- ''This is a sub-article to Islamic jurisprudence and Twelvers.
Jaʿfarī school of thought, Jaʿfarī jurisprudence or Jaʿfarī Fiqh is the school of jurisprudence of Shi'a Muslims, derived from the name of Jaʿfar as-Ṣādiq, the 6th Shi'a Imam.
It differs from the four schools or madhhabs of Sunni jurisprudence in its reliance on ijtihad, the use of reason to interpret Islamic laws, as well as on matters of inheritance, religious taxes, commerce, personal status and the allowing of temporary marriage or mutʿa. However, despite these differences, there have been numerous fatwas regarding the acceptance of Jaʿfarī fiqh as an acceptable Muslim madhhab by Sunni religious bodies. These include the Amman Message and a fatwa by Al-Azhar.
Branches
Usuli
This school of thought utilizes Ijtihad by adopting reasoned argumentation in finding the laws of Islam. Usulis emphasize the role of Mujtahid who was capable of independently interpreting the sacred sources as an intermediary of the Hidden Imamas and , thus, serve as a guide to the community.This meant that legal interpretations were kept flexible to take account of changing conditions and the dynimics of the times. This school of thought is predominant among most of Shi'a.According to idea developed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, two kinds of Ja'fari jurisprudence can be recognized. One as Conventional Fiqh and another as Dynamic Fiqh. In Dynamic Fiqh, which is backed by the famous text book Javaher-al-Kalem (جواهر الكلم), one should consider the concept of time, era, and age (زمان) as well as the concept of place, location and venue (مکان). He stated that these two concepts have key role in the underestanding and extraction of commandments.
Akhbari
This school of thought takes a restrictive approach to ijtihad. Akhbaris are located in Basra, its environs and Bahrain.Sub-articles
Non-controversial fields
Controversial fields
These are the fields of the Ja'fari jurisprudence that are controversial among Muslims.
See also
Notes
References
- Oxford concise dictionary of Politics,2003
External links
- Some of Shi'a Islamic Laws books
- Islamic Laws of G.A. Sayyid Abulqasim al-Khoei
- Islamic Laws of G.A. Fazel Lankarani
- Islamic Laws of G.A. Syed Ali al-Husaini Seestani
- Shia Akhbari website
- Towards an Understanding of the Shiite Authoritative Sources
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Wednesday June 18, 2008 at 19:19:09 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation
Copyright © 2008, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.











