According to the public relations of Baqir al-Ulum University (peace be upon him), the scientific session “The Necessities of Shiite Political Jurisprudence for Achieving Islamic Dignity in International Relations” was held on Sunday, October 6, 2019, with a presentation by Hujjat al-Islam Ahmad Rahdar, in the presence of critics Hujjat al-Islam Mohammad Qasemi and Hujjat al-Islam Zobihollah Ne’imiyan, and under the scientific secretariat of Hujjat al-Islam Syed Ehsan Rafi’i Alavi, in the assembly hall of Baqir al-Ulum University (peace be upon him).

At the beginning, Hujjat al-Islam Rahdar, a faculty member of Baqir al-Ulum University (peace be upon him), stated: My discussion consists of two parts, in the first part of which I have mentioned three variables: political jurisprudence, the Step Two Statement, and international law.

The Relationship of Political Jurisprudence with Islamic Dignity

Hujjat al-Islam Rahdar referred to the relationship of political jurisprudence with Islamic dignity and said: There are hidden negative and positive capacities in the existing jurisprudential rules that govern international relations and can be instrumental in this direction.

He, referring to the discussion of jihad and winning hearts in political jurisprudence, reminded: Jihad, as a book in political jurisprudence, is one of the negative capacities in jurisprudence whose ultimate goal is defined as ensuring the dignity of the nation, and the historical experience of jihadists on domestic and regional scales has proven this.

The professor at Baqir al-Ulum University (peace be upon him) added: Winning hearts can be interpreted in two ways; winning hearts meaning preventing cooperation with the enemies of Islam, which is a wrong definition; rather, winning hearts is Islam’s condescending investment in infidels, which has a preventive aspect in their cooperation with warring infidels.

The Capacities of Fiqh al-Da’wah in International Relations

He referred to the capacities of fiqh al-da’wah in international relations and noted: Fiqh al-da’wah has an interactive capacity with outside dar al-Islam while being dignified; invitation is not from a position of weakness but is the model of peace; however, unfortunately, fiqh al-da’wah in the Shiite sphere has been raised minimally compared to Ahl al-Sunnah; whereas some Sunni scholars, such as Abdul Rahman Badri, have nearly 30 volumes of books in this field.

The head of the Fotouh Andisheh Institute emphasized: I have viewed the Step Two Statement as a normative context that, in continuation of the Constitution and Imam Khomeini’s (may his soul rest in peace) will, are interconnected in a triad; the first half of the Step Two Statement has a descriptive approach and is a kind of performance report to the Constitution and the will of the late Imam; but the second half of the statement is prescriptive, with seven axes and akin to a roadmap for the future.

The faculty member of Baqir al-Ulum University (peace be upon him) expressed: In the Step Two Statement, compared to the Constitution and Imam’s will, two new events have occurred; the creation of new concepts such as Islamic civilization, the new era, and the like, which are foundational and whose place was vacant in the two previous prescriptive and normative texts, and in the theoretical section, the theory of the revolutionary system and new theoretical demands have been raised, which are very key and important.

The Capacity of the Rule of Obligation in the Jurisprudence of International Relations

He, referring to the capacity of the rule of obligation in the jurisprudence of international relations, reminded: Based on the rule of obligation and by resorting to the foundations that this rule provides us, we can defend our rights at the international level, as there is a narration with this purport that God has deposited some rights and truths in the front of taghut and disbelief, so that in the era of taghut’s dominance, the people of faith can guarantee their historical survival by resorting to those deposits.

Hujjat al-Islam Rahdar referred to the second axis of the discussion and the jurisprudential necessities for achieving Islamic dignity and noted: The three concepts of dignity, wisdom, and expediency each have a specific meaning and concept; dignity is an internal, inward, and spiritual concept, wisdom is a ruling and rational concept, and expediency is a concept overseeing action; therefore, the rules and structures that emerge from jurisprudence in the international arena must be dignified, wisdom-centered, and based on expediency.

He presented four proposals in this section and said: It is proposed that in the section on changing the mission system of jurisprudence in the international arena, it be directed from the arena of prescriptions to the arena of descriptions; currently, jurisprudence has mostly confined itself to the circle of prescriptions and has abandoned the management of the description system.

The faculty member of Baqir al-Ulum University (peace be upon him), citing a point from Ayatollah Javadi Amoli in the book on international relations, reminded: As long as the general lines of humanity, which oversee the relationship between human and the world, are not specified, rights cannot be determined at all; therefore, the general lines are determined by the philosophy of jurisprudence, that is, the description system; therefore, if the description system is taken out of the jurist’s hands and the jurist commits himself under it, jurisprudence will become minimalist and subordinate; hence, our jurisprudence must oversee all discussions of the philosophy of jurisprudence and political theology.

The Theory of Collective Ijtihad and Four Proposals on the Subject of International Jurisprudence

He titled the theory of collective ijtihad on the subject of international jurisprudence and said: Ayatollah Sobhani has discussed the theory of collective ijtihad comprehensively; but in this field, in my opinion, four models of collective ijtihad in the international arena are effective.

Hujjat al-Islam Rahdar added: The first proposal is the subject of council, that the jurist consults with non-jurist experts on a subject; the second proposal is that an issue, for example from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, be sent to several jurists, and each jurist reflects separately and responds, and we find a common aspect from these responses; the third proposal is that a number of mujtahids exchange views around an issue and ultimately the majority vote becomes the basis for action; and the fourth proposal is that a number of jurists discuss around an issue and ultimately the senior jurist or the Guardian Jurist presents a conclusion, which may be a third opinion.

He emphasized maximal use of legal capacities such as custom in the international arena and establishing legal red lines in this arena and said: Experience has shown that Muslims have been able to impose some jurisprudential propositions, such as halal food, on the international system; therefore, jurisprudence has the capacity for aggregation regarding other red lines, such as the sanctity of the Quran, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)—on which all Muslims are united—and the issue of hijab, which all Islamic sects emphasize, so that dignity can be ensured in this regard.

Lack of Precise Elucidation of the Discussion of Islamic Dignity in Political Jurisprudence

In continuation, Hujjat al-Islam Ne’imiyan, as the first critic, addressed the lack of precise elucidation of the discussion of dignity in political jurisprudence from the jurisprudential aspect, its instances, and methodologically, and said: Given the importance of the discussion of Islamic dignity in political jurisprudence, it was necessary for the two categories of necessities, capacities, and prior to that, the mission of jurisprudence in this field to be precisely specified.

Also, Hujjat al-Islam Qasemi, as the second critic, referred to ambiguities in this discussion and said: The title of the discussion is achieving Islamic dignity; but the content of the discussion is necessities, whereas the manifestations of dignity and the ultimate goal of this discussion should have been raised in view of the Step Two Statement.

He clarified: Given the secular nature of the international system, regarding the rule of obligation raised in the discussion, it is problematic to generalize; also, our narrations oversee the tyrannical Muslim system; whereas in this discussion, Islamic countries have been overlooked.

Hujjat al-Islam Qasemi added: The discussion of voting is a customary preference, whereas the most learned is a textual preference; therefore, this preference cannot occur; also, the discussion of fiqh al-da’wah is not compatible with the international system, because fiqh al-da’wah seeks to change the structure of the international system; similar to Moses’ invitation to Pharaoh, which targeted the principle of sovereignty and dominance of taghut.