On Wednesday, February 5,2025, the Fiqh Center of the Pure Imams witnessed a debate between two prominent teachers of the Qum Seminary; Ayatullahs Ali Dust and Islamian, entitled “Criticism of the independence of reason in deducing the objectives of Sharia.”

At this meeting, Ayatullah Islamian first raised his main question about the independent role of reason in deducing and, while rejecting Ayatullah Ali Dust’s arguments in this regard, asked him to provide Qur’anic references that indicate this deductive role. He said: The verses and narrations that, according to Ayatullah Ali Dust’s argument, emphasize the importance of reason and the necessity of using reason all refer to the stage after deducing rulings and not to the stage of deducing rulings.

While reminding the organizers of the correct way to hold a debate, which is to accurately inform both sides of the topic of the debate, Ayatullah Ali Dust asked Ayatullah Islamian at the beginning of his answer whether he believes in the interdependence between reason and Shari’ah, which is believed by many Shi’i scholars. He then quoted the words of many jurists, such as Muhaqiq Isfahani, the late Khu’i, and Na’ini, regarding this theory. He added: Our jurists have also relied on reason in various discussions on undisclosed rulings in deducing rulings. Ayatullah Ali Dust also pointed out that his method – as those familiar with his teachings know – is based on the accumulation of suspicions and not on relying solely on the four pieces of evidence. In his answer, Ayatullah Islamian insisted on his question and went on to object to the statements that Ayatullah Ali Dust quoted from the aforementioned jurists, considering them to be contrary to Ayatullah Ali Dust’s claims. He considered the aforementioned jurists’ discussions to be in the position of conformity, not in the position of revealing the ruling of reason from the ruling of the Shari’ah. He added: The Isfahani scholar you mentioned does not accept the rule of contiguity, and many other jurists do not believe in the rule of contiguity.

In the following, Ayatullah Ali Dust, by reviewing the statements of the jurists, clarified his claim and stated how the statements of these jurists indicate the contiguity between reason and Shari’ah and the independence of reason in inference in cases where there is no ruling between Shari’ah. He replied that in the aforementioned jurists’ discussions, both the positions of conformity and contradiction are the same as the position of inference. He quoted phrases from the aforementioned jurists, all of which confirmed his argument.

In the following, the Islamic Ayatullahs rejected the implication of the jurists’ statements on contradiction and claimed that Ayatullah Ali Dust was imposing his opinions on verses and hadiths.

Ayatullah Ali Dust continued by explaining the connection between these opinions and the topic of conflict and emphasizing that we both have opinions and that these opinions can naturally be discussed and presented.