نشریه حکومت اسلامی
سال بیست و چهارم شماره 1 (پیاپی 91، بهار 1398)

The right to development and discourse on sustainable development in the context of the universal human rights have brought about a wave of regional and global agendas in recent years. The 2030 Agenda, especially its fourth goal in its context of Western humanistic and secular ideas, has imposed certain binding readings in systems of policy-making, legislating, planning, introducing regulations as regards to different countries of the world. In this article, the writers while focusing on the meaning of development and the concept of ‘being developed’ as well as their components in the 2030 Agenda, try to provide an answer to the question “what fundamental challenges does the Islamic Republic of Iran face in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?” Such challenging components as comprehensive sexual education, elimination of all forms of violence, elimination of sexual stereotypes, special attention to the rights of vulnerable groups (strata), etc. are set as the defining statements (measurements) of development of societies. These components are not consistent with the cultural and social framework of Iran as a country with a totally religious civilization dating back to thousands years ago. They are also in fundamental contradiction with the general domestic policies and the national development paradigms. This involves a conflict between the right to development as well as sustainable development as universal rights on the one hand and cultural diversity of different countries, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, on the other. The method of research in this article is descriptive-analytical.

Especially in this era, to make inferences from the legal injunctions compounded with problems and difficulties raised by certain new issues, a Muslim jurist, faqih, is in need of a set of rules by which he can make inferences and set them as criteria for determining the extent to which his fatwas are true or false. One of these rules is the rule of social justice. Social justice is the most important index for the development of human life and it is considered as an important goal in Islam to establish it in society. In the Qur’anic texts and numerous traditions, justice is introduced as one of the goals of religion and of the divine Prophets. In this article, the writer deals with the concept and nature of social justice as one jurisprudential rule which is needed by the Muslim jurist in making inferences from legal injunctions (judgements). Discussions of the article will revolve around the fact that a Muslim jurist can make use of this rule as a primary judgement for the confirmation or disconfirmation of an injunction. He can also set it as a criterion and a measurement for verifying his inferences, in which case it will be dominant over other proofs. To establish the rule in question, references will be made to the proofs such as the QurÞÁn, tradition, reason and consensus and instances of its application in the deduction of religious laws in two respects (the source and origin of the deduction of laws and the criterion for the measurement of inferences (deductions) will be mentioned.

Soft war is considered to be one of the important issues in the Islamic Republic of Iran in the last decade. This research work raises this basic question: “What are the strategies for confronting soft war in an Islamic system based on the authority of a Muslim jurist?” and goes on to put forward the thesis that taking into account various aspects of this particular system, one can show the application of these strategies in the realm of the legitimacy of the system as a doctrinal foundation of the system, in the realm of structure as an executive and organizational mechanism of the political sovereignty, in the realm of leadership as an administrational aspect of the Islamic government and in the sphere of community (ummah) as the social basis of the Islamic state. This research can be said to have developmental application in terms of objectives drawing upon historical-comparative method as far as its methodology is concerned. The findings of the research show that in Islamic society one can speak of three paradigms of ‘prophetic system of guardianship’, ‘Alawi system of guardianship’ and ‘ system of guardianship based on the authority of a qualified Muslim jurist’. The latter is peculiar to the Times of Occultation. Drawing upon a comparative study of the early days of Islam, there are other two deviant paradigms conceived through soft war.

Soft war is considered to be one of the important issues in the Islamic Republic of Iran in the last decade. This research work raises this basic question: “What are the strategies for confronting soft war in an Islamic system based on the authority of a Muslim jurist?” and goes on to put forward the thesis that taking into account various aspects of this particular system, one can show the application of these strategies in the realm of the legitimacy of the system as a doctrinal foundation of the system, in the realm of structure as an executive and organizational mechanism of the political sovereignty, in the realm of leadership as an administrational aspect of the Islamic government and in the sphere of community (ummah) as the social basis of the Islamic state. This research can be said to have developmental application in terms of objectives drawing upon historical-comparative method as far as its methodology is concerned. The findings of the research show that in Islamic society one can speak of three paradigms of ‘prophetic system of guardianship’, ‘Alawi system of guardianship’ and ‘ system of guardianship based on the authority of a qualified Muslim jurist’. The latter is peculiar to the Times of Occultation. Drawing upon a comparative study of the early days of Islam, there are other two deviant paradigms conceived through soft war.

The effective function of the sources of wealth and public wealth (the Spoils) from the QurÞanic point of view and the Prophet’s life-style and his Progeny, its consumption and the way of acquiring its ownership have attracted the attention of the Muslim thinkers from the early days of Islam. Thus, issues such as different sorts of spoils, and ways of its manipulation and consumption have always been a matter of dispute among Shi‘i and Sunni scholars. The present essay explores and cast a new look at the disagreements over the issue in question and goes on to make a comparative analysis of the instances of the Spoils in the culture based on Divine Revelation and lifestyle of the Prophet and his Progeny. Trying to resolve the seeming contradiction between the verses of the Spoils and Khums (the Fifth) as well as doubts about abrogation (naskh), the article presents a new approach to the uses of the Spoils under the guardianship of a qualified Muslim jurist. The article tries to show that, according to the Holy QurÞÁn and the Prophet’s life-style as well as the words of the Prophet’s Family (Ahl al-Bayt), the Spoils legally belong to the Prophet (prophethood and guardianship) and to the Prophet’s progeny (Imamate and guardianship) which can be transferred to their successors as Muslim rulers to be spent on looking after public interests and running the Islamic government, and at the times of Occultation they are left at the disposal of the Muslim guardian jurist who is entrusted to rule over the Islamic community, run and administer the affairs of the people.

In order to explain Ayatollah Khamenei’s role model, the writer has conducted and organized the research to provide an answer to the question about the nature of this role model drawing on the descriptive-analytic method. To collect data, the library research method has been used, and to make analysis of the data, content analysis method has been applied. The findings of the research show that Ayatollah Khamenei’s style of leadership is based on spiritual consciousness of a certain kind. On the basis of this research, the role model in question is of hardware constituents (hard leadership) and software constituents (soft leadership). The hard constituents of the conscious spiritual leadership in volves such things as military affairs, economy, and geographical and geopolitical conditions, and the soft constituents of this model include spirituality, theism, knowledge, technology, culture, politics, as well as interior and exterior security. It should be noted that Ayatollah Khamenei’s leadership in respect of soft leadership is based on the constituent of spirituality. None the less, hard leadership is considered as one of the implications of conscious spiritual leadership as far as the complications of the changes and developments at an international level are concerned.

Utopias [=ideal places or states] are essentially based on values and no ideal theory can be developed to the level of the utopian theory with no regard to the morals and values. Among values and morals, essential human dignity is put at the top and is thus prior to other human values. This is a claim with which the Holy QurÞÁn has dealt. The real thesis of this article is that the Holy QurÞÁn as the most important epistemological source includes a model of utopian system which is naturally constituted by human dignity. One may study the essential and acquired human dignity within the ideal system of the Holy QurÞÁn by means of different theoretical paradigms. However, this article has been organized within the framework of Muhammad BÁqir Íakim’s theory of ‘unlimited ideal’ which is derived from the Holy QurÞÁn. The findings show that in all stages and five principles of this theory, i.e. ‘worship of God’, ‘conscious movement’, excruciating movement’, qualitative change’ and ‘quantitative change’, both natural and acquired forms of dignity are clearly present for which many Quranic evidence can be offered. Studies on human dignity within the framework of the theory of ‘unlimited ideal’ show only glimpses of the capacities of the Qur’anic utopia.