The Feasibility of the Principle of Istiṣḥāb in Examining the Qualifications of Islamic Government Officials

Istiṣḥāb (presumption of continuity) is widely used and relied upon throughout jurisprudence, and many cases of doubt and ambiguity are resolved through this practical principle. The expansion of jurisprudential issues necessitates further examination of this principle in its application to new issues. The importance of some newly emerged issues on the one hand and the existing arguments for Istiṣḥāb on the other hand have made the application of this principle to some newly emerged issues - especially social and political jurisprudential issues – doubtful and questionable. One of these issues is the qualifications of government officials, which, due to their public impact on society, are of considerable importance. Therefore, the question arises: Can the qualifications of Islamic government officials - which are cases of Istiṣḥāb of the subject in political jurisprudence - be ascertained by relying on the principle of Istiṣḥāb? The present research, using a library-based method and a critical-analytical approach, has evaluated this issue. Examining the available data from the arguments for the validity and credibility of Istiṣḥāb shows that since the cases of Istiṣḥāb arguments are individual jurisprudential issues such as purity, and eliminating the specificity of individual issues due to the possibility of specificity is not possible, the application of Istiṣḥāb in public and governmental affairs faces serious problems. Therefore, the application of Istiṣḥāb to ascertain the qualifications of Islamic government officials is a matter of serious doubt.