According to the Research Institute of Contemporary Jurisprudence, the scientific session “The Impact of the Limitation of Hadith Heritage on a Systematic Approach to Social Jurisprudence” was held featuring a presentation by Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Mohammad-Sadeq Rouhani and a critique by Professor Seyyed Kazem Tabataba’i; a session addressing one of the challenges of Contemporary Jurisprudence regarding the existing Hadith heritage for deducing Islamic social systems and producing religious knowledge.
At the opening of the session, Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Dr. Hassan Bousaliki, scientific secretary of the meeting, pointing to the characteristics of religious sciences—attributability, efficacy, rationality, and in some sciences, comprehensiveness—addressed the key role of “attributability” (istinad) in the Islamic nature of religious disciplines.
Citing the verse “Say, ‘Has Allah permitted you, or do you invent falsehood against Allah?'” (Qul Allahu adhina lakum am ‘ala Allahi taftarun), he recalled: “To consider a discipline Islamic, one must be able to attribute its propositions to religion in a valid and justified manner. This attribution may be direct or mediated, but in any case it must possess reliable backing in religious sources.”
The scientific secretary further emphasized: “The main challenge arises when we move beyond deducing particular rulings and enter the realm of social system-building.” In his view, if a major portion of the Sunnah and narrations has not reached us, claiming to achieve comprehensive religious-based economic, educational, and governance systems will face serious difficulties.
The member of the Scientific Council of the Department of Jurisprudence of Society, Ethics, and Upbringing at the Research Institute of Contemporary Jurisprudence added: “The point forming the subject of this meeting is actually the comprehensiveness and the threshold of comprehensiveness of our narrative sources for codifying or producing religious knowledge.”
Continuing this scientific session, Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Mohammad-Sadeq Rouhani, member of the Seminary Ethics Association, presenting the theory of “Inadequacy of Later Sources for System-Building,” stated that his idea originated from the question: “Is the existence of one or several narrations sufficient to attribute a major theory to religion?”
He specified: “To the extent that our inference from a narration is vast, our narrative proof and documentation must likewise be voluminous and extensive.”
Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Rouhani, referring to a series of historical and Hadith premises and evidences, asserted that a significant portion of Shia narrative heritage was destroyed throughout history and has not reached us. He claimed that what remains is no more than one-tenth of our narrative heritage.
To prove this claim, he cited numerous evidences, including the striking discrepancy between the number of narrations quoted from major narrators and what exists today in Hadith sources. Referring to Aban ibn Taghlib in Hadith science, he stated: “Regarding Aban ibn Taghlib, it is reported that he narrated thirty thousand Hadiths from Imam Sadiq (a), yet in current sources we possess only about two hundred narrations from him.”
The member of the Seminary Ethics Association also pointed to the loss of a vast number of Hadith books and works of major Shia authors, incomplete nature of certain narrative sources, deletion of chains of transmission (asnad) in several works, and explicit statements of biographical scholars (rijaliyun) regarding the destruction of part of the Hadith heritage, regarding these matters as evidences of the limited nature of existing sources.
The session’s presenter, emphasizing the necessity of proportion between the scope of a claim and the volume of Hadiths and proofs, pointed to the challenge of system-building in social jurisprudence, noting: “Our proof must be precisely proportionate to the ruling we wish to issue—neither less nor more.”
He believes that as the scope of a jurisprudential claim widens and reaches the level of social system-building, the need for broader and more comprehensive narrative backing increases. Hence, the limitation of the existing Hadith heritage can impact macro-claims regarding social jurisprudence and Islamic system-building.
He further elaborated on the theory of “Inadequacy of Later Sources” in macro-jurisprudential deductions, expressing his views on the necessity of revising the manner of utilizing narrations for system-building and producing social theories.
The seminary professor, stating that he organized his theory based on seven premises, explained that these premises were compiled to address existing gaps in jurisprudential and methodological discussions.
He considered the first premise to be “the probaive force of speech after searching for conflicting evidence” (hujjiyyat al-kalam ba’da al-fahsi ‘an al-mu’arid), emphasizing: “This issue is not merely a Sharia rule, but a rational and universal principle. In all domains, the validity of a proposition is established when the necessary search for its conflicting evidence has been conducted.”
In the second premise, he spoke of the concept of “reality-based search,” criticizing certain approaches: “Sometimes the jurist, instead of discovering custom’s view, places himself in custom’s shoes and directly judges what reality is, whereas reality must be presented to custom and customary judgment passed upon it.”
In elucidating the third premise, he stated: “If an incident occurs and we are asked to judge it, reason dictates that the testimonies of multiple witnesses be examined. If only one witness is available, rational people do not consider such testimony sufficient to issue a judgment; hence, this same logic applies to religious deductions, and one cannot attribute broad and macro-conclusions to religion based on a single limited report. This rational approach bears no Sharia prohibition, and Sharia has affirmed this rational method in numerous instances.”
In the fifth premise, the presenter addressed the status of the book Rijal al-Najashi, introducing it as one of the most important Shia works in codicology, bibliography, and cataloging. While praising Najashi’s efforts, he also pointed to certain shortcomings of this work, stating: “In some instances, one can speak of insufficient precision in certain reports, such that raised contents occasionally do not align with established historical data, and by comparing this work with contemporary historical sources, including works of Khatib al-Baghdadi, one can emphasize the necessity of a critical view toward biographical sources.”
The member of the Seminary Ethics Association considered the most important part of his argument to be the sixth premise, stating: “The central point of the discussion is that a significant portion of Shia narrations was destroyed throughout history.”
Referring to a set of historical evidences and clues, he added: “Even if each of these evidences alone is not sufficient to prove the claim, their sum at least creates serious questions regarding the extent of survival of the Hadith heritage at our disposal, and one of our most important evidences is the striking distance between the number of narrations quoted from certain major narrators and the volume of narrations remaining from them in current sources.”
This researcher, referring to the prominent Hadith figure “Aban ibn Taghlib,” stated: “In a narration from Imam Sadiq (a), it is stated that Aban ibn Taghlib narrated thirty thousand Hadiths from him; yet when we consult existing Hadith sources, only about two hundred narrations from him are observed in Wasa’il al-Shiah.”
He also referred to the report of Mohammad ibn Muslim, stating: “Mohammad ibn Muslim specifies that he possessed 46,000 narrations—30,000 from Imam Baqir (a) and 16,000 from Imam Sadiq (a). These numbers reveal their significance when we realize that the total narrations in Wasa’il al-Shiah, including all repetitions, are estimated at around 35,000 narrations.”
He emphasized: “This gross discrepancy shows that a massive portion of the narrative heritage has not remained in our hands, and this very issue plays a decisive role in evaluating the degree of validity of macro-deductions based on a small number of narrations.”
Concluding his remarks, the presenter, emphasizing the necessity of rethinking the method of utilizing Hadith sources, noted that the issue of “Inadequacy of Later Sources” is not limited to system-building and can be considered and examined in other areas of jurisprudential deduction as well.
Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Rouhani, in another part of his speech, referred to the issue of modernity and conditions of the Era of Occultation (Ghaybah), stating current limitations and asserting that one cannot remain indifferent to modern world developments and imagine that by ignoring them, problems will be resolved.
He regarded modernity as a phenomenon influential in subject matters, rulings, and even proofs of jurisprudential rulings, adding: “Many issues and subjects in the modern world have undergone transformation, and these changes render jurisprudential rethinking essential.”
Referring to certain scientific and medical advances, this researcher noted that part of the subjects discussed in traditional jurisprudence face different conditions and specifications today, doubling the necessity of greater attention to the relationship between jurisprudence and new civilizational transformations.
The member of the Seminary Ethics Association further considered conditions during the Era of Occultation another important consideration in the deduction process, specifying: “During the Occultation, one cannot easily issue rulings on all issues and claim that answers to all emerging questions are pre-packaged.” Pointing to the limitation of direct access to the Infallible (a), he emphasized the necessity of caution and realism in attributing macro-views to religion.
Rouhani also considered the view that all issues needed by societies until Judgment Day are pre-packaged and designed within religious sources to be subject to reflection, stating that clear and defensible documentation is required for such a claim. In his view, Contemporary Jurisprudence in facing emerging issues is bound to clarify its relationship with the requirements of the Era of Occultation and modern world challenges while preserving its link to tradition.
Continuing the session, Professor Seyyed Kazem Tabataba’i, raising the question “What is religious knowledge?”, emphasized that religious knowledge is essentially knowledge originating from the Book and Sunnah. Stating that reason plays an important role in the process of understanding and deducing from religious sources, he added that rational perceptions per se are not considered religious knowledge unless documented in some way to the Book and Sunnah.
The Head of the Research Center for Hadith Sciences and Knowledge at the Quran and Hadith Research Institute, pointing to the foundational position of the Quran and Sunnah in producing religious knowledge, specified that in the process of attaining religious knowledge, one cannot separate the Sunnah from the Quran. Citing numerous Quranic verses regarding obedience to the Holy Prophet (s), he recalled that revelatory teachings have consistently emphasized the link between the Divine Book and Prophetic Sunnah.
Referring also to the mutawatir Hadith of Thaqalayn, he considered simultaneous adherence to the Quran and the Ahl al-Bayt (‘itrah) among the pillars of religious guidance, stating that setting aside the Sunnah is incompatible with the foundations of religious knowledge and Islamic teachings. According to him, although questions and challenges might be raised regarding a portion of the Hadith heritage, this issue cannot lead to weakening the status of the Sunnah in producing religious knowledge.
This Hadith researcher also recalled that the destruction of many books does not necessarily mean losing the exact same proportion of teachings, because a large portion of narrations was compiled in subsequent comprehensive works, and much content was repeated across different books.
Professor Tabataba’i, while considering part of the objections raised regarding the status of the Hadith heritage worthy of attention, emphasized that the main issue is offering a solution for ascertaining the Sunnah and attaining religious knowledge during the Occultation, noting: “Certain objections and doubts indeed exist, but the remedy is not setting aside the Sunnah; rather, solutions for validating and ascertaining the Sunnah must be offered.”
This session, examining one of the existing challenges, addressed the relationship between the limitation of existing Hadith sources and the possibility of religious system-building. In this session, the question was analyzed: How can one, while acknowledging historical deficiencies in narrative heritage, continue to utilize the capacity of the Sunnah for producing religious knowledge and answering emerging issues?