Journal of Imamiyyah Studies

Journal of Imamiyyah Studies

A Critical Review of the Ruler’s Discretion Among the Four Punishments for Muḥāraba in Imami Jurisprudence

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
mahdi mohamadzadeh 1
omid gandomi 2
melad shamakhte 3
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Education, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran
2 Graduate of Level Four of Jurisprudence and Legal Theory, Khuzestan Seminary, Ahvaz, Iran
3 Graduate of Level Four of Jurisprudence and Legal Theory, Qom Seminary, Qom, Iran
10.22034/jis.2024.440570.1934
Abstract
Muḥāraba (waging war against God and society) is a term explicitly mentioned in the Holy Qur’an; however, among Imami (i.e. Twelver Shi’a) jurists, there is a debate as to whether the fourfold punishments mentioned in the Qur’an 5:33 are prescribed for the ruler in a discretionary manner, or whether there is a specific order among them, so that a specific punishment should be applied in proportion to the type of crime. This research aims to critique the Islamic Penal Code regarding the absolute discretion of the judge in choosing one of the four punishments for Muḥāraba and examines and analyzes the jurisprudential and legal foundations related to this issue. The importance of the research lies in providing a scientific basis for critics of this legal article and proposing a jurisprudential solution to the problem. The findings of the research indicate that by rejecting the three reasons of those who believe in discretion, and with attention to the apparent meaning of the narrations - especially the Authentic Narration of Burayd (Ṣaḥīḥat Burayd) - and also by relying on rational arguments such as the principle of proportionality between crime and punishment, the theory of order in the four punishments of Muḥāraba can be proven. The method of data collection is library-based and using specialized software, and the research method is descriptive-analytical.
Keywords
Muḥāraba
ruler
crime
murder
weapon
The Holy Qur’an
Ibn Idrīs, Muhammad ibn Aḥmad. 1410 AH. Al-Sarā’ir al-Ḥāwī li-Taḥrīr al-Fatāwī, Qom: Muʾassasat al-Nashr al-Islāmī.
Ibn al-Barrāj, ʿAbdulʿazīz ibn Niḥrīr ibn al-Barrāj. 1406 AH. Al-Muhadhdhab, Qom: Muʾassasat al-Nashr al- Islāmī.
Ibn Dāwūd, Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī. 1383 AH. Kitāb al-Rijāl, Tehran: University of Tehran.
Ibn Zuhra, Ḥamza ibn ʿAlī. 1375 Sh. Ghuniyat al-Nuzūʿ ilā ʿIlmay al-Uṣūl wa al-Furūʿ, Qom: Muʾassasat Imam al-Ṣādiq (AS).
Ibn Fāris, Abu al-Ḥusayn. 1399 AH. Muʿjam Maqāyīs al-Lugha, ed. ʿAbd al-Salām Muhammad Hārūn, Beirut: Dār al-Fikr li al-Ṭibāʿa wa al-Nashr.
Javādī Āmolī, ʿAbdullah. 1378 Sh.Tasnīm, Qom: Isrāʾ.
Al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Muhammad ibn al-Ḥasan. 1416 AH. Tafṣīl Wasā’il al-Shīʿa ilā Taḥṣīl Masā’il al-Sharīʿa, Qom: Muʾassasat Āl-Albayt li Iḥyā' al-Turāth.
Al-Ḥalabī, Najm al-Dīn ibn ʿUbaydullāh. 1403 AH. Al-Kāfī fi al-Fiqh, Isfahan: Maktabat Imam Amīr al-Muʾminīn ʿAlī (AS) al-ʿĀmma.
Subḥānī Tabrīzī, Jaʿfar. 1432 AH. Al-Ḥudūd wa al-Taʿzīrāt fi al-Sharīʿa al-Islāmiyya al-Gharāʾ, Qom: Muʾassasat al-Imām al-Ṣādiq (AS).
Sallār al-Daylamī, Ḥamza ibn ʿAbdulʿazīz. 1404 AH. Al-Marāsim fi al-Fiqh al-Imāmī, Qom: Manshūrāt al-Ḥaramayn.
Shaker, Muhammad Hossein; Rustayi, Hamid. 1400 Sh. “A Study on the Method of Implementing Punishments for Muḥārib and Harmonizing the Selection of Discretionary Punishments”, Pazhūhishhā-yi Fiqhī, no. 3: 771-800.
Al-Shahīd al-Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn ibn ʿAlī. 1413 AH. Masālik al-Afhām ilā Tanqīḥ Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, Qom: Muʾassesat al-Maʿārif al-Islāmiyyah.
Al-Ṣadūq, Muhammad ibn ʿAlī. 1415 AH. Al-Muqniʿ, Qom: Mu'assasa-yi Payām-i Imām Hādī (AS).
Al-Ṣadūq, Muhammad ibn ʿAlī. 1418 AH. Al-Hidāya (fi al-Uṣūl wa al-Furuʿ), Qom: Mu'assasat al-Imām al-Hādī (AS).
Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Muhammad Ḥusayn. 1378 Sh. Translation of Tafsīr al-Mīzān, Qom: Muʾassasat al-Nashr al-Islāmī.
Al-Ṭūsī Muhammad ibn al-Ḥasan. 1407 AH. Tahdhīb Al-Aḥkām, (ed. al-Khirsān), Tehran: Dar Al-Kutub al-Islāmiyah.
Al-Ṭūsī Muhammad ibn al-Ḥasan. 1407 AH. [Kitāb] Al-Khilāf, Qom: Muʾassasat al-Nashr al-Islāmī.
Al-Ṭūsī Muhammad ibn al-Ḥasan. 1400 AH. Al-Nihāya fi Mujarrad al-Fiqh wa al-Fatāwā, Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī.
Al-Ṭūsī Muhammad ibn al-Ḥasan. 1387AH. Al-Mabsūṭ fi Fiqh al-Imāmiya, Tehran: al-Maktabah al-Murtaḍawiyya.
Al-Ṭūsī Muhammad ibn al-Ḥasan.  1363 Sh. Al-Istibṣār fi ma Ikhtulifa min al-Akhbār, Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya.
Al-Ṭūsī Muhammad ibn al-Ḥasan. 1365 Sh. Tahdhīb Al-Aḥkām, Tehran: Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyya.
Allamah al-Ḥillī, Ḥasan ibn Yūsuf. 1411 AH. Tabṣirat al-Mutaʿallimīn fī Aḥkām al-Dīn, Tehran: Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
Allamah al-Ḥillī, Ḥasan ibn Yūsuf. 1420 AH. Taḥrīr al-Aḥkām al-Sharʿiyya ʿalā Madhhab al-Imāmiyya, Qom: Muʾassasat al-Imam al-Ṣādiq (AS).
Allamah al-Ḥillī, Ḥasan ibn Yūsuf. 1413 AH. Mukhtalaf al-Shīʿa fī Aḥkām al-Sharīʿa. Qom: Muʾassasat al-Nashr al-Islāmī.
Al-ʿAyyāshī, Muhammad ibn Masʿūd. 1380 AH. Al-Tafsīr, Tehran: Al-Maktaba al-ʿIlmiyya al-Islāmiyya.
Fāzel Lankarānī, Muhammad. 1381 Sh. Tafsīl al-Sharīʿa fī Sharḥ Taḥrīr al-Wasīla; al-Ḥudūd, Qom: Markaz Fiqh al-Aʾimmah al-Aṭhār (AS).
Al-Fāḍil Miqdād, al-Miqdād ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Suyūrī. 1404 AH. Al-Tanqīḥ al-Rāʾiʿ li Mukhtaṣar al-Sharāʾiʿ, Qom: Maktabat Ayatollah al-Marʿashī al-Najafī.
Al-Fāḍil al-Hindī, Muhammad ibn Ḥasan. 1416 AH. Kashf al-Litham ʿan Qawāʿid al-Aḥkām, Qom: Muʾassasat al-Nashr al-Islāmī.
Fakhr al-Muhaqqiqīn [al-Ḥillī], Muhammad ibn Ḥasan ibn Yūsuf. 1387/ AH. Īḍāḥ al-Fawāʾid fī Sharḥ Mushkilāt al-Qawāʿid, Qom: Muʾassasat Ismāʿīliyan.
Al-Farahīdī, al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad. 1409 AH. Kitāb Al-ʿAyn, Qom: Muʾassasat Dār al-Hijrah.
Fīrūzābādī, Muhammad ibn Yaʿqūb. 1415 AH. al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ, Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, Publications of Muhammad ʿAlī Bayḍūn.
Al-Fayḍ al-Kashani, Muḥsin. 1401 AH. Mafātīḥ al-Sharāʾiʿ, Qom: Public Library of Ayatollah Marʿashī Najafī.
Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ, Jaʿfar. 1420 AH. Kashf al-Ghiṭāʾ ʿan Mubhamāt al-Sharīʿa al-Gharrāʾ, Qom: Office of Islamic Propagation of Qom Seminary.
Al-Kashshī, Muhammad ibn ʿUmar. 1404 AH. Ikhtiyār Maʿrifat al-Rijāl [also known as Rijāl al-Kashshī], Qom: Muʾassasat Āl al-Bayt li Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth.
Al-Kulaynī, Muhammad ibn Yaʿqūb. 1430 AH. Al-Kafi, Qom: Scientific and Cultural Institute of Dār al-Ḥadīth.
Al-Kaydarī, Quṭb al-Dīn Bayhaqī. 1374 Sh. Iṣbāḥ al-Shīʿa bi Miṣbāḥ al-Sharīʿa, Qom: Muʾassasat al-Imam al-Ṣādiq (AS).
Golpāyegāni, Seyyed Muhammad Rezā. 1372 Sh. Al-Durr al-Manḍūd fī Aḥkām al-Ḥudūd, Qom: Dār al-Qurʾān al-Karīm.
Mahboubi, Seyyed Nasrullah; Zargarian, Taha; Fateminia, Yousef. 1396 Sh. "The Necessity of Observing Order in the Implementation of Muḥārib Punishment", Fiqh Quarterly, no. 4: 7-30.
Al-Majlisī, Muhammad Bāqir. 1406/1985), Malādh al-Akhyār fi Fahm Tahdhīb al-Akhbār, Qom: Public Library of Ayatollah Marʿashi Najafi.
Al-Muhaqqiq al-Ḥillī, Jaʿfar ibn al-Ḥasan. 1418 AH. Al-Mukhtaṣar al-Nāfiʿ fi Fiqh al-Imāmiyya, Qom: Maṭbūʿāt Dīnī.
Al-Muhaqqiq al-Ḥillī, Jaʿfar ibn al-Ḥasan. 1408 AH. Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām fī Masāʾil al-Ḥalāl wa 'l-Ḥarām, Qom: Muʾassasat Ismāʿīliyan.
Al-Mufīd, Muhammad ibnn Muhammad ibn al-Nuʿmān. 1410 AH. Al-Muqniʿa, Qom: Muʾassasat al-Nashr al-Islāmī.
Mousawi Khomeini, Seyyed Rouhollah. 1379 Sh. Taḥrīr al-Wasīlah, Tehran: Institute for the Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini's Works.
Mūsawī Sabziwārī, Sayyid ʿAbd al-Aʿlā. 1413 AH. Muhadhdhab al-Aḥkām, Qom: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā Sabziwārī.
Moʾmen Qomi, Muhammad. 1431 AH. Mabānī Taḥrīr al-Wasīlah, Tehran: Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini's Works.
Al-Najāshī, Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī. 1365 Sh. Fihrist Asmāʾ Muṣannifi al-Shīʿa (Rijāl al-Najāshī), Qom: Muʾassasat al-Nashr al-Islāmī.
Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, Abū Zakariyā Najīb al-Dīn. 1405 AH. al-Jāmiʿ li al-Sharāʾiʿ, Qom: Muʾassasat Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ (AS).
Subḥānī, Jaʿfar. 1392 Sh."A Study of the Rule of Justice and Fairness", Ayatollah Subḥānī's Khārij Fiqh Lesson [highest level seminary lectures], Madrasa Faqāhat. URL: https://eshia.ir/Feqh/Archive/text/sobhani/feqh/92/920918/%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%87%20%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%84
 
 
Journal of Imamiyyah Studies
Volume 11, Issue 21 - Serial Number 21
September 2025
Pages 313-338