Note: Dr. Zahra Akhavan Sarraf is one of the few women jurisprudence researchers who has been titled in this field. Her collection of writings, interviews, notes, and statements on various jurisprudential and Quranic topics has made her one of the prominent women in the knowledges of jurisprudence and Quranic sciences. With proficiency in Arabic, English, and French languages, she has also gained good experiences in the international arena, both in the form of scholarly trips and participation in international sessions. We spoke with her about the necessities of an international approach to jurisprudential knowledge. She believes that an international approach to jurisprudence is not a choice; rather, it is a necessity. In this interview, she elaborated in detail on the various dimensions of this approach. The detailed exclusive interview of Contemporary Jurisprudence with the faculty member of the University of Religions and Denominations follows:
Contemporary Jurisprudence: What does an international approach to jurisprudence mean and what necessities does it have?
Akhavan Sarraf: Jurisprudence, as the knowledge of inferring rulings from their sources, plays a central role in the lives of Muslim societies. This knowledge has evolved over centuries to respond to the spiritual, social, and legal needs of the Islamic ummah. However, in a world that is increasingly interconnected through globalization, migration, and digital technologies, important questions arise that the topic of an international approach to jurisprudence must address: Can jurisprudence be applied in a global context? What are the requirements for developing an international approach to jurisprudence? And what effects will such an approach have on Islamic jurisprudence, Shiite societies, and the global community?
The meaning of an international or global approach to jurisprudence is a kind of recreation of jurisprudence in which the insights, tendencies, and requirements of a contemporary globalized society with the mentioned characteristics and the potential challenges of this new society with jurisprudence and their solutions are considered. Thus, in fact, this approach seeks to adapt and interpret jurisprudential sources within the framework of global issues and problems. This approach strives to reconsider Islamic jurisprudence in light of international developments and the needs of Muslim societies at the global level. This reconsideration may be in rulings or in the principles and methods of inferring them. Such an approach has theoretical and practical necessities.
Some of the theoretical necessities of this approach include:
Jurisprudence’s dynamism: Rereading traditional jurisprudence based on dynamic ijtihad, meaning that jurisprudential ijtihad must respond to contemporary needs by considering the conditions of time and place and thus must be flexible.
Jurisprudence’s flexibility: Human and world evolutions on one hand and the development of ijtihad tools that, while adhering to primary principles and sources, provide the possibility of different interpretations on the other, demand fundamental flexibility in jurisprudence.
Jurisprudence’s inclusivism: To encompass the opinions of Muslims from diverse ethnic, linguistic, and national backgrounds in the ijtihad process.
Some of the practical necessities of this approach include:
Precise recognition of international issues and striving for harmonization: Jurists must become familiar with global issues and challenges and, by considering international requirements and the capabilities of Muslims in the globalized society, fill the gap between Islamic law and international legal systems without endangering Islam’s fundamental values.
Interaction with other legal systems: To achieve common solutions, constructive interaction must be established with international legal systems, and this requires intercultural communication so that, in addition to reaching common solutions and along the way, Islamic rulings are presented in a way that is understandable and meaningful in various cultural contexts.
Contemporary Jurisprudence: Is an international approach to jurisprudence a necessity or merely a preferable but non-essential matter?
Akhavan Sarraf: Given the phenomenon of globalization and the mutual influence of societies on each other, an international approach to jurisprudence is a necessity. Only such an approach can help solve emerging and complex issues raised at the global level and prevent the isolation of Islamic jurisprudence. Categories of necessities make internationalization a preferable or optional matter out of the question. Including:
The necessity of jurisprudence responding to issues of Muslim minorities in non-Muslim countries; given Muslims living as minorities in non-Muslim countries, jurisprudence must respond to issues such as interfaith relations, secular legal systems, and multicultural societies.
The necessity of jurisprudence responding to global ethical challenges; topics such as climate change, artificial intelligence, human rights, and bioethics require responses rooted in Islamic principles but applicable at the global level.
The necessity of Muslim unity in positions in the global society; an international approach can act as a unifying force for Muslims worldwide and provide common frameworks for confronting modern issues.
Contemporary Jurisprudence: What effects will an international approach to jurisprudence have on jurisprudential knowledge, Shiite society, and the international community?
Akhavan Sarraf: An international approach to jurisprudence can have transformative effects in various arenas. Including, this approach:
Has a profound effect on jurisprudence as a scholarly discipline. This approach encourages re-ijtihad and dynamic research to respond to contemporary issues and leads to further development and dynamism of jurisprudence and responsiveness to new issues. It also requires large-scale cooperation among scholars, even scholars of different schools, to achieve the most effective solutions in the global arena.
Can help expand the role of Shiite societies and increase their interaction with other denominations. By interacting in international frameworks, Shiite jurisprudence can introduce its rich traditions to a wider audience and promote understanding and dialogue. This can help combat stereotypes and promote intellectual participation of Shiite scholars. Thus, it leads to increased interaction and convergence with other societies and strengthening religious and faith identity in the international arena.
Islamic jurisprudence can have a significant impact on the global society; in such a way that by participating in global discussions on ethics, rights, and governance, it demonstrates its importance beyond Muslim societies and enriches the international discourse on justice and ethics. On the other hand, it helps better understanding of Islam and reducing misunderstandings and paves the way for peaceful coexistence.
Contemporary Jurisprudence: To create an international approach to jurisprudential knowledge, what executive and scholarly actions are necessary?
Akhavan Sarraf: These actions are as follows:
Education and research; to realize an international approach to jurisprudence, scholarly and institutional efforts in educational and research arenas are needed. Seminaries and relevant university groups must seriously attend to recognizing new topics and challenging jurisprudential rulings in the global arena and also offer courses on international law, comparative legal systems, and global ethics to prepare the jurisprudential apparatus for intercultural ijtihad. And in addition, prepare special disciplines for educating contemporary international issues. Parallel to education, the same components must be activated in the research arena, and more welcome should be given to research on topics such as Islamic views on global governance, economic systems, and human rights.
Deliberation and cooperation in the global arena; an international approach to jurisprudence requires our jurisprudential apparatus to achieve stronger deliberation and cooperation, for example, strive to form international councils of Islamic scholars to examine global issues and issue unified or approximated fatwas. Also, attend to participation in interfaith and interdisciplinary discussions to exchange views and identify common ethical grounds, and to develop this approach, for example, through holding sessions and international conferences, engage in interaction with thinkers from other countries. Also, seriously utilize contemporary dense facilities and technologies like digital platforms to disseminate Islamic rulings and promote dialogue with Muslims and non-Muslims worldwide.
Contemporary Jurisprudence: Throughout history, what efforts have been made to internationalize jurisprudential knowledge?
Akhavan Sarraf: The principle of human and world evolutions is not a novel matter. Throughout history, Muslim jurists have adopted progressive, flexible, and inclusive approaches for the level of their era’s transformations and given wing to transformation. Examples of the tradition of flexibility and inclusivism from the past to now include:
Medieval trade networks: Scholars issued rulings on trade methods that facilitated commerce throughout the Islamic world and beyond.
Colonial and post-colonial contexts: Efforts to adapt Islamic law to modern states demonstrate striving for harmony between tradition and contemporary realities.
Contemporary initiatives: Organizations such as the International Islamic Fiqh Academy continue to address global challenges and bring together scholars from various regions.
Contemporary efforts such as examining the relationship between religion and governance from the perspective of jurisprudence and Islamic law with an international approach demonstrate the importance of this topic.
Contemporary Jurisprudence: If you have a final point, please state it.
Akhavan Sarraf: Throughout history, Islamic jurisprudence has shown remarkable flexibility in the face of era transformations. Evolution and change in our era have an unprecedented speed that is incomparable with any era. The field of inference has truly changed. In such conditions, one can sit aside and remain silent and continue playing a role in the previous field or adopt a negative approach and confront new insights and tendencies and become obsolete and isolated; or one can, in continuation of the historical tradition of flexible ijtihad, open a new chapter in the book of dynamic ijtihad and continue playing a role in the middle of the new field and organize ijtihad based on the requirements of globalization. In my opinion, the preferability, rather necessity, of the latter approach needs no argumentation; because an international approach to jurisprudence is not only inevitable for the vitality and effectiveness of jurisprudence, but also provides an opportunity for Islamic jurisprudence and especially Shiite ijtihad to achieve its deserving position in the modern world.