The Sixth Session of the Academic Series of Conferences on “Return to Resistance Economy in War and Post-War Economies” Was Held
According to the news portal of the Research Institute of Contemporary Jurisprudence, this session, focusing on “The Conventional Jurisprudential Role in Examining Financial Matters and Its Sufficiency for Analyzing the Resistance Economy,” was held at this research institute through the efforts of the Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute, the Islamic Economics Association of the Seminary of Qom, and in cooperation with other centers.
At the beginning of this session, Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Seyyed Hamid Joshqani, the scientific secretary of the session, while offering congratulations on the occasion of Teacher’s Day and honoring the anniversary of the passing of the late professor, Dr. Davoudi, as well as the naming of the new year as “Resistance Economy,” referred to the objectives of organizing this series of sessions.
The Secretary of the Research Center for Jurisprudence of Economics, Resources, and Technology at the Research Institute of Contemporary Jurisprudence stated that the present session was held with a focus on “Critique and Examination of Conventional Jurisprudential Approaches and Examinations in Analyzing the Resistance Economy.”
The scientific secretary further announced the readiness of the Research Center of Contemporary Jurisprudence to accept sessions and research projects centered on the jurisprudence of economics, including scientific-research articles and research projects.
Subsequently, Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Dr. Gholamali Masouminia presented his views and emphasized the necessity of critique, evaluation, and reflection upon conventional jurisprudential methods when facing new economic issues—an approach that, according to him, can lead to strengthening the research trajectory in the realm of Islamic economics and promoting scientific accuracy in analyzing emerging financial issues.
In this session, Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Dr. Masouminia, pointing out that an important part of new economic issues—especially in the domains of transactions, contracts, the monetary system, the financial system, and insurance—is linked to jurisprudential capacities, added: “During recent decades, valuable efforts have been undertaken by Islamic economics researchers to conduct jurisprudential examinations of newly arising issues (masa’il mustahdasah); nevertheless, this path requires continuous revision so that strengths are reinforced and deficiencies are corrected.”
Emphasizing that scientific critique does not mean denying past achievements, he stated that the work accomplished by researchers in this field is valuable and respectable; however, every scientific movement requires periodic evaluation and methodological refinement for greater dynamism and efficiency. According to Dr. Masouminia, such a revision not only does not diminish the value of previous efforts, but also contributes to their deepening and evolution.
Referring to the trend of research conducted in recent years, Dr. Masouminia noted that the largest volume of jurisprudential and economic studies has been concentrated in three areas: the monetary system, the financial system, and insurance. Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Dr. Masouminia regarded this concentration as an indication of the importance of these topics in Islamic economics research, but emphasized that the scope of new economic issues extends far beyond these three areas and demands a more comprehensive and systematic focus.
Moving beyond the level of theoretical critique, Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Dr. Masouminia proceeded in this session to present an operational solution for achieving the resistance economy, emphasizing that reforming the country’s economic structure is impossible without creating a new institutional mechanism.
He proposed the formation of a national high-level headquarters tasked with redesigning the real sector of the economy in accordance with the requirements of the resistance economy—a headquarters that, in the subsequent step, could purposefully execute a “surgery” on the country’s monetary and financial system. Dr. Masouminia noted: “Experience has shown that relying on existing monetary and financial institutions for the full implementation of resistance economy policies has not been efficient, and these institutions, due to their structural nature, lack the capacity for fundamental adaptation to this approach.”
Emphasizing the necessity of avoiding abrupt and unrealistic approaches, Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Dr. Masouminia stated: “The sudden closure of banks or the capital market is neither possible nor practical; just as attempts to fully adapt the resistance economy to the current structure of the monetary and financial system have yielded no results to date. Therefore, the proposed solution is the establishment of parallel monetary and financial institutions aligned with Sharia regulations alongside the existing system—institutions formed based on models designed in the real sector of the resistance economy.”
According to him, many of the jurisprudential foundations and provisions necessary for designing these institutions have already been formulated in existing research; however, what has been neglected is avoiding “evasive solutions” (rah-hal-ha-ye dorzanandeh) and moving toward the transparent and explicit implementation of Sharia rulings and regulations. He emphasized that this model, contrary to popular belief, has the capability of rapid operationalization, provided that a decisive and continuous determination is formed at the policy-making level.
In detailing his proposed structure, he spoke of the necessity of establishing a specialized think tank under the high-level headquarters—a think tank composed of Islamic economics experts who, in addition to theoretical mastery of the foundations of this discipline, possess full oversight of the existing monetary and financial system and a precise understanding of the requirements of the Iranian economy. In his view, the members of this think tank must have reached the conclusion that existing economic policies face serious flaws and require structural reforms.
Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Dr. Masouminia further added: “The intended transformation is a gradual yet achievable process, and upon its inception, a new path can be opened within a relatively short timeframe—a path in which, through caution, continuous re-reading, and step-by-step reform, new institutions are strengthened and the share of the current monetary and financial system is gradually reduced without causing shock or instability in the country’s economy.”
Concluding his remarks, he pointed to the complexity of existing contracts in the capital market, noting that a detailed jurisprudential examination of these contracts can clearly reveal the limitations of previous efforts to Islamize the existing structure, and that sessions and engagement in analyzing concrete instances can provide the necessary scientific backing for course correction and making macro-level decisions in the field of resistance economy.
Continuing this specialized session, Dr. Ebrahimi addressed one of the key challenges in the domain of the country’s policy-making and financial research. Raising a question regarding the status of financial markets, he pointed to the gap between modern financial instruments and the economic realities of Iran.
Dr. Ebrahimi stated that many financial instruments, especially in the area of derivative instruments, have little connection to real economic activities. He explained that these instruments are often introduced under the banner of “hedging risk,” but in practice, only a small fraction of them are tied to productive economic activities.
Islamic Economics Association of the Seminary of Qom
Posing the question of why certain academic and expert circles in Iran, despite this gap, insist on introducing these instruments into the country’s financial markets, he noted that these efforts are often carried out by finding Sharia justifications, yet without properly clarifying the relationship of these instruments to the real interests of the national economy and their capacity to solve the country’s problems. This approach reveals the necessity of a serious revision in how financial instruments are localized and utilized in the Iranian economy.
In response to this question, Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Dr. Masouminia identified the root of this situation in the educational structure and the formation of the mindset of economists and researchers, stating that from the very beginning of economics education, the theoretical frameworks of conventional economics shape the researcher’s mind, and gradually the set of the existing monetary and financial system is established before him as a coherent, natural, and attractive structure. From this perspective, the inclination to reproduce conventional financial instruments and institutions is, rather than being the result of an independent and critical examination, the outcome of a kind of scientific training within the context of dominant Western economic models.
According to him, these very mental presuppositions cause part of the scientific efforts in the financial domain to be directed toward justifying and recreating the very instruments formed in a different context, which do not necessarily align with the needs and requirements of the resistance economy, instead of focusing on solving the real problems of Iran’s economy.
Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Dr. Masouminia further explained one of the clear instances of his critique of conventional jurisprudential methods by citing the example of “stocks” (shares). According to him, the major part of existing jurisprudential and legal research regarding stocks and related transactions—ranging from the endowment (waqf) and leasing of stocks to short selling and margin buying—is built upon an unwritten presupposition: that the “essence of stocks” is considered an accepted and desirable phenomenon. Whereas in his view, prior to addressing secondary rulings and sub-issues, this phenomenon itself must be examined in terms of its nature, theoretical foundations, historical roots, and its relationship with the capitalist structure.
He specified that in many conventional studies, the fundamental question of what nature stocks essentially possess and upon what theoretical and philosophical foundation they rest has been neglected. Pointing to the widespread divergence of views among legal scholars regarding the nature of stocks—ranging from undivided ownership (malikiyyah musha’ah) and real rights (haqq ‘ayni) to debt, privilege, or credit—he noted that this conceptual confusion itself demonstrates that entering directly into secondary rulings without resolving foundational questions cannot meet the demands of the jurisprudence of economics.
Analyzing the relationship between stocks and public joint-stock companies with the capitalist system, he considered this structure part of the institutional framework of capitalism and emphasized that in jurisprudential analyses, one should not merely settle for the form of transactions and contracts; rather, the “economic phenomenon” itself must be studied as a social and historical institution.
Accordingly, one of the main messages of this segment of the session was that for the jurisprudence of economics to play an effective role in the resistance economy, it must inevitably move beyond purely case-by-case and secondary examinations and advance toward analyzing macro-economic phenomena—an analysis in which the nature, function, historical context, and institutional effects of economic instruments and structures are meticulously examined before issuing rulings or offering alternative models.
At the conclusion of the session, Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Joshqani, while thanking Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen Dr. Masouminia, Dr. Ebrahimi, and other attendees, referred to some of the raised discussions and cited John Dewey’s analyses regarding the transformation of the capitalist structure. He explained that according to this perspective, independent legal corporations and corporate managers have gradually replaced capitalists and workers, giving rise to a new form of economic governance—governance whose theoretical backing requires more precise study.
Endorsing the remarks made regarding the issue of stocks and joint-stock companies, he further emphasized: “Many existing fatwas and jurisprudential examinations have been formed on the taken-for-granted assumption of the validity of the essence of phenomena imported from the capitalist system; whereas this presupposition itself requires serious revision.”
The scientific secretary, referring to fundamental disagreements regarding the “Presumption of Validity” (Asalat al-Sihhah) in transactions, noted that even this rule must be understood with greater conceptual and foundational precision, and it cannot be simply applied to all instances without analyzing the theoretical contexts surrounding the formation of new instruments and institutions.
He also recalled a quote from the late Professor Shahidi stating that “what others have invented in a specific context should not be easily validated under the title of the Conduct of the Rational (Bana’ al-Uqala),” because these institutions and instruments took shape within their own specific intellectual and philosophical framework. According to him, a major part of scholarly works, dissertations, and even approvals of the country’s jurisprudential and financial bodies are still organized based on these contentious presuppositions.
Concluding his remarks, the scientific secretary thanked the Research Institute of Contemporary Jurisprudence, the Islamic Economics Association, the Imam Khomeini Institute, and all organizers, regarding this session as a platform for posing fundamental questions and critiquing existing approaches, while stressing the imperative of adopting a more analytical, subject-analytical (mawdu’-shenasaneh), and indigenous approach in economic and jurisprudential discussions.