The topics of this book are now, and even more so at the time of publication, considered novel and new topics that are considered a kind of horizon-opening in the field of media and communications jurisprudence; although if the classification and arrangement were better, the use of its contents would have been done with greater ease and accuracy.

Hujjat al-lslam wa al-Muslimin Ali Nahavandi can perhaps be considered the person who has made the most writing and educational efforts in the field of media jurisprudence. Ten years of managing Khurasan Radawi Radio and Television and several years of heading the Center for Islamic Media Research have also led to his greater understanding of media field issues. He has written more than ten volumes of books in various fields of media jurisprudence so far. One of these books is the collection of “Lectures on the Jurisprudence of Media and Communications,” which is the result of courses offered since 2010 in the Mashhad Seminary,lran and since 2015 in the Qum Seminary. This two-volume book is about the answer to the questions of what the religious ruling is regarding media issues and phenomena and is the product of the course sessions. After implementing the lessons, briefly editing, and removing unnecessary discussions, an attempt has been made to preserve its colloquial appearance. Below is a brief report of the topics raised in this book, from your perspective.

The book “Collection of Lectures on the Jurisprudence of Media and Communications” consists of two volumes.

Volume One

 

Volume One has three chapters.

Chapter One has six chapters. The first chapter deals with the ontology of media jurisprudence, the second with the ontology of media, the third with religion, culture, and media, the fourth with the relationship between jurisprudence and media, the fifth with the relationship between media jurisprudence and major jurisprudences, and the sixth with the principles and rules of media jurisprudence. It can be said that the contents of the first chapter of this book fall under the general title of “Philosophy of Media Jurisprudence”.

Chapter Two has ten chapters. The first section is devoted to deception, the second section to the jurisprudence of informing and raising awareness, the third section to spreading lies and rumors, the fourth section to exposing and discrediting in the media, the fifth section to the ruling on spreading obscenity and wrongdoing, the sixth section to the ruling on confession, slander, and testimony through the media, the seventh section to the rulings on apostasy in the media, the eighth section to the jurisprudence of hidden cameras, entertainment, and media gambling, the ninth section to the ruling on debate and conflict of opinions in the media, and the tenth section to promoting magic in the media. The contents of this section are somewhat outside the philosophy of media jurisprudence and deal with the topics of this jurisprudential chapter. Of course, it is clear from the titles of the sections that the author did not intend a specific order for the discussions of media jurisprudence, and therefore he only discussed the topics that he considered important.  The author’s subsequent books, including “The System of Art and Media Issues,” did not have this problem, and the author presented a logical order of media jurisprudence topics as a jurisprudential chapter.

The third chapter has six sections. The first section deals with the limitation and subject, the second section with the principle of establishing and creating the media, the third section with examining the permissible scope of the media, the fourth section with the resemblance of women to men and vice versa, the fifth section with the jurisprudence of music and singing, and the sixth section with the rules of dance and rhythmic movements in the media. This chapter also suffers from a lack of logical order and system among the topics. For instance, the issue of “the principle of establishing and creating the media” would have been appropriate to discuss in the first chapter or at least at the beginning of the second chapter; because in terms of rank, it takes precedence over other topics of media jurisprudence. The other topics in this chapter also have no substantive difference from the topics in the second chapter and could have been included under that chapter. It seems that the inclusion of these topics as an independent chapter was either due to the time delay in presenting the topics or because the chapters were not too large.

Volume Two

The second volume of this collection has four chapters.

The first chapter has two sections. In the first section, the ontology of media is discussed, and in the second section, the conceptualization of media jurisprudence is discussed. The topics of this chapter would have been appropriate to be included in the first chapter of the first volume, because they are among the topics of the philosophy of media jurisprudence.

The second chapter has three sections. In the first section, the author deals with the conceptualization of communications, in the second section, the theory and rule of Da’wah, and in the third section, the jurisprudence of communications based on the theory of Da’wah. The contents of this chapter are entirely dedicated to “jurisprudence of communications,” and therefore, logically, it was logical to include them under one chapter; however, since the topics of the first and third chapters are related to media jurisprudence, it would have been appropriate to place the topics of this chapter at the beginning of the first volume or at the end of the second volume so that the difference between communications jurisprudence and media jurisprudence would have been more apparent.

Chapter Three has eight chapters. The first chapter deals with media writings, the second with the jurisprudential ruling on independent media activity, the third with the jurisprudence of perspective, the fourth with the ruling on broadcasting obligatory religious phenomena, the fifth with the jurisprudence of transactions in the media, the sixth with the ruling on the production and construction of puppets and robots in mixed drama programs, the seventh with the mixing of Muslim and non-Muslim actors, and the eighth with the media and privacy. It seems that the contents of this chapter do not follow the same logic either; some are about a specific type of media called written media, some about the performing arts, some refer to the jurisprudential dimensions of the media in general, and some to other matters; therefore, there is no single and coherent logic for compiling these chapters.

Chapter Four, which is the final chapter of this volume, consists of eight chapters. The first section deals with the problem of problem identification and the definition of the topic, the second section with the jurisprudence of cyberspace and social networks, the third section with the jurisprudence of e-commerce and teleshopping, the fourth section with the rulings of interactive media, the fifth section with the jurisprudence of virtual pilgrimage and non-attendance at the mosque, the sixth section with the jurisprudence of chatting in cyberspace, the seventh section with the jurisprudence of computer games and sports, and the eighth section with the ruling of online marriage. The topics in this chapter are almost all related to jurisprudence related to cyberspace, and some, such as “Jurisprudence of computer games and sports,” have no specific connection to media and communications and are solely related to cyberspace; therefore, it would have been appropriate to change the title of the book to “Jurisprudence of Media, Communications, and Cyberspace” and to call the topics in this chapter “Discourses on the Jurisprudence of Cyberspace.”

In any case, the topics of this book are considered novel and new at the time of publication, and are considered a kind of horizon-opening in the field of media and communications jurisprudence; although if it had been better organized, its contents would have been easier and more accurate to use. It is suggested that the respected author organize and categorize the book better in subsequent editions.