Note: Dr. Abdolmajid Mobaleghi, both in terms of his university education in the field of political thought, his experiences in being present in various countries, and his responsibility as the director of international affairs at the Research Institute for Studies in Contemporary Jurisprudence, has and continues to have connections with the fiqh of international relations. We discussed with him the difference between the fiqh of international relations and its similar concepts. He explained the difference of this emerging jurisprudential chapter with international law and the international approach to fiqh and emphasized that the scope of influence of the fiqh of international relations is more limited than the other two concepts. The full text of this exclusive interview is presented to you:

Contemporary Jurisprudence: What is the fiqh of international relations and what topics does it address?

Mobaleghi: The fiqh of international relations addresses the rulings related to the relations in the international domain and specifically engages in inferential processes whose focus is responding to issues related to the critical and highly important international arena.
When we speak of the international arena, we systematically refer to an arena and expanse in which supreme power in its known sense does not exist under the internal authority of countries, and a kind of quasi-anarchism governs its not-so-orderly structure; accordingly, the fiqh of international relations is directed toward a complex space in which we are not necessarily confronted with actors who are under an effective external final authority, but rather with actors who are not under an effective external authority. This very issue makes the fiqh of international relations complex.

Also, when we speak of fiqh of international relations, we refer to rulings and rules that pertain to the Islamic government preoccupied with fiqh as an actor possessing national characteristics in the international arena.

In connection with the topics of fiqh of international relations, various and numerous issues can be raised; specifically, one can ask what the meaning, scope, and results of adherence to important concepts such as dar al-Islam and dar al-harb are? Similarly, one can inquire about various jurisprudential aspects related to peace and war. Specifically, one can discuss whether peace is authentic or not authentic.

Contemporary Jurisprudence: What is the relationship between the fiqh of international relations and issues of international law?

Mobaleghi: In explaining the relationship between the fiqh of international relations and international legal issues, attention must be paid to the different origins of these two arenas and study disciplines. The fiqh of international relations has a religious origin and finds meaning with religious sources; whereas international law and also issues arising from international law are of the nature of reflections on modern law and contemporary legal knowledge. Also, it must be noted that the agency leading to the production of knowledge and awareness in these two arenas, commensurate with their different origins, is fundamentally different. Fiqh of international relations should be expected and awaited from jurists; whereas international law is of another kind and type and can be sought in legal theories and doctrines.

Finally, it should not be forgotten that the jurisdiction of international law is comprehensive and extensive; and the jurisdiction of fiqh of international relations is limited to the Islamic government or believers in fiqh who in the international arena have the possibility of appearance and manifestation as natural and legal persons.

Contemporary Jurisprudence: What arenas does the fiqh of international relations include

Mobaleghi: The fiqh of international relations finds meaning in connection with the international matter, even if in a limited and specific manner. In other words, one can only speak of fiqh of international relations when the subject of our reflection is achieving a jurisprudential ruling appropriate and corresponding to the international description.
Also, it must be said that the scope of fiqh of international relations is not related to political relations and, in addition to that, also encompasses economic, social, and cultural relations. Specifically, when we are confronted in the international arena with actors who relatively consider commitment to fiqh in connection with their manner of presence in this critical expanse, whether these actors are of the nature of governments or of the nature of non-governmental natural and legal actors, diverse and numerous grounds for the emergence and manifestation of fiqh of international relations arise.

Contemporary Jurisprudence: Is the fiqh of international relations identical or concomitant with the “international approach to fiqh”? What are the overlaps and disjunctions between these two concepts?

Mobaleghi: It is quite clear that fiqh of international relations is not equal to the international approach to fiqh. Fiqh of international relations introduces a study discipline included under a variety of jurisprudential reflections; whereas the international approach to fiqh expresses a methodological logic in viewing fiqh and the consequence of a manner of jurisprudential reflection that considers the international matter in the inference process as part of the context of reflection.

Also, it is quite clear that in important instances, the international approach to fiqh does not mean presence in the arena of fiqh of international relations and will not have such a consequence. If in our jurisprudential study we utilize data from the international domain, including in the realm of subject identification, and these data assist us in the inference process in the manner of understanding and attaining the logic effective in discerning the how and what of inference, this does not mean that what ultimately arises from such a process is related to the international arena in a way that places it under the domain of reflection in fiqh of international relations.