Contemporary Jurisprudence

Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimin Sayyid Nur al-Din Shari‘atmadar Jazayeri in an Exclusive Interview with the Institute for Contemporary Jurisprudential Studies:

Titles of sanctity in the jurisprudence of arts/13

Certain jurisprudential concepts, despite being frequently used, may lead one to assume that extensive scholarly effort has been devoted to them. However, in reality, they fall into the category of deceptively simple matters, and upon referring to jurisprudential texts, one realizes that there is little substantial discussion about them. It appears that the jurisprudential ruling on laghw falls into this category. Jurists have never independently discussed laghw and have always addressed it within the context of topics such as music, gambling, and backbiting. Consequently, there is no clear consensus among scholars of principles or even the majority of them regarding its meaning and ruling. On this occasion, we sat down with Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimin Sayyid Nur al-Din Shari‘atmadar Jazayeri, a professor of advanced jurisprudence and principles at the Qom Seminary. He believes that despite the numerous pieces of evidence cited for the prohibition of laghw, there is no conclusive evidence for its prohibition. He also does not consider the application of laghw to all forms of art permissible. The full text of the exclusive interview by the Institute for Contemporary Jurisprudential Studies with this professor and author of the Qom Seminary is presented below:

Titles of sanctity in the jurisprudence of arts/12

Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimin Abbas Raf‘ati Na’ini, a student of great authorities such as the late Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani, has been teaching advanced and higher-level courses at the Qom Seminary for many years. For several years, he has pioneered the first advanced course in the jurisprudence of media at the Qom Seminary and has continued to teach it. In this oral note, he examines the concept of lahw as one of the most significant notions leading to the prohibition of artistic subjects. He believes that jurists, due to their lack of attention to subject identification, have erred in their jurisprudential rulings on lahw. The full text of the exclusive oral note by a member of the Academic Council of the Jurisprudence of Culture, Art, and Media Group at the Institute for Contemporary Jurisprudential Studies is presented below:

A professor of advanced jurisprudence of media, in an exclusive interview with the Institute for Contemporary Jurisprudential Studies:

Titles of sanctity in the jurisprudence of arts/11

Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimin Ali Nahavandi has, for over twenty years, made art and media one of his primary areas of focus. This began when he took charge of the Khorasan Broadcasting Center about two decades ago and continued during his years in Qom, where he served as the director of the Islamic Media Research Center and began teaching advanced lessons in the jurisprudence of media. He has published over ten books on the subject of art and media and has numerous articles to his name. A member of the Academic Council of the Jurisprudence of Culture, Art, and Media Group at the Institute for Contemporary Jurisprudential Studies, he has spoken about the jurisprudential ruling on la‘b (play) and its role in the prohibition of artistic works. The director of the Jurisprudence of Art, Media, and Communications Group at the Jurisprudential Center of the Pure Imams (peace be upon them) believes there is no evidence that absolutely prohibits la‘b. The full text of the exclusive interview by Contemporary Jurisprudence with this professor of advanced jurisprudence at the Qom Seminary is as follows:

A professor of advanced jurisprudence and principles at the Qom Seminary, in an exclusive interview with the Institute for Contemporary Jurisprudential Studies:

Titles of sanctity in the jurisprudence of arts/10

The term “corruption” (afsād), with the precise expression “corruption on earth” (afsād fi al-arḍ), is more commonly known in penal jurisprudence. However, there is another similar term, “corruption” (afsād), which is frequently used in the jurisprudence of art. This term, when applied to a particular artistic activity, sometimes results in a ruling of prohibition or impermissibility. Hujjat al-Islam wal-Muslimin Mohsen Sheikhani, however, believes that this term is fundamentally an abstract concept and has no essence beyond the specific prohibited acts it encompasses. Sheikhani, born in Mashhad, moved to Qom and studied for years under scholars such as Ayatollahs Wahid Khorasani, Rouhani, and Tabrizi. For several years now, he has been teaching advanced lessons in jurisprudence and principles at the Qom Seminary. The following is an exclusive interview by Contemporary Jurisprudence with a member of the Office of Religious Inquiries in Qom under Ayatollah Sistani: