Faculty member of Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) University:
Clue: The jurists of the future will learn from the jurists of the past and some of their fatwas; Because with the passage of time and the extent of the developments, they will realize that the jurists of the past, regarding the jurisprudence issues of drama and virtual scenes, have had very little input or have not identified the issue well, therefore, they have not been able to issue a ruling, or their ruling was wrong or basically was not answered. And they did not give and left the issues to themselves.
Note: leaving jurisprudence from the passive approach and entering the field of activity is not possible except by researching the future and understanding the issues that will be faced in the future; Thus, the need for future studies in all fields of jurisprudence becomes necessary. One of the most important issues of contemporary jurisprudence is related to performing arts. We discussed this issue with Hujjatul Islam, Dr. Ahmad Ali Qani’, a member of the Faculty of Islamic Studies, Culture and Communication of Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) University. He believes that although virtual space will dominate the real space in the future, there will be no change in jurisprudence! The details of the conversation with this professor of media and communication are as follows:
What do you consider to be the most important issues facing jurisprudence in the next hundred years?
Prof. Qani’: One of the issues that has been raised in the last decade or two is the discussion of virtual and real scene rulings and the difference between the two. It seems that there is no obvious difference between reality and show. The reason for that is the application of texts; The Qur’an is a transtemporal and translocal book, and it is authentic until the Day of Judgment, although the narrations are also the same. For instance, if God says: “Tell the believing men to lower their gaze.” or if He says: “Tell the believing women to lower their gaze.”, there is no requirement that this vision is in the real world. Almighty God knows that in the future, visions and offerings will occur in the virtual world, and nevertheless, He expressed His text in an absolute manner; Thus, the prohibition of looking in the above verse includes both direct looking and indirect looking through the media and the virtual world.
From here, I want to avoid the issue of seeing the crescent moon. If it is said in the hadiths: “Fast for the vision and break your fast for the vision”, this sighting is also an applied sight. That is, it includes seeing with the naked eye as well as seeing with the unaided eyes. In ancient times, when there were no tools for seeing with the armed eyes, such as telescopes, etc., people saw with the unaided eyes. Nowadays, when new tools are invented and they can see the crescent moon or see the crescent moon from above the cloud by means of an airplane, again “fast” For seeing and breaking the fast for seeing”, it has been fulfilled and the action is correct according to the application. That is, according to tradition, no one can say that seeing the moon from the top of the cloud is not included in “fast for vision and breaking the fast for vision”.
The second reason is that the rulings are based on interests and corruption. For instance, if it is said that men should not look at women’s bodies or women should not look at men’s bodies, it is for the purpose of not stimulating lust and causing corruption. This corrupting and sensual stimulation can be obtained in direct and real view, it can also be obtained in virtual or indirect view through the representation of a woman’s body in the media, so it is also subject to judgment. This is a natural issue.
Some jurists have believed in the principle of acquittal or abaha for virtual and dramatic scenes, while here we have a reason and when there is a reason, it is not the turn of the principle, as it is known among jurists: “The principle is the same as the reason”; Therefore, when at least two reasons are clear to us, we do not need to adhere to the principle; Therefore, it is not permissible for men to look at women’s bodies indirectly, or for women to look at men’s bodies who are exercising, especially wrestling and swimming, through the media, without any difference between broadcast and non-broadcast, direct or indirect broadcasting, familiar or unfamiliar, etc. that some gentlemen have recognized these differences. All of these have the same rule, because the fear of sedition and usury will be present in all of them, even if to different degrees, because the opposite sex is always pleasant and attractive to a person, whether it is real and direct or virtual and indirect.
Will the presuppositions and foundations of jurisprudence change in the next hundred years? What do you think these changes will be in?
Prof. Qani’: My impression is that we will not have significant and tangible changes. Man will remain man, Sharia’s rulings are also fixed, benefits and corruptions are also fixed. Even though in the last three or four decades, science and mass communication tools have advanced a lot and the scenes have become much more virtual; However, we do not see much difference in the ruling of the issue; Therefore, the presuppositions and foundations of jurisprudence will not change that much, of course, issues will arise; But we considered the issues of virtual scenes to be the same as the real ones, so the verdict will not change, now he can progress as far as he wants; The ruling is the same as stated in the evidence. “Muhammad’s halal is halal until the Day of Resurrection and Haramah is forbidden until the Day of Resurrection”, also does not accept any change. As long as there is a person and the world, the forbidden and the halal of Sharia will remain, the forbidden and the halal of Sharia: “But the tongue of God changes” and “But the tongue of God changes.”
Will the way of “researching” and “solving” the problems of drama jurisprudence change in the next hundred years? What do you think these changes will be like?
Mr. Qani’: I don’t think there will be many changes in this field.
Will the response of jurists to the jurisprudence issues of drama change in the next hundred years? What direction do you think these changes will take?
Prof. Qani’: The jurists of the future will learn from the jurists of the past and some of their fatwas; Because with the passage of time, and the extent of the developments, they will realize that the past jurists, regarding the jurisprudence issues of drama and virtual scenes, have entered very little, or they have not identified the issue well, therefore they have not been able to issue a ruling, or their ruling was wrong, or In principle, they did not answer and left the problem to themselves; Therefore, it seems that the jurists of the future, who are more connected with virtual scenes and mass media, will issue more complete and stronger fatwas than the current jurists and will know the issue better. In the current situation, sometimes we face some issues that because the jurists have not done a good thematic analysis, the rulings issued have not been complete.
For example, when the discussion of pyramid companies was raised for the first time, some jurists could not distinguish the issue correctly, so they considered “GoldQuest” as a type of broker and ruled that there is nothing wrong with it, while “GoldQuest” was never a broker. Rather, it was reaching into other people’s pockets. A person from the top of the pyramid reached into the pockets of people who were at the bottom of the pyramid, so he made a profit, but the people at the bottom who did not reach into anyone’s pockets were left without a hat and suffered. In the same case, later when the jurists recognized the issue correctly, they issued the verdict correctly. In the position of our discussion, this principle of “blame” or “innocence” that some jurists have proposed regarding the media and virtual space is of the same type, that is, it is rooted in the lack of proper knowledge of the subject, in the future, this knowledge will gradually after that, the decrees issued are also amended. Because when the issue is properly known to them and they pay attention to the real benefits and harms and see the application of the evidence, they will consequently realize the incorrectness of the rulings they have issued and they will definitely change their rulings.
How do you evaluate the relationship between jurists and the artistic community in the next hundred years?
Mr. Qani’: There is no doubt that communication is becoming stronger and wider. It is possible that the virtual scene will become much more advanced, except that, for example, in the last twenty years, with the advent of mobile phones and virtual networks, these scenes have become stronger, but the ruling of Sharia will not change, except that the rulings have not changed in the last few decades. As the subjects will not change, as they have not changed so far. The issue of looking at the impermissible in the real world and looking at the impermissible through the media and virtual and dramatic scenes are the same; Therefore, I do not see any change in the matter.
This conversation is a part of the electronic magazine “Mabadi Fiqh Ta’am” which was produced in collaboration with the art jurisprudence school and the Ijtihad network website.