Jurisprudence  the Essentials of the Islamic Law

Jurisprudence the Essentials of the Islamic Law

The Right of Refugees to Return A Study of the Foundations and Specifics from the Perspective of Human Rights in Islam

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Human Rights and Environment, Faculty of Law, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
2 Professor, Advanced Level Studies, Qom Seminary, Qom, Iran.
10.22059/jjfil.2026.407692.669929
Abstract
The present study, entitled "The Right of Refugees to Return," examines the Quranic, narrational, and jurisprudential foundations of one of the most important human rights in Islamic thought, namely the right of displaced persons to return to their homeland. This right is considered a genuine, inalienable right in the texts of the Quran, Islamic Sunnah, and jurisprudence, and is directly linked to the principles of the prohibition of oppression, the prohibition of expulsion from the land, and the obligation to support the oppressed. The method of the article is descriptive-analytical and based on reliable Quranic, hadith, and jurisprudential sources. The findings show that the Holy Quran in numerous verses prohibits the expulsion of individuals from their homes and homelands (al-Mumtaḥanah: 9; al-Baqarah: 85), considers it an example of sin, aggression (al-Baqarah: 85), sedition, and greater than murder (al-Baqarah: 217), and, on the other hand, introduces their return to their homeland as a religious obligation. Also, from the perspective of the Sunnah, the Prophetic life and the narrations of the Ahl al-Bayt (AS) the necessity of preserving the right to reside, return to one's homeland and support for refugees has been emphasized; as the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and the impeccable Imams (AS) have considered the return of Muslims to their homeland and the return of usurped property and lands as examples of justice and the removal of oppression. In Islamic jurisprudence, principles such as "The cessation of causality, the non-extinguishment of the rights of the absent and compulsory liability in cases of usurpation" provide a fundamental and principled basis for the continuity of the property rights of the displaced and the necessity of their repatriation. Consequently, within the Islamic legal framework, the right of return for the displaced is not merely a transient political inference or a matter of expediency, but a religious and social obligation.
Keywords

Holy Quran
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