upon a content analysis. Through analyzing the findings and studying the instances, the conclusion is made by the writer that a Muslim ruler has this right and authority to choose between the two decrees when they meet by accidence, the one which is taken to be more important than the other according to circumstances and expediences.